Top 5 Shop Favorite Hoppers

Hopper season is upon us. The sun is causing our meadows and valleys to dry out and push these large terrestrials towards the banks of some of our favorite water, presenting a fun and exciting finale of fishing large dries to eager trout. When fishing hoppers, color and size are your keys to success. Make sure to have a variety of patterns to fish throughout the day as these trout seem to prefer one pattern over the other on different water and days. These are some of our favorites.

Western Lady Hopper

This is a great solo dry to fish for this hatch. Tucking this pattern under branches and cut banks and then skating/twitching them to entice strikes. Pink bellied hoppers are tough for large trout to refuse especially when you add some movement. This will be a good hopper to fish throughout the season after fish have seen a lot of other imitations.

Henneberry Hopper

When you see this fly in the bin at the shop you would think there are actual hoppers for sale. This fly is about as realistic as it gets and can fool even the smartest trout. This durable pattern floats all day with a low riding hook for better hook-ups, allowing you to catch fish all day.

Morningwood Hopper

This pattern is a killer. It sits low on the surface and has a very thin profile with many segmentations. The Morningwood has been a great stonefly pattern in the past, so why not make it a hopper variation. Fish it and you'll see what we mean.

Blade Runner Hopper

A simple and effective pattern, the Blade Runner is a solid early hopper season choice. It has a great profile with the split foam to imitate a grasshopper's back legs. When fish aren't eating the larger patterns, this will be the next one tied to the end of our lines. Sometimes bigger isn't always better.

Bob's Hopper

Another good early season hopper to fish before the larger naturals start to hit the water. I like to fish this fly behind a larger/different colored hopper. If a fish doesn't eat your top fly this one is sure to clean up.

All of these hoppers and sooo many more are available in our Bozeman fly shop! Swing by and pick up a few before they are gone.