Hoppering Along

At times I mourn the lack of some wide fields of switchgrass or grain winding along the hills beside some of our Catskill rivers. I always looked forward to August in Pennsylvania’s Cumberland Valley for the hopper fishing!

Winter does things to an angler’s mind, particularly the dry fly angler, but sometimes a spark twinkles through the bleak white world and something good is spawned: an idea. A few seasons back, I awakened to the thought to search for information, the answer for a question that had dug out of my snowblind brain: are there any woodland grasshopper species? There are it seems, and one in the classic form and native to this southern tier and Catskill region of New York State.

Now that adult grows to be a biggun, a couple of inches long, bet they aren’t born that way. From my vise came the Baby Woodland Hopper. Now this idea, this fly, is still in it’s infancy, but it works. Hopper fishing like the good old days on the Letort and Falling Spring. I have not tied one on at sunup and cast until my arm fell numb, but I have tried them in certain situations. The big unanswered question is how many of these critters live along any number of our Catskill rivers, which rivers, and how often do they get on the water where the trout can get at them? It will take time and a concerted effort to find out.

That first summer of ’24 opened me fully to the possibilities. A two-foot brown in late July, another barely an inch shorter later in August, and a few others. The new pattern hasn’t been used a great deal. Grasshoppers are creatures of the afternoon, and I fish mornings during the high heat weather at that time of year. But I intend to explore the phenomenon at greater length.

How aggressive might be a big, wise old brownie when encountering these new hoppers? One of the early customers exploded on the fly and exploded on the leader when I set the hook, exploding the tip of my beautiful 1940’s four-weight cane rod! The rod has been repaired, thanks to the artistry of Dennis Menscer. That rod will fish some more baby hoppers.

The initial baby fly has a new companion, my Woodland Hopper. A different shade, and a bit larger, but still intended to imitate the juvenile, half-grown grasshoppers – the kids dumb enough to ignore their upbringing and play around the riverbanks. These have not been fished just yet, but it is August, and it is absolutely time for them.

The nice thing with these guys is that they are a perfect size to be fished with a light rod, a four-weight, or the D.W. Menscer 803! The choice will come down to water levels on a given day. Catskill summer fishing is still low water fishing after all.

No pictures yet here, no recipies. I’ll share it once I have proven it, sometime… after I have a little fun with them; you know, when the definitive research has been completed.