How to Tie the Scuba Hopper

Producer: Fly Fish Food

Hopper season is still a few months away, but here’s the thing: You’ve got the time to tie these patterns now, before the the insect hatches kick off in earnest. So load up those boxes while you can; you’ll thank yourself come July. In this great video, Cheech from from Fly Fish Food in Orem, Utah, teaches you to tie a cool sunken hopper imitation. “Why would I want my hopper to sink?” you might ask. Well, Cheech has a pretty good reason:

This is a fly that was created way back in 2008 when I was spending time on a water with voracious browns that hadn’t been fished hard in a while. After a few trips, they got wise to our presentations, so I literally tried everything I could think of until I finally thought to tie on a sunken hopper. With regular patterns, the trout would come up, stick their upper lip right under the dry fly, and then turn away, but with the sunken Scuba Hopper, many of those were brought to hand. It’s not usually the first fly I tie on, but it does the trick for the snobby hopper window shoppers! (say that 5 times quickly)

Scuba Hopper
Hook: TMC 5263 3X-long nymph & streamer hook (here, a Tiemco 5263), sizes 4-12.
Bead: Gold tungsten bead, 3.8mm.
Underbody: Lead Wire, 0.020.
Adhesive #1: Superglue.
Thread: Brown, 6/0 or 140-denier.
Adhesive #2: Superglue.
Rib: Brown Flex-Floss.
Body: Psychedelic Tan Ultra Nymph Dub.
Underwing: Natural Pheasant Tail fibers.
Rear Legs: Yellow/Black/Red Speckled Centipede Legs and superglue.
Adhesive #3: Superglue.
Collar: Psychedelic Tan Ultra Nymph Dub.
Head/Wing: Tan Extra Select Craft Fur.
Wing base: Psychedelic Tan Ultra Nymph Dub.
Front legs: Tan Speckled Centipede Legs.
Adhesive #4: Superglue.
Tools: Dubbing brush.