Knowing that trout are opportunists, and that as the seasons progress, the available food source for the trout that live in our driftless streams morphs throughout the year. One of my goals has been to understand at a basic level why things work the way they do in an effort to use nature to my advantage to further my goal; of catching trout. With that said it is getting to be that wonderful time of the year when the hop-ass winged-wonders arrive in droves. The Grasshoppers.

To find the best conditions for mobile grasshoppers I chose to fish later in the day getting to the water around 4pm. I know it is still early and that as the next month and a half progresses there will be better opportunities to fish hopper patterns but I my goal was to scout out a place I believed would yield a plague. Grasshoppers are ectotherms, meaning they use external sources to regulate their body temperature, such as the sun. Knowing this and the fact that it has been much cooler recently made me choose the height of the day for the search. Hopper patterns will be best fished later in the day after the naturals have a chance to warm themselves to the minimum 101.5 degree mark, signaling activity. Note: the graph below compares different specie healthy adult body temperature.

I rigged a F*** ****** (shhh…it will come in time) with a Sparkle Larvae hanging off the end about 18 inches and put it in the first drink I arrived at. Two casts later I was pulling in the first trout of the afternoon, a beautiful 10in S.E. Minnesota brown trout. I kept swinging and pulled a few more tiny ones out all on the Sparkle Larvae, I did get one strike with the secret weapon but the Sparkle Larvae was the clear winner today. Going on six trout nymphed from the same spot I felt kind of selfish but I was the only one around, move on? Nope.

I put my flies in again hoping to bring lucky number seven to hand when I saw the take, with a #16 barbless scud hook I’ve found that if I set the hook too sharply that it pops right off but if I make the hook set a slow but immediate response the hook sticks, something to keep in mind for winter trout nymphing. Back to “Lucky”, I set the hook in the slow manner, difficult for me at times, as I brought the fish in I saw what I thought was it’s shadow elongated by the angle of the sun. It was not an elongated shadow, no this was the real deal which I became very aware of as the fish came easily in to me and promptly turned and took off. Normally a bit of a run is cool but this was awesome, ran three or four times and really pulled hard. At this point I got in the stream and landed this fish downstream before the stream turned into nothing but a riffle. Big Fish (18in)…Small Fly(#16), just a thought for any of you who like to catch “large” trout.

After landing number seven I proceeded to take two more making the count nine and I hadn’t even looked around for what I came for, the hoppers. I put the deadly weapons away and moved downstream but found that a bovine presence had altered the stream to a boderline unsuitable condition for fishing, however I was greeted with each step by about a dozen hoppers in their early stages bolting in every direction. Hoppers go through six stages of development beginning with a nymph and ending with a fully winged adult. I was finding several thousand around me in the first two stages and with varying color. I moved upstream and rounded out my time on the water working towards a brook trout spot I knew of that is well hidden and in the height of the summer the only thing getting back there other than me are deer. I picked up a beatutiful Brookie and kicked out to head home.

Slide Show

Note: On order, Beavertail Foam Cutters for Hopper bodies. Thanks to Mat at the Driftless Angler for a few ideas and being a nice person. I’ve got a few ideas cookin’, keep your eyes peeled for something awesome soon to come. 

Slide Show

• Hook: Dai-Riki 135 Scud Hook #16-#20
• Thread: Any Color 8/0 or 70 Denier
• Tail: 2 Strands of Krystal Flash at a 90 Degree Splay
• Body: SM Gold Holo Tinsel
• Rib: SM Gold Wire
• Wing Case: Large Silver Tinsel
• Thorax: Peacock Herl

For the life of me I cannot remember where I saw this pattern but it was engrained in my brain after reading about it. I should begin by saying that this is a variant on that patter stuck in my brain, in that some of the materials I used are a slightly different color.

Crimp barb, place bead on hook and start thread. I did add just a few turns of weight behind the bead prior to starting the thread. Tie thread back to hook bend and tie in two tail sections as long as the hook shank. I chose to use a red krystal flash in the picture above. Tie in the gold wire and then the holo tinsel, wrap thread forward to just behind the bead. Note: Tie in the wire and tinsel with as few thread wraps as possible to decrease the bulk at that point in the fly, you want it to look skiny and streamlined all the way to the thorax without a large bump at the tail end of the fly. Wrap the tinsel forward being careful not to break the tinsel and to cover the entire body leaving no thread showing. Wrap the rib to the same point and tie off. Tie in the thicker peice of tinsel and then the peacock herl. Wrap a few wraps of peacock herl to form the thorax and then tie of at the bead. Pull the thicker tinsel forward over the herl to form the wingcase and tie off. Whip finish and your done. If anyone knows where the real instructions for this pattern are let me know, for now this is what I’ve got.