In early summer, as the weather warms and the bugs become more active, one of my favorites bugs starts jumping around and finding its way into streams where fish wait eagerly for a big nutritious meal. I am talking about grasshoppers. Hoppers are prolific around the world, and they thrive in grassy areas like the ones next to many trout streams.
One extremely effective way to fish hopper flies is to rig what is called a hopper-dropper—also known as a western rig. This rig is set up by tying a 12- to 24-inch piece of tippet to the bend of your lead fly’s hook. Then attach a nymph to this piece of tippet.
When fished, this rig allows you to cover a lot of water and works great as a searching pattern to locate and catch fish when there is no obvious hatch, because you are offering a large meal on top and a smaller—more sensible—subsurface nymph.
The hopper-dropper is one of my favorite searching rigs for summertime fishing and is especially good during the late morning and into the afternoon. Hoppers are very active in the midday sun, so that is a prime time to fish a hopper. And, if you’re going to fish a hopper, why not tie on a dropper?