Bodkin / Patterns

Grasshopper (Classic)

Terrestrial · Trout · Smallmouth Bass · Intermediate · 1 version

Classic Recipe

  • Hook 2XL dry fly / hopper hook, 8-12
  • Thread yellow 6/0

Materials

  • Tail Red hackle fibres (small bunch)
  • Body Yellow floss or yarn (full shank)
  • Body hackle Brown cock hackle, palmered and trimmed (1 feather)
  • Wing Mottled turkey quill slip, lacquered, tied tent-style (1 slip)
  • Head/collar hackle Grizzly and brown cock hackle (1 each)

How to tie it

  1. Tie in a small bunch of red hackle fibres for the tail at the bend, about half a shank long.
  2. Tie in a brown hackle by its tip at the bend, then wind a plump yellow floss/yarn body forward to the front quarter of the shank.
  3. Palmer the brown hackle forward over the body in 4-5 open turns, tie off and clip the fibres short top and bottom to suggest the segmented abdomen. This is the classic Joe's Hopper body.
  4. Cut a section of lacquered mottled turkey quill, round the tip, and tie it in tent-style flat over the body extending to the tail for the folded wings.
  5. Tie in one grizzly and one brown hackle at the head and wind them together, 3-4 turns, for a bushy collar that floats the fly.
  6. Whip finish at the eye and cement.

Tying videos

← All fly patterns