Ah So...Grasshopper

[The Mad Duck 0]

I was laying in bed last night,unable to sleep,and my mind wandered to fly tying as it sometimes does.   I have fished for big Blue Marlin and Tuna,but these days,I mainly Fly fish with a 3WT for Bass and Bream with a few trips to the mountains for trout yearly. That being said, I have been tying a lot of foam Bream flies lately. I seldom tie a predefined pattern,opting to incorporate anything I can to make my flies look as buggy as possible. The foam flies I have been tying are catching a lot of fish lately,but I still try to improve my game if I can. As I laid there,wondering if I would ever be able to fall asleep, I started about improvements I could make to these foam bugs. I'm sure this pattern is close to something that has been out there for years,and, cant claim it as my own, but it is an improvement on my tying, so....

Grasshopper.

 

[Mark Knapp 0]

You have chosen wisely. Now go out into the world and show us the fishes you have gathered.

[The Mad Duck 0]

Unfortunately, Not going to have time until next week. Got a large basement cleaning/hunting season put away in progress today. Got to clean and unrig about 10 dozen decoys, and then shelf them.

[Mark Knapp 0]

OH man, you see that's the difference between you and me. I try not to let things like that get in the way of what's really important. It's all about priorities. Now what did I do with my 3 wt. from last fall? (just kidding, I won't need a fly rod for at least another month).

[dogfacedoc 0]

One of my favorite patterns for creek bream. Sometimes with deer hair, sometimes without..

[petelangevin 0]

Both of those hopper patterns are awesome,   

[DarrellP 0]

On 4/11/2020 at 8:26 PM, dogfacedoc said:

One of my favorite patterns for creek bream. Sometimes with deer hair, sometimes without..

I use a similar pattern for Bream.  I dangle a nymph off of the hook bend about 18 inches below it.  Yours are more professional  looking, though!  I use bright colored posts out of synthetic or calf tail.

[DFoster 0]

On 4/11/2020 at 2:29 PM, Mark Knapp said:

OH man, you see that's the difference between you and me. I try not to let things like that get in the way of what's really important. It's all about priorities. Now what did I do with my 3 wt. from last fall? (just kidding, I won't need a fly rod for at least another month).

Life on the "edge of the arctic"-

[Mark Knapp 0]

57 minutes ago, DFoster said:

Life on the "edge of the arctic"-

It actually rained here yesterday, that melted a lot of snow. The ice still won't be gone for a while but at least now I can get out to the fish house again now that the big dump of snow we got has gone down some.

[dogfacedoc 0]

On 4/14/2020 at 5:59 AM, DarrellP said:

I use a similar pattern for Bream.  I dangle a nymph off of the hook bend about 18 inches below it.  Yours are more professional  looking, though!  I use bright colored posts out of synthetic or calf tail.

Started tying them with a line on the shank as an experiment in whether I get more hookups versus tying a dropper on the bend while on the water. I also do a bit of orange foam punched out as a hi viz dot to help see the fly.

Also that's a hell of a compliment, I appreciate it!

[DarrellP 0]

Just the facts, Sir.

 

I am gong to try a loop similar to were you have the line coming out., and do a loop to loop.  It may tangle.  We'll see.  I generally catch 6 to one on the nymph.  Unless it's muddy, then they hit the top more.

[The Mad Duck 0]

When I fish a Hoper/dropper rig, I have similar results with the dropper being more effective,BUT, I tend to catch larger fish on the hopper. I have also had success with a hopper and another top water fly in place of the dropper. I have a lot of scraps of foam left when I tie these hoppers, so, I will take a #14 or #16 curved scud hook and tie a small scrap of the foam onto the hook, then take a scrap of the tail end of a hackle and wrap it around the middle of the fly, and tie it off. These make great little flies to use as a trailer to a hopper. It also makes use of scraps that would be normally be thrown away...Win,Win!