Red tailed hoppers

[herefishy]

The fly of the week, like so many hopper patterns, has a red tail, but I am missing these if the naturals have them. Do real hoppers have red tails?

[Paul Arnold]

The only insect I know of that has a red tail is smaller than a grasshopper, the Kelsus cauda-rubra. Its imitation is soft-hackled and is believed to be a member of the genus Neimi. ~Paul

[sagefisher]

There are red grasshoppers but the main reason for the red tail is just as a strike inducer. Heck, I have caught a lot of big fish on pink grasshoppers and I have never seen a pink hopper, but if it works, why not? Larry ---sagefisher---

[AlanB]

You don't have to include the red tail. Match it to the natural if you think it would be better. Better still tie some of both up and let us all know which gets the better response.
There are reasons why red flies, or flies with red in them, work well. They work better in some places than others, that is down to geology! See here.
Cheers,
A.

[kglissmeyer]

Karen, the best answer I believe is that from Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof: "Tradition!"

There was a time when red tails and butts were pretty common in fly patterns not so much as a match-the-hatch but as an attractor trigger. Match-the-hatch came along and not too many red tails or butts any longer. Although a good Yellow Sally stonefly pattern ought to have a red butt to mimic the natural and to match-the-hatch so to speak. Perhaps the Yellow Sally was the reason many hopper patterns were tied with red butts since they both emerged around the same time in summer months on waters where they are found and both dry patters were fished the same.

[herefishy]

Thanks all for the replies - now I won't go around peeking at hopper fannies to see if they're red.

[Ed_D]

Thanks all for the replies - now I won't go around peeking at hopper fannies to see if they're red.

Maybe if you did, it would put a blush in their cheeks...

Ed


P.S. Alan, your article was very interesting. Thanks for posting the link.