Hook Hopper/dry fly hook (tied here on a #10), #6-10
Thread Red 6/0 Uni
Materials
2mm foam (underbody) Pink foam mm (Cut with a size 6 hopper wing cutter)
2mm foam (overwing and head) Tan fly tying foam (Cut with a small Chernobyl cutter)
Deer hair (underwing) Bleached elk hair (Small clump, cleaned and stacked. Use less than you think)
Silicone legs To taste (1 per side)
Foam strip (indicator) Yellow mm foam (1 small strip)
Super glue and Sally Hansen's Hard as Nails - (As needed)
How to tie it
Before mounting the hook, measure the cut pink foam body against the hook so the tip of the pink sits about one hook gap behind the bend, then push the foam over the hook point at that spot and set the hook in the vise.
Start the red thread and wrap back to just above the hook point. Pull the pink foam back under the shank and take a couple of firm wraps, then one more to secure it. The red thread band will show against the pink.
Advance the thread and take a couple of wraps to form the rear segment, then advance halfway to the eye and take two wraps for the middle segment, then take a couple of wraps just behind the eye. Three segments in all.
Trim the excess pink foam off close behind the eye and build a pronounced red thread head over the stub, then touch it with a drop of super glue.
Overwing: measure the tan foam so it extends just past the pink body, tie it in with a couple of wraps at the front and then a 45-degree wrap back to the first segment. Trim the front bulk back a little.
Underwing: tie a small stacked clump of bleached deer hair in just inside the length of the pink tail with a couple of loose wraps, pull tight and add one more wrap. Keep thread wraps to a minimum here. Trim the butts out and tidy the edges, then hit the wraps with a little more super glue.
Legs: drape a silicone leg over the thread on the near side and pull it into place, repeat on the far side, and take tight wraps through the deer hair to secure both.
Fold the tan foam back forward over the tie-down to form the head, take a couple of wraps to hold it, then tie in a short strip of yellow foam as an indicator post with two wraps.
Take a four-turn whip finish, cut the thread, trim the indicator post and the legs to length, and seal the thread wraps with Sally Hansen's so the legs stay put.