It ain't really hopper season yet, but it's not too soon to start getting ready for summer.

I have a couple smallsh versions ( with a minor variation) of this FAOL Fly of the Week for August 10, 2009 left over from last year.

So when I went fishing today on a northern Idaho freestone river, I decided to see what would happen if ....

... and a half dozen westslope cutthroat decided that too soon was not too soon for some hopper action ( not counting a couple hits that didn't hook up and a couple refusals ). The fishing was only good for about an hour, but it was a really fun hour.

Going on twelve years with the FEB pattern tied in various sizes and colors for skwalas, salmonflies, golden stones, hoppers, and October caddis with consistent success on quite the variety of creeks and rivers in the Intermountain West and Northern Rockies.

John

And remember ....