Hoppers

[sinergy]

With hopper season being just around the corner thought Id try my hand in tying up a few Found few good recipes and well this what I tied hopefully they catch fish ???

Most were tied with closed foam bodies and pecock herl for legs.








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[Ohwow]

I have heard a lot about hopper fishing and being kind of a new comer to river fly fishing I was hoping to get some tips on when the season starts and also where would be some good places to try and learn the technique. Any advice would go a long way for me. Thanks for the help!!!
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[packfish]

A few basic chernolbyls and a Dave's hopper and a Madam X- never needed to tie anything else.
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[TS30]

Hoppers look good Sinergy. Do you usually tie the legs with peacock hurl? Or just experimenting? I wouldn't imagine that would make for very durable legs. I would think they'd come off fairly quickly.

As for advice on hopper fishing......

The season starts when grasshoppers are out and about. If you are seeing them around, then the season has started. Although I find July/August to be better than June, you should be able to start catching fish, or at least getting looks, as soon as run off comes down on any stream. Fish them close to the shore if you can, and you should be just fine.
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[sinergy]

Thanks for comments never tied hoppers before Im still pretty new to fly tieing and lot of time its hard to judge if I tied a decent fly.

Herl was the only item that I had or could think of for legs. Most of the recipes requested rubber legs and your right the herl ended coming off after a few casts. Going stop by sportmans and see if I cant buy some rubber legs.

Main focus was Im going to start using hoppers as strike indicators I seen a video were a guy tied some mono through the body and made 2 loops one on each end.
Fed his leader through the front made a loop connections and fed the tag end though the second loop that way the hopper is adjustable and sits flat on the water. Plus you gets the added bounus of fishing your nymph off the bottom... Gonna give it a try see if its any good. but... got wait till hoppers season heats up [cool][cool][cool]
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[packfish]

Hopper lgs can be made with many materials-= a good old pheasent tail fibers knotted and bent make a decent leg.
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[flyfitch]

I prefer packfish's statement about pheasant tails. Tie them in a knot to look like the joint (or knee, for lack of a better word)
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[wormandbobber]

[quote TS30]
As for advice on hopper fishing......

The season starts when grasshoppers are out and about.[/quote]

And sometimes much earlier...I have had two successful hopper trips already this year. The first one was in early April during a snowstorm and the second was over Memorial weekend. On neither trip did I see an actual live grasshopper on or near the water, but the fish were happy to take them. Don't be afraid to try them out when fish seem to be aggressive. And, just because the time of year is too early for hoppers or too cold, doesn't mean they won't work!
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