Foam hoppers

[MTFlyJunkie 0]

I'm having some issues with a triple stack Chernobyl that I worked up I wasn't getting hooked up with on a bunch of strikes and these were the ones that weren't short strikes. Looking for any advice if anyone has run into the same issue.

[michiganborn 0]

Maybe the fly's too big for the fish you're targeting...?

[MTFlyJunkie 0]

You know I thought about that but I threw a different hopper pattern no foam a size up the day before without any issues

[michiganborn 0]

Well hmm..... All I can really offer is that what works the day before doesn't always work the next day.

Maybe you should try a different style of fly, and see if you can get a more aggressive strike?

[fshrmanms 0]

Three layers? are you using a wide gap hook?

[MTFlyJunkie 0]

I'm using a 200R that is along the lines of what I was thinking am I using the wrong hook for that much foam?

[perchjerker 0]

The gape of the hook should not be an issue if he is tying them with the foam on top of the hook, as is customary.

[JSzymczyk 0]

sometimes flies which are TOO bouyant get pushed away on the take. Trout (I ASSume you are talking about trout, based on context) don't inhale a food item the same way a bass does. I've had the same thing as you describe happen to me. Switch to a softer, lower floating pattern and the takes turn into hookups. In my little mind, three layers of "standard" 2mm foam is an awful lot of foam.

[williamhj 0]

When I get 'strikes' without any hook-ups I wonder if the fly just isn't right. The fish goes for the fly but changes his mind at the last second, looks like a strike but is just the fish turning around. If the hook gape is open enough this would be my guess.

[MTFlyJunkie 0]

It's thinner foam than the norm but I am experimenting for dropping some heavier nymphs underneath it kind of trying to see what they'll take but still be effective as a fly and not just an indicator.

[phg 0]

My experience with trout is that a push usually indicates that the fly is one size too large. Also, on larger patterns, like an eastern green drake, I've found that trout expect the fly to fold when hit. Since most imitations don't fold, like the real fly does, this keeps them from getting enough of it into their mouths to get hooked. It isn't so much that trout are lazy, as it is they are creatures of habit. If the last dozen green drakes they ate all folded on being hit, the next one should too....

 

I'm inclined to agree that 3 layers of foam is probably too buoyant. A hopper that lands in water sinks in rather deeply.

[Moscow 0]

We've had several tyers in the club stop using the curved shank hooks for hoppers and chernobyls for this very reason. I also tend to off set the hook slightly. Not sure it helps but using the straight shanked hook as opposed to the 200R style definitely does, at least on cutthroats.

 

Moscow

[tidewaterfly 0]

There could be several reasons you're not getting hook-ups as the others have said. I'm very much in agreement with JSzymczyk, and particularly with hopper imitations. Mayflies & other aquatics may sit on the surface film, but terrestrials usually don't. They'll be lower in the film and eventually as phg said, they'll start to sink at some point. I'm not a big fan of that 200R for foam patterns anyway, IMO the gape is too narrow. Either use a heavier style hook with a wider gap or less foam layers. Try the 2312 or 2302 Tiemco.

[perchjerker 0]

Given the bouyancy of foam, and assuming that 2mm closed cell foam is used, adding a third layer would be assumed to have only a miniscule effect on the depth to which the body would further sink---I posit that it would be measured only in microns (1/1000mm). I venture that the problem would more likely be associated with hook size, type, method of attachment to the hook; or,the nature of the foam itself.