HOP ‘TIL YOU DROP: NEW DRY FLIES FROM BLUE LINE CO.
By A.M. Giacoletto
Peak summer is a fantastical time. Sunny days allow for flip-flops, man-tanks, and slushies at the county fair, and in the American West, it brings rodeos and orange glowing sunsets against the mountain peaks. Fly fishers love summer for various reasons, ranging from abundant hatches to wader-less wet-wading in cool water on a hot day, yet one bug, in particular, makes the Samuel L. Jackson in every other movie-level appearance annually: grasshoppers.
I first learned dry fly fishing with hopper patterns as a kid and to this day it’s one of my favorite patterns to float down cut banks or overhanging tree branches on the banks of pristine western rivers. It taught me the fundamentals of fly fishing, presentation, reading water, and hunting big fish around structures while also growing my love for dry fly fishing.
Like Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavors, when it comes to hoppers, one can never have too many. The wonderful Blue Line customers have sat on the edge of their seats far too long waiting for BLC to release a hopper pattern – just one. The release of our thick terrestrial patterns is more anticipated than 1999’s STAR WARS: EPISODE I – THE PHANTOM MENACE. Unlike The Phantom Menace, there are no Jar-Jar Binks-es nor swathes of disappointed Gen-X-ers with 421 still-in-the-package action figures in their basement with this debut. After an arduous research and development process, we are finally ready to unveil not one hopper pattern, but three new ones, so take a seat and read-up on your next wave of grasshopper patterns. I can personally attest to the quality of these three flies.
Every American car dealer needs a quarter-ton truck model and every fly company needs a chubby or attractor foam bug with a poofy wing. Tied on a size 12 hook this fly comes in brown and black. Fish it as an ant, hopper, cicada, stonefly, beetle, or whatever – chubbies hunt, and this one is no exception to the rule. Honestly, what did fly fishers do before foam bugs were invented? Out of the three new flies, the Micro Chub has the most generic/attractor-type application. It’s a derivative of numerous food sources and flies so it's fishable spring through fall, and possibly longer depending on the fishery. It’s also smaller than the other two flies on this list, so when fish appear weary of larger hopper patterns this presents a slimmer, less disruptive option for the shy guys.
The Hopper Popper (a.k.a. “The Poppy Lock Stockings”) is part hopper, part popper… if the name didn’t suggest that already. I challenge you to find a better floating large dry fly for big, turbo droppers such as BLC’s numerous crawfish patterns or streamers; go ahead – I’ll wait… No? Couldn’t find one? Interesting. Anyway, this sucker floats longer than Betty White’s lifespan and splashes more than your toddlers in a wading pool jacked up on Capri Suns. I’ll make a wild guess that bass eat this puppy too. To my surprise, this fly produced numerous eats during the testing phase. I thought the size would limit strikes to big fish, but trout of all sizes took regular swings at the Popper Hopper. This is a unique fly with various applications to one’s fly selection and I recommend bringing it to situations beyond hopper fishing. Again, it floats a dropper as well as any dry on the market and it can be fished as forage beyond hoppers (it’ll work as a popper/frog presentation among other things). Pop into action with the Hopper Popper in tan, tan/green, and tan/yellow on a size six hook.
Some random dude with the last name Hudson tied this fly (is he important or something?) Out of these three new patterns this one fishes the best as a hopper itself. During the R and D process, the fish clearly ate the Hudson Hopper during the peak hopper bites more consistently than any other pattern. The other two certainly worked, but when natural hoppers fluttered around the banks during the heat of the day, the Hudson Hopper fished best. It comes in tan, peach, and olive in three different sizes: six, eight, and ten.
Weeks remain in hopper season. Buy now so you don’t miss out on the fun with our three new hopper patterns and send us pictures of your hopper success to Blue Line’s Instagram. Go catch a few fish.