STIXMAGILL
05-14-08, 02:55 PM
I was introduced to this dry pattern by a great guide, Kenny Palmer at One Fly Outfitters in Black Mountain N.C. We were fishing one of the many wild trout streams near Brevard for some finicky trout and having a tough time, only bringing a few trout to hand. We decided to try a dry/dropper rig over some skinny water just to watch the fly float by in the clear water freestone stream. He tied on one of these Jack Cabe Hoppers and the fishing picked up! We caught both browns and rainbows, mostly on the Cabe Hopper, only a few on the dropper. As mentioned in previous posts, Jack Cabe was a WNC outfitter and created this pattern. The fly I was given to fish made it's way back to my tying bench for me to try to tie.
It is called a hopper, but I think it looks like a caddis or stonefly from underneath. It is an excellent searching pattern either way, and I have noticed very few refusals.
Right or wrong, my recipe is as follows:
Hook: Size 10, 12, 14, or 16 standard dry hook (can be tied on 1x or 2x long if desired)
Thread: Black #6 or #8 (After breaking #8 a few times, I use 6 to facilitate tying in the wing tightly)
Tail: Red hackle fibers (substitute other tail material if you like, but keep it red)
Abdomen: Molehair dubbing (I used black synthetic, awaiting molehair)
Wing: Kip Tail, stacked and dyed light brown (I was told that white doesn't work nearly as well, so I dye mine with a furniture repair marker)
Hackle: One grizzly and one brown (use one size smaller than usual, as you are tying in over the bunched kip tail fibers, expanding the outer radius of the hackle)
Directions for tying: Start your thread behind the eye and wrap back to the end of the shank. Create a small ball of thread at the end wth a couple of stacked wraps. Tie in the tail fibers using the ball of thread to prop them up at a slight angle. The tail length should be about the same as the shaft length. Dub an abdomen 2/3s of the way up the shank, tapering larger as you go toward the eye. Tie in the calf tail bunch immediately behind the dubbing causing the wing to lift, carefully keeping it on top of the shaft. The length should extend to the end of the bend. Trim and cover tail fibers with thread. Cement over thread if desired.Tie in the hackles as close as possible to the calftail wing. Wrap one toward the eye and tie it down, trim. Wrap next hackle between the wraps of the first, tie and trim. Create small thread head, whip finish and cement.
Because if floats well, I have fished it primarily to hang a nymph off of in faster skinny water (like so may of the Hooch shoals), but I get lots of hits on it even when there are not other rises observed.
Hope you like it.
It is called a hopper, but I think it looks like a caddis or stonefly from underneath. It is an excellent searching pattern either way, and I have noticed very few refusals.
Right or wrong, my recipe is as follows:
Hook: Size 10, 12, 14, or 16 standard dry hook (can be tied on 1x or 2x long if desired)
Thread: Black #6 or #8 (After breaking #8 a few times, I use 6 to facilitate tying in the wing tightly)
Tail: Red hackle fibers (substitute other tail material if you like, but keep it red)
Abdomen: Molehair dubbing (I used black synthetic, awaiting molehair)
Wing: Kip Tail, stacked and dyed light brown (I was told that white doesn't work nearly as well, so I dye mine with a furniture repair marker)
Hackle: One grizzly and one brown (use one size smaller than usual, as you are tying in over the bunched kip tail fibers, expanding the outer radius of the hackle)
Directions for tying: Start your thread behind the eye and wrap back to the end of the shank. Create a small ball of thread at the end wth a couple of stacked wraps. Tie in the tail fibers using the ball of thread to prop them up at a slight angle. The tail length should be about the same as the shaft length. Dub an abdomen 2/3s of the way up the shank, tapering larger as you go toward the eye. Tie in the calf tail bunch immediately behind the dubbing causing the wing to lift, carefully keeping it on top of the shaft. The length should extend to the end of the bend. Trim and cover tail fibers with thread. Cement over thread if desired.Tie in the hackles as close as possible to the calftail wing. Wrap one toward the eye and tie it down, trim. Wrap next hackle between the wraps of the first, tie and trim. Create small thread head, whip finish and cement.
Because if floats well, I have fished it primarily to hang a nymph off of in faster skinny water (like so may of the Hooch shoals), but I get lots of hits on it even when there are not other rises observed.
Hope you like it.