Eric Sharp on Choosing Hopper Colors

In the Detroit Free Press, Eric Sharp notes that while there are “12,000 species of grasshoppers worldwide, about 600 in the United States and 60 in Michigan,” fly fishers can often rely on a single favorite pattern, like the Joe’s Hopper.
“While the yellow body suffices 90% of the time I also carry a few tied with olive green bodies, picking the color closest to the hoppers I see along the shore. Remember, the most important color isn’t on the back of the insect, which people see, but on the belly, which is most visible to the fish.”