Whitlock Hopper

Created by Dave Whitlock

HOOK: TMC 5263, sizes THREAD: Light yellow BODY: Light-colored elk hair. Extend the body past the hook bend about 25% of the shank length, and wrap with thread to keep it together. UNDERWING: Pale yellow deer hair WING: Turkey quill LEGS: Pale yellow grizzly hackle stem. Legs should extend straight back, then be knotted at the hook bend and bent down (past the knot) to look like legs. (If you didn't understand all that, you need to go look at a real grasshopper.) INDICATOR: Puff of fire-orange egg yarn HEAD: Natural deer hair and white deer hair, tied bullet-style. The white deer hair forms the bottom half of the head, the natural deer hair forms the top with the tips making an overwing.

Uses

Grasshoppers are terrestial insects that often stumble into rivers in late summer. If you encounter lots of hoppers in the grass near the riverbank, tie on a hopper pattern and see what happens.

How to Fish

Dress the fly with floatant and use standard dry fly presentations. On small streams, you can fish a hopper anywhere in the river, but on larger flows you will do best to present the fly right next to the bank. On larger rivers, the best places to cast are along the margins, no more than 15 feet from the bank, and often only inches from the bank. Unless you're fishing from a boat, you may find it works best to wade into the river and cast back to the bank.

 
One effective tactic is to cast so the fly hits shoreside grass, then lands in the river with a distinct plop. This mimics the natural insect. To further imitate natural behavior, give the fly an occasional twitch as it drifts.