Parachute Hopper

Parachute Hopper

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Tying Instructions

1. Clip a patch of calf tail, clean the fuzz and even the tips in a stacker. Measure the tips to be 1/2 the shank length and tie down about 1/4 the length behind the eye.

2. Use thread wraps to bring the calf hair upright with 10 turns up the wingpost at the base and back to the bottom. Clip the wingpost butt ends and secure with thread wraps.

3. Tie in the body yarn and an antron yarn rib at the end of the butts. Secure both of the yarns with thread wraps to the hook bend forming an even underbody.

4. Bring the thread back to the wingpost base. Twist the body yarn and wrap back to the wingpost forming a segmented body. Tie off at the wingpost.

5. Wrap the antron yarn ribbing forward between the segments. Secure the ribbing in front of the body but do not clip.

6. Tie in a pair of Mottled Turkey Feather segments at the base of the wingpost.

7. Clip 2 sets of 3-4 Pheasant Tail fibers and knot them near the ends. Tie one leg on each side of the hook shank behind the wing post.

8. Select a grizzly Hackle with the fibers 2x the hook gap and attach the hackles by the butt ends behind the wingpost with the dull side down.

9. Wrap the antron yarn around the wingpost to build up a thorax and secure on front of the wingpost with two wraps.

10. Wind the hackle counterclockwise 5-6 turns around the wingpost going down the wingpost each turn. Tie off the hackle tip in front of the wingpost and clip. Holding the hackle fibers back, wrap the untwisted yarn forward to the hook eye.

11. Tie off and clip the antron yarn. Create a thread head and whip finish.

Materials to Order Material, click the link
Hook	TMC 2302 #8-12
Thread	Danville Tan 6/0
Body	Fl. Yellow Antron Yarn
Thorax	Cream Antron Yarn
Ribbing	Cream Antron Yarn
Legs	Knotted Pheasant Tail Fibers
Wing	Mottled Turkey Wing
Wingpost	White Calf Tail
Hackle	Grizzly Hackle

Ed Schroeder

Parachute Hopper

This is a pattern designed by Ed Schroeder of Fresno, CA in the early 1970’s. Ed’s homewaters are the King’s River of the Sierra Nevada. Ed applied a calf hair wingpost to not only hoppers but ants, hare’s ear nymphs, and caddis patterns. These patterns were picked up by Umpqua Feather Merchants and have been marketed throughout the Sierra Nevada region as well as most of the United States.

Parachute is an indicator

The White Calf Hair parachute makes this hopper very visible so that you can follow the drift. He suggests keeping the wingpost no more than one half the shank length so that the hopper is more streamlined for the windy conditions which you are often encounter proceeding the use of the fly. The parachute also makes the fly a useful indicator with a nymph dropped below it.

Lots of Hopper Patterns

It is also interesting to note that Ed’s pattern is perhaps the only major hopper pattern devised by a West Coast fly tier. Hopper patterns have been around a long time, even noted in the manuscript of British angler, Joseph Cotton in 1676 “The Compleat Angler”. Hoppers were often given as an afterthought within the United States until the early 1940’s when Art Winnie developed the Michigan Hopper (later Joe’s Hopper) , followed by Ernest Schwiebert’s Letort Hopper, and Dave’s Hopper (Dave Whitlock) in the 1950’s. Mike Lawson’s Henry’s Fork Hopper was developed from Bill Bennett’s Pontoon Hopper which was popularized in Vince Marinaro’s book, “A Modern Dry Fly Code”.

Variations of this pattern often change with wing and body color to represent Golden Stone’s and Crickets. Other pattern variations use antron dubbing for the thorax, foam abdomen’s, Ringneck Pheasant Window feathers for the wings.

Parachute, Golden Stone

Hook	TMC 900BL #12-16
Thread	Danville Yellow 6/0
Body	Haretron Golden Stone dubbing
Thorax	Haretron Golden Stone dubbing
Wing	Mottled Oak Turkey Wing, color with yellow Copic marker
Wingpost	White Calf Tail
Hackle	Grizzly Hackle

Parachute, Cricket

Hook	TMC 5263 #6-14
Thread	Danville Black 6/0
Body	Black Antron Yarn
Thorax	Black Antron Dubbing
Legs	Black Pheasant Tail, Knotted
Wing	Black Dyed Turkey Biot Quill
Wingpost	White Calf Tail
Hackle	Grizzly Hackle