Terrestrial · Order Orthoptera
Grasshopper
Also called Hopper.
Short answer
Grasshoppers are land insects that fall into rivers through late summer, and trout eat them greedily because they are large, slow and helpless. Hopper fishing runs from July to September, works best on windy afternoons along grassy banks, and is the most forgiving big dry-fly fishing of the year.
What a grasshopper is
A grasshopper is not a hatch at all — it is an accident. Hoppers live in the grass beside the river, and when the wind blows or a cow walks through, they end up in the water, where they are large, conspicuous and unable to swim. By August a trout living below a hay meadow has eaten enough of them to have an opinion, and will move a long way for one. This is why hopper fishing is so forgiving: the fish are not inspecting a mayfly for the right number of tails, they are reacting to a big meal that is about to drift past.
- Hook size
- Hook sizes 6 to 12
- Colour
- Tan, yellow, olive and pink; pink and purple foam versions work far better than they should
The stages trout eat
- Adult
- The only stage that matters. Fished dry, tight to the bank, with no finesse required.
- Drowned
- A sunk hopper fished just under the surface catches fish that have refused the floating one.
When does the grasshopper hatch?
| When | What is happening |
|---|---|
| July | Hoppers reach a size worth eating. The fishing starts quietly and improves weekly. |
| August | Peak. Hot, windy afternoons along grassy banks produce the best big-dry fishing of the year. |
| September | Still excellent, and often better — fewer anglers and trout feeding hard before autumn. |
| First frost | Over, abruptly. A hard frost ends hopper season in a night. |
Emergence dates move with latitude, altitude and the weather of a given year. Treat these windows as a shape, not a diary, and check a local report before you travel.
Where it matters
Anywhere a river runs through grass or hay meadow. The Rockies are famous for it — Montana, Wyoming, Idaho — but Driftless spring creeks in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa produce hopper fishing every bit as good, at a fraction of the cost.
Fly fishing in Montana Fly fishing in Wyoming Fly fishing in Wisconsin Fly fishing in Minnesota Fly fishing in Nebraska
How to fish it
Cast tight to the bank and let it slap down. This is the one time in fly fishing where a delicate presentation is wrong — a hopper hits the water hard, and the noise is part of the trigger. Fish the windward bank, because that is where the wind is blowing insects in. Hang a beadhead nymph two to three feet below and you have the hopper-dropper, which is probably the most effective summer rig in America.
- Let it land hard. A delicate hopper presentation is a wasted one.
- Fish the windward bank — that is where the insects are being blown in.
- A hard frost ends the season overnight. Do not plan a hopper trip for October.
Flies that imitate it
Each of these is a card in the deck, and each has a full page in Our Fly-brary.
Keep reading
- Dry fly vs nymph — which stage to fish, and when
- Why trout refuse your fly — usually the wrong stage, not the wrong pattern
- Best time of day to fly fish — the daily logic behind the table above
- Our Fly-brary — every fly in the deck, explained