This little or not so little hopper is a mixed breed of hoppers that my good friend and big mentor when it comes to Sterkies flies, Gerhard Goosen aka Goose as many of us know him has helped me. Goose is never one to say no you can't use this. And he is always willing to help and not give me a mouth-full when a fly is not right. His latest hopper pattern, the Propper Hopper is one amazing fly and has helped me a lot in my hopper approach. The one fundamental part of the fly I used from Goose’s fly was what he calls the PRONOTUM. That’s the section on top of the head and the wing, basically thorax cover if you want. If I’m right body-wise it is also slightly different from Goose’s one as per client I had to tie for. He wanted a rounder bud and flatter body, and I used a technique we all use when doing extended bodies and the rest is just plain tying. I want to thank Gerhard Goosen for all his patience and all the replies and feedback and constructive criticism he gave me on the phone. Thank you so much Goose, you are truly one in a million.
Material list:
Pheasant tail in brown ore natural.
Cdc in rusty brown.
2mm craft foam in tan or brown.
Danville 70D in cream or to match the colour of foam.
Rubber legs/silly legs.
3d holographic flashabou.
Deer hair.
Hook:12#13113BL Gripp.
2: Take some thread, tie on to the shank of the hook to where the barb should be when using barbed hooks.
3: Cut 2 pieces of foam the width of the gape of the hook. Round 2 ends off. I usually use a lighter to burn off.
4: Take foam strips, line them up so that the bud end is past the hook bend to form the belly end of the bud section. Put 2 raps and tighten slightly to give a mark for the tie in point.
5: Now take one piece and just behind the mark in the middle put through the point of hook and move to tie in point. This will be the belly of the body.
6: Now you line up top section up with bottom one and tie down on shank using securing raps.
7: Tie down the 2 strips and move the thread back on the shank and the super glue the bud sections together and make sure the strips are level and straight.
8: Now form the body segment on a #12 hook. You should get 3 including the bud end. Between the eye of the hook and the 1st section there should be enough space to form the head of the fly and try not to make it too bulky as it would cause the head to be too big.
9: After removing waste strips and cleaning up the head part (KEEP ONE PIECE OF THE OFF-CUT STRIPS) add some cdc. 1 or 2 should be enough depending on quality of cdc and add 2 strands of flash either side of cdc under wing.
10: Take some pheasant tail fibres, about 4 and form two sets of legs and also some deer hair and tie in a wing as well as the hind legs.
11: After cleaning up the last tie in points, take one of the waste strips that was removed in step 9, fold it in half and pierce with needle in the middle to go over hook eye.
12. Turn so that flat side faces you and tie down just in front of wing. Tie in point, sometimes you will have some excess foam left, just add this neatly so it fits in the shape of the body. At this point I add a drop of super glue to the top and bottom part of head where you can see thread but make sure head is straight and level before you add glue.
13: Take 2 strands of pheasant tail and a small needle and pull through the head to make some antennas or feelers.
14: Now take a square piece of foam and form the protonum. Refer to the photo for the shape you are aiming for.
15: After getting desired shape take tweezers, insert the foam piece or protonum between the tweezer arms, press it down and slightly heat it up with a lighter to melt the foam slightly. This will make it thinner from 2mm to 1mm because this will work much better then 2mm (THANKS GOOSE FOR THIS TIP).
16. Tie this in on top of the fly or head so the pointed side faces the wing and make sure it covers both side of thoracic area. If it was done correctly your wing and legs should come together and line up nicely. For me this is the genuine part of the fly that Goose has done. When it’s done correctly the whole fly comes right and lines up.
17: Check that everything is neat and lined up and add some rubber legs on each side of the fly. Tie down, whip finish and add some eyes with black marker.
