HOPPERS & CRICKETS

SUMMERTIME HOPPER

Whilst there are over 2000 species of Grasshoppers and Locust in Australia there are really only three "hoppers" that are of significance to fly fishers.
Hoppers are normally fished as dry flies but it is worth noting that as some hoppers drown and sink and consequently fishing a hopper pattern wet or drowned can result in some spectacular success.

General form and colour together with presentation and how you fish them will help you fool the fish. Whether fished dry or wet by in large all hopper patterns should be fished in the current with as little line drag as possible or with occasional short jerking strips or twitches.

The first hopper of significance to fly fishers is of the sub-family Phaulacridium and commonly referred to as “Wingless Hoppers” even though the adult stages do have either sub-wings or fully developed wings. From a fly tiers point of view these hoppers are around 20 mm in length when mature and the dominant colour is a greyish brown with the ventral side of the abdomen tending toward a creamy straw colour. They have stout bodies (4:1) and strong hinged legs that may be tinged orange on the outside and / or yellow on the inside.  GO TO BULLET HEAD FOAM HOPPER
The second significant hoppers are from the sub-family Praxibulus and from a fly fishers point of view are best described as “Trouser–brace Hoppers”. The reason for this description is that all members of this sub-family exhibit a dark grey line along each side of the dorsal side of the abdomen. From a fly tiers point of view these hoppers are up to 30 mm in length and the dominant colour can range from green through to a greyish brown. The ventral side of the abdomen tends to be a creamy straw colour and as indicated above there is a dark grey line along each side of the dorsal side of the abdomen darker. They have stout bodies (4:1) and strong-hinged legs that are the same general colour as the body. Their wings are mere stubs.
The third hoppers, and generally the most significance to fly fishers are actually a Locust from the sub-family Gastrimargus and are commonly described as the “Yellow Winged Hoppers”. Whilst wingless hoppers and trouser-brace hoppers generally only hop/fly up to 4 meters at a time yellow winged hoppers can take to the wind and flights from 10-50 metres at a time are the norm. When they appear, like most locust, they are generally in large numbers. They are very large when mature being from 30-40 mm in length and whilst the dominant colour is green as they mature their colouring can lean toward browns and even charcoal. In flight large yellow wings banded by dark grey at the tips dominate them. From a fly tying point of view the ventral side of the abdomen tends to be a cream or buff in colour and they have wing casings extending beyond the body. They have stout bodies (5:1) and strong-hinged legs and the underside of the thighs range from pink to claret.  GO TO YELLOW WINGED HOPPER

First brought to my attention by members of the Jassid Fly Fishing Club in Tasmania this pattern was found on the Sexyloops website. Because of the materials used this fly floats well even in turbulent water. Add to that and its impressionistic appeal and you have a fly that is well worth considering as one of your standard hopper representations.
 

MATERIALS:

A) Wind the thread in touching turns to the bend of the hook. Cut a piece of 3-4mm closed cell foam that is about 3/4 the width of the gape of the hook, about 1.5 times as long as the hook shank and finished with a V at the tail end. Tie the closed cell foam on top of the hook shank with the V extending behind the fly.
B) Tie in a bunch of  deer hair on top of the closed cell foam so that the tips extends the same distance behind the hook as the closed cell foam.
C) Tie in a knotted hackle leg on each side of the body with the feet extending down and behind the fly. Take the thread back to just in front of where the deer hair wing is tied in and form a dubbing loop being careful to insure that at the point where the two sides of the loop leave the hook shank that they are adjacent to each other. If the two sides of the loop are separated by the body at the point that the loop leaves the body then the loop will not hold the dubbing material.
D) Using the "hot legs" method load the dubbing loop with deer hair that has been crushed in the palm of the hand and form the loaded dubbing loop into a deer hair rope.
E) Wind on "hot legs" rope forward in touching turn. Tie the "hot legs" rope off and trim the excess. Hold the deer hair out of the way whilst you build up a neat head. Whip finish and varnish the head. Stroke the deer hair legs down and back to represent the legs and trim any that look out of place.