Dave's Hopper

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steely34
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2010/04/02 14:53:38 (permalink)

Dave's Hopper

Quite a few years ago, while on the Letort, I threw one of these out there and had one of the largest browns I probably ever had on take it. He came out of the 'cress and completely took me by surprise and - of course- I lost him.  Then over all the excitement -I fell in! Should've seen that act! Anyway - there are easier hopper patterns to tie with foam materials but this is one I kind of enjoy tying - thought I put it in here. One of Dave Whitlock's patterns - kind of a classic hopper tie.

1. Materials:
To start off with the hook package shown is wrong. Don't know how it got in there. The hook I used is TMC 2302 - size 6.



2. Start the thread slightly behind the hook eye and wrap towards the rear. Tie in a small clump of red deer hair. Pull the hair butts up and out of the way, wrap forward and tie down the butts. Then using open wraps - wrap the thread back to the tie in point.







3. Tie in a thin piece of McFly Foam and wrap it to the front, then back again. Make a small loop of the foam and tie this loop in. Clip off excess and tie in a brown hackle stem.







4. Dub on the thread bright yellow dubbing and wrap forward. Palmer the hackle forward and tie off. Then clip short the hackle.







5. Coat a slip of turkey with head cement or equiv., let dry and tie this in on top.



6. Make the legs of the hopper from 10 - 12 strands of pheasant tail by mounting the tail in the vice. (You should do this before you start tying the fly of course unless you have another vice handy)
Then take a pair of tying tweezers, lay them on top of the fibers after you pulled them out away from the stem. Twist the tweezers around the fibers and grab the pheasant fibers with the tweezers. Pull them through the hole and once the end of the tweezers are through, open them and pull the rest of the fiber ends through - creating a knot. Coat this entire "leg" with head cement.











7. Tie in the legs on each side of the body.



8. Stack and tie in a clump of deer hair on top - do not let it spin.



9. Tie in two more clumps of deer hair just in front of the other and let these clumps spin on the shank. It helps if you tie these on with the butts toward the rear so when you trim the head you know where the "wing" tips are on the first clump of deer hair. No need to stack these next two clumps of hair. I helps alot in allowing the hair to spin if you comb out the underfur of the hair before you tie it in. Just open your scissors a bit and run the tips through the clump of hair prior to tying it in.





10. Whip finish and trim the head using a thin razor blade.







"They say you forget your troubles on a trout stream, but that's not quite it..... you begin to see where your troubles fit into the grand scheme of things, and suddenly they're just not such a big deal anymore."

John Gierach

#1

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    Fisherlady2
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    RE: Dave's Hopper 2010/04/02 16:04:11 (permalink)
    Allow me to say, as a person who doesn't tie flies but appreciates art... what you all do with your tying is incredible!!!
    #2
    Flyguy638
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    RE: Dave's Hopper 2010/04/03 21:33:32 (permalink)
    nice job
    #3
    woodnickle
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    RE: Dave's Hopper 2010/04/04 07:34:55 (permalink)
    That should catch something! Very nice.

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    bingsbaits
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    RE: Dave's Hopper 2010/04/04 08:23:15 (permalink)
    Nice....
    Gotta try this pattern.
    I haven't done much with deer hair yet...
     
    There is only 1 turkey slip correct ?
    Kinda folded in the middle and tied dead center on top ?
    Trimmed to a point in the middle ?

    "There is a pleasure in Angling that no one knows but the Angler himself". WB
     
     


    #5
    steely34
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    RE: Dave's Hopper 2010/04/04 08:39:09 (permalink)
    Yeah bing - that's correct. 1 slip, tied on top center and trimmed to a point or semi circle. Coated with head cement and let dry. Probably the hardest thing about this one is making the legs. I hope I described it good enough. There is a tool (kind of a crochete type tool) but I found that tweezers are just as good. You can also buy these legs already made up. I always make up a bunch before I begin tying them. Again - it's not as good as a foam hopper as far as  floating high and durability but the bugginess of it - I like better.  I don't really tie a whole lot of trimmed deer hair type flies either but I have found that the most important thing is to comb out the underfur before stacking. Helps me alot in allowing the hair to "spin", I take two or three loose wraps around the clump, then while pulling up and tightening the thread on the near side, gradually release your grip on the hair as it spins around the hook shank. 

    "They say you forget your troubles on a trout stream, but that's not quite it..... you begin to see where your troubles fit into the grand scheme of things, and suddenly they're just not such a big deal anymore."

    John Gierach

    #6
    doubletaper
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    RE: Dave's Hopper 2010/04/06 10:34:05 (permalink)
    steely, great job. if i ever get the time to learn how to spin and trim deer hair, i'll give it a try.
    kinda messy when i tried the last time.

    http://streamsidetales.bl...015/05/helles-yea.html
    it's not luck
    if success is consistent 





    #7
    Loomis
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    RE: Dave's Hopper 2010/04/06 11:28:51 (permalink)
    Nice steely, love the letort

    It humbles anyone who is a glorified truck chaser....and those who aren't.
    #8
    flyfisherman22
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    RE: Dave's Hopper 2010/04/06 11:48:55 (permalink)
    your making it look too easy ... only problem i know im going to have is the spinning of the deer hair, havent done that before, but ill give it a shot..

    For the supreme test of a fisherman is not how many fish he has caught, not even how he has caught them, but what he has caught when he has caught no fish."
    ~ John H. Bradley
    #9
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