Snorkel Hopper

Several years ago I was in the middle of what seemed like the perfect fishing to work ratio.  See, I was laid off, so there was no work and mostly fishing.  It was late summer, the hoppers were abundant, and I could usually rely on catching at least one hopper out of each fishy spot in the river.  After the first fish was caught, the following fish were much more difficult to trick with my A-team stuff.  They would come up and give the foam offering a thorough look over before descending to the bottom of the small, but deep, hole.  

So what we have here is a fish that is active enough to make it to about 6 inches under the surface, but not commit to eating that floating cheeseburger.  Time to get to the tying bench.  I had been fishing with good friend and certified Fishologist Bryan Gregson, who concurred that I needed to invest some time on the vise to create a super sink hopper pattern.  

My inner bass fisherman came out and I started with a 90 degree jig hook and barbell eyes to make the sucker get down fast and ride hook point up.  I also used materials with NO buoyant properties, and from there, I just started throwing stuff on a hook.  It looked like a hopper with a snorkel popping out of the top, so I named it the Snorkel Hopper, now available through Rainy's flies.

I still love to fish hoppers dry, but when the window shopping begins, this baby gets tied on.  It also works really well as an anchor fly on a Czech nymphing rig.

~Cheech

Hook: Gamakatsu 111 90 degree jig hook

Thread: Uni 6/0 - tan or olive

Barbell: Allen Flyfishing barbell eyes - size to match hook

Hot Spot (Tail): Fly Tyer's Dungeon shuck yarn - orange

Body: Nature's Spirit fine natural dubbing - callibaetis for tan, baetis for olive

Ribbing: Fly Tyer's Dungeon bug legs - brown

The wing has 3 layers

Bottom layer: 4 strands of pearl krystal flash

Middle layer: Pheasant tail

Top layer: Rainy's premium craft fur - tan or olive

Legs: Rainy's round rubber legs - natural or olive

Head: Same dubbing as the body