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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.

As the name implies this hopper is my representation of the natural of the same name. It's 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.

• Hoppers that are significant to fly fishers in Australia

Materials

Process

A	Wind thread along the hook shank in touching turns and return the thread half way up the hook shank. Understanding hooks 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. 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 under body. Deer hair tails

B	Dub a uniform body over the deer hair under body. Single strand dubbing Tie in a hackle directly in front of the body. Dry fly hackles

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. Palmering hackles 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. Body segments 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. tying in dry fly feather slip wings Tie a hackle in directly in front of the wings.

E	Dub a cone shaped head along the front third of the fly.

F	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.

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