“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.”
― John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley: In Search of America
As I get older I’m not sure I agree with John Steinbeck. I think I’m getting close to the age where I could go south for the winter and never miss snow at all. But alas, that’s not to be. Still, I can dream about the coming summer with all its sunshine and warmth, its green trees and jumping trout. These have been my day dreams as of late. And with summer comes hoppers!
There are a lot of hopper patterns out there. I dare say that most of them are designed to float on or in the surface film. After all, what says hopper season more than the sound of a foam hopper pattern hitting the water with its characteristic splat! That’s what it’s all about — that and the violent take that often times follows.
But I’ve come to love a different type of hopper pattern, a wet one. Many grasshoppers float when they first land, but most all end up drowning and sinking under the surface where we can’t see them. The fish see them, however. The Gnarly Hopper is an excellent pattern to mimic these drowned hoppers and take reluctant fish under the water’s surface.
Materials:
- Hook: Moonlit TOGATTA ML601 Premium Barbless, #6-12
- Bead: Gold, glass seed bead. Size bead to hook size.
- Thread: Veevus D21 10/0, brown
- Abdomen: Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift 423 Burnt Ochre or 230 Yellow Ochre wool yarn
- Rib: UTC Ultra Wire BR, gold
- Underwing: Coastal Deer Hair, medium natural
- Overwing: Craft store ribbon, brown
- Legs: India Hen Back, natural
- Thorax: Arizona Simi Seal Dubbing, Canadian Brown
Here’s a video of fishing this pattern for Wyoming cutthroat:
So give the Gnarly Hopper a try! I’m sure it will produce for you as well as it does for me. It’s easy to tie and fun to fish. Not all hopper patterns are created equal, and this one certainly breaks the mold for a traditional hopper fly!
Learn how to tie many other favorite patterns of Tom by purchasing one of his “Flies & Kebari Collection” eBooks at Teton Tenkara. This particular pattern is included in Volume 3.
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Nice fly Tom. I have some local streams that seem like they ought to be good hopper water, but I have to admit I’ve never had much luck with hopper patterns. I’m definitely going to have to give this a try.
Anthony, it works really well in the West, so I suspect it should work well back East as well. Give it a try and let me know how it goes!