GRASSHOPPER TIME T
he late Summer and early Autumn months are grasshopper time, most of the Australian written trout lore concentrates on fishing Grasshopper flies to river, stream and creek trout but Grasshoppers also feature in still water trout diet as well, a good grasshopper pattern is always a good fly to use on any water in the February to April months. There are a truck load of Grasshopper patterns out there. The Americans have always loved tying and fishing Grasshopper flies, but , Grasshopper flies have always featured very heavily in the Australian fly fishing scene too, some of the very earliest flies designed in Australia were Grasshopper patterns. Fishing News - Page 22
Some of the American patterns can be very complex and life like but in my view most Australian patterns are more suggestive, when I first started fly fishing my Uncle’s favorite Grasshopper Pattern was basically a yellow bodied Mrs. Simpson with a collar Hackle to help it float! It was the right colour, had a good profile, and made a splash on the water when cast and most importantly caught fish. The Geehi Beetle although designed as a beetle pattern, works very well at Grasshopper time, it’s the right colour with its light brown or ginger hackles, has a tail of Golden Pheasant
tippets, which feature in many Australian Grasshopper patterns and has a nice full profile. Early Australian Grasshopper patterns such as the Glenn Innes Hopper and the Snowy Mountains Hopper just to name a couple were mostly large hackled dries with various amounts of Golden Pheasant tippets, dyed hackles and sometimes quill wings tied pent or tent style, I can’t say for certain but I don’t think it was until after the Muddler Minnow arrived on Australian shores that deer hair appeared in our home grown Grasshopper patterns.
www.tasfish.com - Get the knowledge - Get the fish.
