GUIDE NOTES:

HOPPERS:

Seasons:

Henry's Fork    August and early September

Yellowstone Season:     Yellowstone - August and early September

Madison Season:          July, August and early September

Habitat:                         Grassy fields bordering undercut banks, where the current is rela­tively slow.       

Presentation:                 Splat! It's perfectly acceptable for the fly to hit the water with a good slap. It's a good thing, too, because the size, weight and wind resistance of hopper flies can make them tough to cast, especially on the light rig you're likely to be carrying in anticipation of the evening rise.

                                    And don't rule out the dead-drift. When live hoppers are dropped in the water they often lie perfectly still. A standard dry-fly presentation with a hopper can be deadly.

Time:                            Hoppers are most active during the heat of the day, when caddis and mayfly activity falls off--a nice ar­rangement. Hope for a stiff breeze.

Size:                             #2 - #12 - Big-fish/big-bait theory often works for hoppers. A fat brown that can't be bothered with a mayfly may slam a minnow-size hopper.

Color:                           Body -Meadow hoppers (subfamily Conocophalinae) are about five-eighths of an inch long and greenish and are found in wet, grassy meadows and along the margins of ponds and streams Shield-back hoppers (subfamily Decticinae) are usually an inch or more long, brownish in color and are found in dry woods and adjoining fields.
There are local variations both in the species present and in their coloration. Hoppers that live in rocky terrain with a predominant growth of sage may be bluish gray, but those that inhabit the borders of hardwood forests can be almost black.

Patterns:                      

Strategy:                       A rise to a hopper is opportunistic, and you may have to study a stretch of water for some time to locate a feeding fish.

                                    Try casting few times to a likely looking spot and then move on. Hoppers present the fish with a one-shot opportunity, and if it's going to take, it will quickly. When you fish hoppers, it's the middle of a summer day, and trout won't be cruising the shallows or lying in a fast current waiting for insects. Slow currents running in protected, preferably shaded places are lies where big fish are often found.

                                    Work a fairly thin strip along the bank, but on smaller streams where nothing is very far from shore, you can work the water as you normally would with a dry fly.

                                Dunked live hoppers cause quite a commotion. As it drifts it will try to jump or fly out of its predicament, but it won't swim. Try twitching without dragging. Keep a low profile and use all the stealth you can to get close to the fish.

The most important hoppers to the angler are the, or short-horned grasshoppers, which include most of the hoppers found in fields and along roadsides from mid-summer until fall. Two species in this family, the Romalae microptera in the South and the Brachystola magna in the West, are among the largest North American grasshoppers, growing to as much as two-and-one-half inches, or about as long as a #2 streamer hook. However, the pygmy grasshoppers, or grouse locusts (family Tetrigidae), are usually between one-half and three-quarters of an inch long.