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Morrish Hopper
A terrestrial, tied #8–12, a summer pattern. It is tied against 2 named insects in this book — July–September.
A foam grasshopper built to be indestructible and to hold up a heavy dropper all day without sinking. The body is two-tone tan foam, layered and segmented, tied on a 3X long dry-fly hook in sizes 8–12 with tan 6/0 thread. Knotted round rubber legs trail back off the body, the wing is tan Medallion Sheeting or elk hair, and a small orange foam tab sits on top so the fly can be tracked at distance. It imitates the grasshopper, Acrididae, which is on the water from July through September in water between 60 and 80 degrees. This is a summer fly, fished from July to September by casting at the grass and letting it drop in with an audible sound. No mend is wanted afterwards: dead is fine, kicked is better. Trout eat it, and so do smallmouth bass.
- #8–12Hook size
- terrestrialType
- SummerSeason
- 2Hatches matched
What it looks like
A drawing, not a photograph, and not traced from one. Its proportions were read off 5 independent reference photographs of the pattern and written down as 5 measured characteristics — wing angle, tail length against the shank, how far a hackle fibre reaches — every one of which had to hold across more than one of them before it could be drawn. What survives across many photographs of a fly is the fly.
What it imitates
Each of these is the same hatch record the app's own panel reads, so a pattern recommended on a river card in the app is recommended for one of the insects below.
- Annual Cicada Neotibicen spp. · July–August · 60–78°F · #6–10
- Grasshopper Acrididae · July–September · 60–80°F · #8–12
Tying recipe
In tying order. This dressing is the standard one — these patterns have been in the publicrecord for decades — and materials substitute freely: the proportions and the silhouette are the pattern, not the brand of dubbing.
| Hook | 3X long dry-fly hook, sizes 8–12 |
|---|---|
| Thread | Tan 6/0 |
| Body | Two-tone tan foam, layered and segmented |
| Legs | Knotted round rubber, trailing back |
| Wing | Tan Medallion Sheeting or elk hair |
| Indicator | Small orange foam tab on top |
When to fish it
July to September, cast at the grass and allowed to drop in with a sound. Do not mend it — dead is fine, kicked is better.
A summer pattern. The insects it matches are active july–september, in water from 60°F to 80°F.
Target species
- Trout
- Smallmouth bass
Rivers it fishes well
Rivers with a page here that sit in the regions where the insects this pattern imitates are recorded. It is a claim about coverage, not a report of a fish caught.
- Au Sable River northern lower Michigan · July mean 72.1°F
- Catawba River the North Carolina mountains · July mean 76.7°F
- Jackson River the Virginia mountains · July mean 66.3°F
- Muskegon River northern lower Michigan · July mean 71.0°F
- Escanaba River the Upper Peninsula · July mean 68.3°F
- Saint Croix River northern Wisconsin · July mean 77.2°F
- Smith River the Virginia mountains · July mean 51.9°F
- Tygart Valley River the Virginia mountains · July mean 74.6°F
- Kalamazoo River southern lower Michigan · July mean 71.3°F
- Aaron Creek the North Carolina mountains · July mean 76.7°F
- Aaron Run the Virginia mountains · July mean 77.1°F
- Aarons Run the Virginia mountains · July mean 74.2°F
Related patterns
Same type of fly, or tied for the same insects.
- Dave's Hopper terrestrial · #8–12 — Deer hair and legs. The classic, and it lands with the right kind of thud.
- Foam Beetle terrestrial · #12–18 — Black foam, a bit of flash on top. The most reliable summer dry on wooded streams.
- Foam Cicada terrestrial · #6–12 — Black foam body, orange legs, bright indicator wing. Big, ugly and fished with a deliberate splat.
- Black Cricket terrestrial · #10–14 — Late summer into October, after the hoppers thin out.
- Foam Inchworm terrestrial · #12–16 — A length of bright green foam and nothing else. Cast tight to overhanging hardwood; the natural arrives from above, not from upstream.