The Hoppers are coming! The Hoppers are coming! Get those boxes of foam ready and stock up on floatant now. We’re seeing signs that suggest another great terrestrial season. The Grasshopper bite was just getting started towards the end of this first of two weeks and if it’s anything like last year’s Hopper action, there’s no end in sight. With all that being said, the Hopper fishing isn’t red hot quite yet but the early signs are promising and it is so much fun. We are hopeful! The leaps, drive by’s, bites, and near bite misses are great fishing entertainment fun because you can see the fish go for it. Be patient and let them bite it. A little twitching can help attract them too. The action can be on the edge but also in the middle of the river and near boulders and a variety of places. Experiment!
A few nice ones have been caught on the dries these two weeks. Although we’re all very excited about Grasshoppers don’t forget about some of the other smaller Attractor Dry Flies like the Purple Haze and Purple Craze, Delektable Chubbyness, Stimulators, Dornan’s Water walkers, Delektable CDC Elk Hair Caddis, Delektable Sparkle Bugs and “X” Caddis, and the Delektable Twisted Baby. In addition PMD’s and Sallies were still on this past first week. As far as the terrestrials go the More-Or-Less hopper, Thunder Thighs, Panty Dropper Hopper, Yeagers 409, Delektable Flying Ant and Bloom’s Stealth Ant are all good choices.
The Nymphs have been and likely always will be the most effective way to catch fish. Size #16 has become more frequent on the smaller nymphs. Delektable Lil’ Spankers, Delektable Hammerhead Jig Hooks, Delektable Lime and Lemon Juice, Formerly Known as Prince, Various Prince Patterns, Psycho Princes in a variety of colors, Shop Vacs, Pat’s Rubberlegs, Lightning Bugs, $3 Dips and Lemon Drops have all been successful on the bead head side of things.
The Streamer bite has been sort of hit or miss but there’s plenty of carnivorous little Brown Trout swimming around out there. Sculpin patterns are your best bet, smaller darker flies like Mini Loop Sculpins, Delektable Screamers, Zonkers, JR’s Conehead and John Bond’s Dragon should move some nice trout.
