The Spring Creek Hopper

         The Spring Creek Hopper was designed by Rene Harrop to be a good imitation of a hopper without all the mess of spinning a head. What he created was a great hopper pattern. It casts and floats as well as the Henry's Fork Hopper on fast water, windy days. I got this pattern from one of the videos I have that Rene had made called "Favorite Flies". You can get this video from Bennett Watt Entertainment at (800) 327-2893 or your local fly shop. It is well forth the $20 bucks. I have made one change to Rene's original pattern and that is I use hackle tips cut to shape and knotted for legs where in the original pattern Rene uses rust colored turkey biots. Either way It's still a great fly. I tie it in sizes from #6 to #16.

Tying Instructions
Hook:
Thread:
Body:
Under Wings:
Wing:
Legs:
#6 to #16 Hopper hook
Pale yellow
Pale yellow elk hair
Natural elk hair
Mottled turkey died hopper yellow
Clipped coachman brown hackle

1.       Lay a base of thread from about one eye length behind the eye to about mid-hook shank. Tie in on the top of the hook a piece of 15# mono leader material wrapping to the bent of the hook. Cut and stack to even the tips a clump of elk hair about the width of a pencil. Tie the elk hair in by the butts with the tips extending out over the eye about one eye length behind the eye. Let the hair spin around and completely encircling the hook shank. Wrap the hook back about one-quarter shank length behind the eye and let the thread hang below the hook. With your left thumb and first two fingers pull the tips back toward the bend keeping an even amount of hairs all around the shank. With the tips in your left hand make two or three tight turns of thread over the pulled back elk hair creating what is called a "bullet head".

2.       Wrap back to the bend of the hook with wide even thread wraps creating a segmented body effect. When you reach the end of the shank bring the thread under and behind the bend of the hook and continue wrapping the thread two more wraps insuring that the mono leader material is in the center of the hair. Make two or three very tight turns of thread over the last wrap and then return the thread back in the same even wraps in the direction of the eye. The thread wraps should cross each other on the top and bottom of the fly. Let the thread hang behind the head and clip off the hair tips as close as you can behind the extended body. Add a drop of cement at the clipped end of the body.

3.       For the under wing clip out and stack a small clump of natural cream colored bull elk hair. Place the under wing on the top of the body and with two tight turns of thread at the base of the head secure the under wing on the top of the body. Do not clip the under wing butts yet.

4.       Cut two quill segments from a prepared turkey quill which has been died hopper yellow. The width of the quill segments should be about the width of the gap of the hook. With your scissors round the tips of the quills giving them a more natural wing shape. Place one quill section directly on top of the body of the fly. The wing tips should extend just past the under wing. Make two tight turns of thread around the wing letting the pressure of the thread roll the wing slightly over the body ending up on the upper back side of the body. The near side of the far wing should be just this side of the very top middle part of the body. Lay the second quill segment on the near side of the body and make two tight turns of thread allowing it to roll up onto the top of the body with its far side barely overlapping the near side of the other wing segment. Make several more tight turns of thread to secure the wings in place. Now, with one cut from your scissors trim off the under wing and the over wing on top of the head of the fly. This will help create the wedge shape of a natural hopper. Add a liberal, (I hate that word), amount of cement over the thread wraps used to secure the wings.

5.       Select two long hackles from a coachman brown neck. Remove all the fluff at the base of the stem and trim the hackles so the ending results are slightly wider at the butt end getting smaller as you progress towards the tip end. Make an overhand knot in each trimmed stem resulting in a jointed effect about one hook length from the tip of the hackle. Don't worry if the tip end is to long just cut it to the proper length with your scissors. Place one prepare hackle leg on the far side of the body with the joint slightly past the bend of the hook tilted slightly up and secure it with two or three tight turns of thread. Make sure the leg does not roll causing the tip of the hackle to point either out from or into the body of the hopper. Repeat this with the near leg then trim off the hackle butts, whip finish at the back of the head and add a small drop of cement covering the thread behind the head of the hopper. Your Spring Creek Hopper is ready to do its magic.