Has anyone fished these…they are somewhat more realistic than the run of the mill hopper…
No experience with them. But those are awesome! Wouldn’t they be better with a straight eye? Or would it not make any difference?
Jim
I doubt it would make any difference, Jim.
This is a little bump for this thread in case anyone with some experience has missed it.
It’s kind of a fun tie and not all that hard.
They look great - do you need the cutters, or can you wing it?
… I guess I’ll be taking your word on that !!
John
Except for the threading of the rubber legs and antennae, it doesn’t look that much harder than the Charlie Boy Hopper.
That said, I’d worry about a hopper pattern with foam below the shank, especially in the smaller sizes where much of the hook gap could be taken up by the foam. I had that problem with the Charlie Boy a couple of years - got hits galore but couldn’t get a hook up on a size 10.
Could have also been simply too much foam for the size of fish that’s normally caught in Southwest Wisconsin.
For smaller (#10-14) foam flies like the Charlie Boy, I go to a wider gap hook - either something like a Mustad 3906, 3906B (nymph hooks, I know but with all that foam you could use an Owner tarpon hook and it would float) or 94840. That Supreme hopper is a neat looking fly, but the way I fish hoppers I’d be terrified of loosing something I put that much work into. I like Charlie Boys, AL’s Foam Hopper, John’s FEB hopper, and some of Wally Wiese’s foam creations because they look enough like food to get the fishes attention but are easy enough to tie that throwing them repeatedly under the willows doesn’t bother me at all. If I need something a little more organic, I’ll use a Henry’s Fork Hopper; I’m getting into bulletheads this year.
Regards,
Scott
ps - I’d like to see a step-by-step on that Supreme hopper because to me it looks like a booger to tie
Here’s a youtube… and written instructions supplied by Tony…
IMO you could wing it and not use the cutter but at least in my hands it would be lacking…also if I were to wing it I would still use the legs [cutter can be purchased separately] since it seems to me they may add a significant trigger.
Also I doubt if the pronotum and antennae are necessary.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-htsjHsSvE
Tying Tomsu?s Supreme Hopper
[ol]
[li]Cut out 1 River Foam? wing of the appropriate size, two rear hopper legs from 1mm foam, and two hopper bodies (one for each half of the finished body) from 2mm foam.[/li][li]Place a needle in your tying vise and start the thread about ? inch from the point. Hold the two hopper body halves on either side of the needle with the thread extending up between the bodies at the tail end. Take three wraps around the first 1/16th of the tail.[/li][li]Open the bodies and take one turn around the needle only to advance the thread forward. Bring the thread up between the body halves again and take three wraps around the body, forming the second abdominal segment.[/li][li]Open the bodies and take one turn around the needle only, to advance the thread forward. Continue the same process until you have formed six evenly-spaced abdominal segments.[/li][li]Make a whip finish at the end of the sixth segment and carefully slide the body off the needle.[/li][li]Remove the needle and place a hook in the vise. Start your thread behind the hook eye and wrap the thread to the rear, just onto the bend of the hook. Place a very small drop of Super Glue Gel at the end of the thread wraps and place the body over the shank, bring the thread up between the two halves, and take three wraps around the body. Open the bodies and take one wrap around the hook shank only to advance the thread forward. Repeat this process to complete the eighth abdominal segment.[/li][li]Tie in one rear hopper leg on each side of the body at the point you completed the eighth segment. Trim the excess from the front of the legs.[/li][li]Open the bodies and take one turn around the hook shank to advance the thread forward. Form the ninth segment.[/li][li]Tie in the wing at the point you completed the ninth segment. Trim the excess from the front of the wing.[/li][li]Tie in one rubber leg on each side of the body at this same point, Madam X ?style.[/li][li]Bring the thread up between the halves of the body and advance the thread forward until you are about 1 ? eye lengths behind the eye.[/li][li]Place a small amount of Super Glue Gel on the hook shank and inside each half of the head area. Pinch the body closed with your fingers and hold a few seconds until the glue is set.[/li][li]Take several wraps around the body immediately behind the head and whip finish. Cut the thread.[/li][li]If desired, the wing can be glued down to the top of the abdomen using rubber cement. This will keep the wing from flaring unnecessarily, making for a more realistic hopper imitation.[/li][li]A spade-shaped pronotum is cut from 0.5 mm foam (our individual size, four cutter sets include a cutter to do this). The pronotum should extend from the head to just over the point where the wing was tied in and downward to just above the tie-in point for the rubber legs. Attach the pronotum using a small amount of Super Glue Gel.[/li][li]Color the body using permanent markers as desired. Use a fine point black marker to make half-moon shaped eyes (flat edge forward) on each side of the eyes.[/li][li]For more realism, two short antennae can be pulled through the head using micro-fine rubber legs threaded through a needle. A very small amount of Super Glue Gel is added to the rubber just extending from the throat. Gently pull the rubber back through until the glue ?catches? inside the foam. Cut off the excess rubber under the throat.[/li][/ol]