YELLOW WINGED HOPPER, GASTRIMARGUS

HOPPERS & CRICKETS

YELLOW WINGED 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.

As the name implies this hopper is my representation of the natural of the same name. Its tied in the same way as a stimulator except that a yellow under wing and feather slip wings replace the deer hair wing of the stimulator. It's a good hopper pattern to tie on because it floats in the surface film much the same way as the unfortunate natural does and it is reasonably visible.

MATERIALS:

Hook - Size 8 -12 2X dry fly hook
Thread - Olive or Brown
Tail - Light natural coloured deer hair
Body & head - Cream dubbing
Ribbing - Silver tinsel
Body hackle - Grizzly hackle
Under wing - Yellow hackle fibres
Over wing - Turkey brown or Bronze mallard feather slips
Head hackle - Brown hackle

A) Wind thread along the hook shank in touching turns and return the thread half way up the hook shank. Tie in a tail of deer hair that extends behind the hook a distance equal to about half the length of the shank of the hook and so that the butt ends are tied down as underbody. Tie in a length of ribbing material. The original stimulator recipe specifies copper wire as the ribbing. I have used fine silver tinsel so as not to add any weight to my dry fly.
B) Dub a uniform body over the deer hair under body. Tie in a hackle directly in front of the body.
C) Take two turns of hackle at the tie in position and then Palmer the hackle back along the fly to the bend of the hook. Hold the hackle in place with your left hand and pick up the silver tinsel with your right hand. Wind the silver tinsel forward locking the hackle into place and forming 4 or 5 even segments along the body. Tie the tinsel off in front of the body. Trim the surplus hackle and the silver thread with a blade rather than scissors. By using a blade you wont inadvertently trim away any of the body hackles. Tie in an under wing of yellow hackle fibres
D) Tie in a pair of feather slip wings directly in front of the body. Tie a hackle in directly in front of the wings.
E) Dub a cone shaped head along the front third of the fly.
G) Take two turns of the hackle at the tie in position and then Palmer the hackle forward to just behind the eye of the hook. Build up a neat head whip finish and varnish the head.