This useful dry fly can be tied in a variety of colours including olive, black, claret, yellow, brown and orange and can also be tied in many sizes from size 10 down to 16’s. Our dressing below shows a black hopper which we have tied on a size 12 hook.

Materials required:

Choose a fine wire, medium shank hook, black tying thread, fine pearl lurex, seal fur dubbing, 8 cock pheasant centre tail fibres, knotted, black cock hackle.

1. Tie on the thread near the eye and work towards the bend in close, touching turns.

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2. Tie in the pearl. Dub the seal fur onto the thread and wind up the hook shank towards the eye leaving enough space to tie in the hackle. Rib over the seal fur body with the lurex and tie the lurex off near the eye.

3. Tie a knot in 8 pheasant tail fibres about 3/8″ from the tip and then tie in four at each side so that they are longer than the hook and hang down below the body.

4. Finally tie in a black cock hackle and using three turns of the feather form a hackle. Tie off and complete the fly with a neatly varnished head.

This fly can be fished as a traditional dry fly floating high on the water or can be fished lower in the water by clipping off some of the underhackle and then left to drift around with the breeze. This last method is particularly effective when terrestrials are being blown onto the water.

Takes can be savage – beware !!