Whether you skate'em, twitch'em, dead drift'em, or fish them as a dry dropper, there are few things more fun then fishing a grasshopper fly. Grasshoppers make up an important part of a trout's diet. After all, they insert themselves onto the summer menu at the most opportune time. Late summer hatches dwindle, fish begin searching for high calorie meals to replace the once reliable hatches of June, July, and early August. Having some hopper flies and an understanding the best time to fish them is critical to taking advantage of a hopper hatch.
In this article we will cover some of my favorite grasshopper flies, why they are important, how to rig them, and when to fish them. There are many excellent fly patterns out there. Below are a few of mine. Before we get into specific flies, we will cover the basics of fly fishing with hoppers.
How to Rig a Hopper Pattern and what equipment To Use
I like to keep my hopper fishing simple. For the best presentation I prefer a 9' 6 weight rod with a fast action tip. I use a weight forward floating fly line. A fast action rod tip allows you to present the fly with accuracy and speed. It also allows you to aggressively send the fly hard against the surface of the water. This is important for grabbing a fishes attention which we'll discuss in detail later. Using the correct rod and line, in conjunction with the appropriate leader is last piece of the puzzle.
For fishing a single hopper pattern or using a hopper in a dry dropper rig, I prefer a shorter heavier leader. Typically, grasshoppers are on the larger size of fly patterns, and therefore, you need a rod and leader that has enough backbone to turn the fly over during the forward presentation. I like a 7.5' 3x tapered leader. A heavier leader transfers power. This is critical to presenting the flies into the banks, around structure, and under overhanging vegetation. Hopper fishing is similar to fishing a stonefly adult fly pattern, if you are not losing flies in the bushes, you are not fishing close enough to the banks.
If the top water bite is not fully present, then adding a dropper to your grasshopper dry fly is always an excellent tactical move. Using 18" to 36" of tippet tie the tippet to the bend of the hopper hook. Attach a weighted nymph fly to the other end of the tippet. Your grasshopper fly now acts as both a dry fly and strike indicator. A dry dropper rig allows you to cover both the surface and subsurface bite with one presentation.
When Should I Fish a Grasshopper Fly
Grasshoppers hatch in the hottest and driest parts of the year. Fish a hopper pattern during late July, August, and September. Of course, the season depends on where you live, the timing will vary. Grasshoppers are most active early in the morning and late in the evening.
Heat is an anglers friend when looking to capitalize on a grasshopper hatch. As air temps climb, the surface of the earth becomes excessively hot. This heat will force grasshoppers to move higher into vegetation to cool off. They hop and fly to change location, and this is the moment that many of them haphazardly land in a nearby river. These are the perfect meals for an eager brown trout. Anixously, they search for calories in preparation for the fall spawn and winter hibernation. On hot days without wind, grasshoppers will be found near the banks, as their movement is usually vertical and less side to side. Add wind into the equation, and it makes for the perfect grasshopper fishing conditions.
Most of the time when fly fishing, hot windy conditions will have anglers packing up their equipment and heading to the nearest bar. For hopper fishing, this weather is ideal. Heat provokes the grasshopper to move, using its powerful hind legs and wings, it jumps and flies mostly vertical. With strong winds, hoppers are pushed lateral long distances. In these conditions, they can be found in many parts of the river, not just the banks. Trout key into this behavior, and will change their feeding patterns to capitalize on grasshopper hatches.
One final note, grasshoppers will fly to evade predators. Many times, the grasshopper hatch coincides with harvest time out West. Farmers operating farm equipment, driving combines, and disturbing vegetation near the bank of a river can artificially create a grasshopper hatch by scaring hoppers into the river. Trout can be conditioned to anticipate grasshoppers at specific times if work in the fields occurs at the same time on consecutive days.
Where Should I Use A Grasshopper Fly
Grasshoppers live in grassy fields. There are several reasons for this: first, grasshoppers are herbivores, so grassy fields and crops offer an abundant food source. Second, grassy areas offer grasshoppers the ideal habitat to reproduce and lay eggs. This makes rivers in arid climates, positioned next to grassy fields or agricultural food plots the ideal place to fish a grasshopper fly.
When hoppers are present, but there isn't a lot of wind, present your grasshopper fly close to banks. This is especially true of grassy banks. Look for areas that are similar to where you had good luck fishing during the salmon fly hatch. Casting tight to the banks, underneath overhanging vegetation, and areas with an undercut bank and vegetation are ideal. If it looks fishy, it probably is.
On days that are hot and windy, there will be grasshoppers all over the river, not just on the banks. Some of my best days fishing have been fishing hopper patterns on riffles mid river. Fish will lay in their prime lies off the back sides of riffles in deep pockets. These are areas that offer both protection from predators and a food source that is brought to the trout. Hoppers landing on the shallow riffle and drifting over ledges and into seams, where fast water meets slow water, will be gobbled with reckless abandon.
How to Fish a Hopper fly Pattern
Hopper fly presentation is a little different then your normal dry fly presentation. Grasshoppers are unwieldy flyers. Their body mass, in conjunction with their lack luster ability to fly will cause hoppers to make contact with the rivers surface in an abrupt way. For trout, this is equivalent to a dinner bell being rung. Hoppers hitting the surface of the river with force can be imitated in a similar way with an anglers hopper pattern. Plopping your fly into water is sometimes the best presentation and can be the difference between getting a strike or refusal.
The action imparted to your hopper fly can be achieved in a variety of ways. I prefer to twitch them. The presentation that works best for me is to present the grasshopper fly with an aggressive plop. Pause for 2-3 seconds, as terrestrial insects will often hit the water and freeze in shock for a few seconds. Then, I twitch the fly. I change up the speed and pause time lengths between each twitch, until I find the right combination.
Dead drifting hoppers can be effective to. This is true along banks and on riffles. Although, most of my luck has been incorporating some sort of movement into the fly.
Skating hoppers will often result in explosive strikes. To skate a hopper, I like to cast to the banks as tight as possible. Lift the rod tip and gently vibrate the rod back and forth. You can do this continuously, or skate and pause, skate and pause. This is similar to fishing a stonefly adult fly pattern.
All of these methods work. For me, some are better then others. Try different techniques and see what works well for you. We love readers comments and your own reviews of your favorite patterns, so tell us what grasshopper flies you prefer in the comments below.
7 of the Best Grasshopper Flies for Fly Fishing (in no particular order)
1. The Parachute Hopper
I love classic flies. The first two flies on this list are considered classics by many. Chances are, your grandfather fished these patterns. While many patterns come and go, classics are classics, because they are time tested and continue to produce on the water.
The parachute hopper in constructed out of all natural material. It has a dubbed body, turkey biot wing and pheasant tail legs. The parachute is wrapped in high buoyant natural grizzly hackle. The parachute hopper rides low in the water. The impression of the fly on the water is similar to a real grasshopper which floats low in the water too.
I like to use this fly because it's versatile. Depending on the hook size you choose, it can catch a wide variety of species. This fly in the smaller hook sizes is perfect for small warm water creeks. Bass, panfish, and crappie like this classic fly too.
The draw back to this pattern is that it doesn't float heavy nymphs. This fly is best fished solo. It can be fished on a longer lighter leader because it doesn't have the same mass that a foam bodied hopper pattern does. This makes it ideal for fishing slower water. Choose areas where finicky trout have ample opportunity to inspect a fly.
2. Daves Hopper
Dave Whitlock was one of the old guards of American fly fishing. Specializing in both trout and warm water species such as crappie, bass, and perch, he wrote a number of excellent books and created some classic fly patterns. Similar to the parachute hopper, Dave's hopper holds a special status in fly fishing place history. His hopper pattern can be found in most fly boxes. I remember this pattern as one of the first flies I added to my fly box.
Dave's hopper is tied with a deer hair head, hackle body, turkey biot wing, and pheasant tail legs. The natural material creates a profile that is realistic in appearance. This is a must have summer fly, and if you are fishing big rivers out West, Farm ponds down South, or small rivers out East, this fly pattern will work. It catches all types of fish.
This fly is far from being an unsinkable fly, which means it has its limitations. It doesn't float nymphs well, so this is best fished as a single fly on a longer leader. If you are looking for a fly that can be used for indicator fishing in a hopper dropper setup, then it would be better to consider others.
That being said, it has some great attributes. First, the deer hair head makes this fly perfect for twitching. Similar to a streamer tied with deer hair, the tightly packed deer hair head pushes lots of water. This is ideal for grabbing a trout's attention. Second, a sinking grasshopper fly is often an effective way to catch fish. Similar to the natural insect, this fly will become saturated and drown after a while. Natural grasshoppers do the same thing. Trout key in on this behavior. Similar to a spinner fall, they recognize that a dead or drowned insect is a non-moving insect, and thus an easy meal.
3. Morrish Hopper
Ken Morrish is a fly tying legend from the Pacific Northwest. He is known for many effective fly patterns that have been credited to his name. His Morrish's hopper is widely considered to be one of the best hopper patterns ever created. I fish this pattern a lot on Idaho's Teton river, and for whatever reason a pink body seems to work really well.
Morrish's hopper is tied with a multi layered foam body that is layered one upon the other. The way the foam is cut, it has an angular appearance. This gives the fly pattern a realistic profile from below. Where many patterns fail, they appear great from the top. This is designed to catch the angler at the fly shop. They fail to match the profile of a real grasshopper from below. Which I think, we would all agree that the fishes opinion is more valuable then our own. In addition, it features barred legs. When twitched, the legs are highly visible and add realistic movement to the fly.
I do like this fly a lot, and when you have clients or anglers who can really present a fly in precise places tight to the banks or under over hanging vegetation, I have witnessed the havoc that this pattern can wreak. Morrish's hopper is best fished as a single fly or in tandem with another dry fly. It does not float a dropper and that is its greatest limitation. For me, this is an important feature in a fly, so I would score this a pattern a little lower then some of the other flies on the list.
4.Raineys Hopper
Raineys Hopper is one of my favorite hopper flies. Similar to the morrish hopper, it is also tied with a solid foam body. The main difference, is it features turkey biot wing, and the shape of the foam is more of a solid rectangle. The pattern is tied with both solid rubber legs and barred rubber legs, giving it lots of natural movement in the water. This is especially true when it is manipulated by the angler, whether that's twitched or skated.
The solid rectangle head of the fly makes this pattern ideal for twitching, as it gives out a little more of signature on the water then the morrish hopper. I like this fly in all sizes big and small.
The larger size of this fly in the #4 or #6 is not only excellent as a hopper pattern, but actually one of my more effective adult salmon fly patterns. I discovered this one day when we ran out of our hot fly during the salmon fly hatch. I had a large Rainy's hopper in my fly box, that matched the same size as the larger salmon flies on the water. I tied it on to my less competent angler's leader. They made a poor cast and then an overly aggressive mend. The fly skated across the water and was devoured by a brown trout. I realized that the low riding fly in conjunction with the amount of water it pushed was almost identical to a salmon fly running across the water.
The larger size of this pattern can float small nymphs, so late in the hottest parts of August and September, dropping small attractor patterns like a copper john or lightning bug is always a good idea.
The smaller version of this fly is also effective, and I have lots of luck fishing it in small spring creeks as well as on large rivers. The smaller version is hard to see in the water, so it can be fished in tandem with another dry fly that is easy to see, or for the same price, there is a version of this fly that incorporates a hi-vis piece of foam on top.
5. Chubby Chernobyl
Without a doubt, the Chubby Chernobyl is one of the best patterns out there to cover a multitude of fishing situations. It's versatility is key, and it can be fished in many different ways. In my opinion, where it exceeds most other patterns, is it's incredible buoyant properties that make this fly nearly an unsinkable fly. If you are looking for a good point fly for your dry dropper rig, then stock up on all sizes and colors of this pattern.
There is an endless number of color combinations: black and red, black and purple, brown and orange, tan and red, tan and yellow, and even yellow and black to name a few. The giant antron wing makes this fly nearly an unsinkable fly. Add in generous amounts of foam for the body, and rubber legs for life like movement in the water, and this fly is capable of floating even the largest of rubber leg patterns.
The Chubby, as it is well known, can be fished as a single fly. It can also be skated, dead drifted, or twitched. I have had success late in the summer fishing this fly dead drifted on wide open slower flats, casting the fly into shallow rifles and letting it drift over drop offs, or just getting it super tight to banks with currents both fast and slow.
If you add a dropper to this pattern, then you have the perfect fly for indicator fishing. The excellent floating properties of this fly make it perfect for fishing a dry dropper rig in pocket water or along fast rough banks. You can add any nymph to it, from a rubber leg to a small perdigon, it is made for fishing droppers. My favorite combination is a chubby with a jig head cdc pheasant tail.
6. Streambank Sandwich Hopper
The stream banksandwich hopper is also a great fly for several reasons. Not only does it catch trout, it is very easy to see and floats a dropper well. It is also versatile, in a larger hook size, it can double as an stonefly adult fly pattern too.
The deer hair wing and multi layers of beefy foam can float droppers well. In addition, it isn't drowned in swift water, which is critical when fishing fast banks, or in tumbling pocket water.
Fish this pattern early in the season as the point fly in a dry dropper rig during the salmon fly hatch. Add a Pat's rubber leg to the fly and fish it tight to the banks. Get your flies as tight to stream side bushes as possible, swinging the dropper fly into cut banks to unsuspecting trout.
In the late summer, fish this fly solo on a shorter leader. If the top water fishing is lacking in action, then add a dropper fly. There are many options, but a caddis pupa or caddis emerger pattern is a good bet when most of the mayfly hatches have disappeared.
7. Five Minute Hopper
I love the five minute hopper. It has similar attributes to the Chubby Chernobyl. The generous poly yarn wing will float a wide variety of weighted nymphs. The main difference is that it has a more realistic grasshopper profile.
Choose this pattern when fish are turned onto grasshoppers, and you need a more imitative fly pattern. Pair it with a cdc pheasant tail, caddis emerger pattern, like the jig head caddis larva, or even a jig head hares ear to cover the surface and subsurface bite. Fish this on a shorter heavier leader to give you more accuracy and power to turn both flies over.
If the hopper bite is really hot, cut off the dropper and fish this fly as a single fly tight to the banks, out on flats, or along seam lines.