{{+1}}Bass foam hopper{{-1}}

This is the big brother of my foam hopper which is a formidable trout fly.

When I converted it for use as a bass and tropical fly fishing I added a sparkle chenille under-body and grossed it up dramatically so that it would withstand the aggressive nature of fish like Australian bass and tropical mangrove jack.

Materials

Hook	Thread	Under-body	Tail & over-body	Wing	Legs
Because this fly is equally home in fresh water and tropical salt water I always tie these flies on stainless steel hooks.	Rod building or Wapsie 210 Denier thread	Sparkle chenille, estaz chenille or similar	Closed cell foam	Deer hair or crystal flash	Rubber or silicon legs

Process

A	Cut a length of closed cell foam which is as wide as the gape of the hook with a sharp V at one end. For this #2 hook trout fly I have used 2 layers of 2mm closed cell foam laminated together with contact adhesive.

B	Wind the thread from the 95% position to the bend of the hook and back to the 2/3 position. The colour thread you use can be the same as the body material, contrasting or can be a trigger colour associated with hoppers in your fishery. Understanding hooks Tie a length of sparkle or a similar product in at the bend of the hook and wind it forward to the 2/3 position in touching turns. Tie the chenille off and trim the excess.

C	Put a couple of drops of super glue along the area where the foam body is to be tied in. Tie the foam in tightly at the two thirds position and bind it all the way to the eye of the hook. The tail of the foam should be around 1/2 the length of the hook.

D	Tie a bunch of deer hair or crystal flash in at the thorax are so as to represent a wing on the hopper. Put another drop of super glue on where the wing is tied in. Tie in a length of estaz chenille or similar product and wind the thread back to the two thirds position in tight touching turns. Tie the estaz chenille off and trim the excess.

E	Pull the foam over the front forming a bulbous head and tie it off at the 2/3 position. Make a couple of multi hitches by hand at the 2/3 position so as to tie the thread off and trim the excess thread. Multi hitches by hand

F	Using a darning needle thread rubber legs or silicon legs on the two opposite horizontals making sure that the needle and the legs when they are pulled through penetrate through the closed cell foam that was bound down in step 'B'. Legs on flies Trim the excess foam away so that the back of the wing casing finished in a V that overlaps about half of the deer hair wing.