The (modern) Classics: Bristol Hopper

[steve collyer]

'For British fly-fishers, Hoppers started life at Grafham Water in the late nineteen-eighties. I remember fishing with Andy Linwood in a boat during an August heatwave. The water was flat, but Andy put on a Claret Hopper and caught a couple of nice rainbows before lunch, while I was blank. That was the first time I had seen this fly, and at the time it was still on the secret list of the successful Grafham Fly Fishers team.
The pioneers of this now widely accepted dry-fly style, apart from Andy, were Bob Worts, Dave Barker and John Moore. Once the method had leaked out, it was soon adopted by top fly fishers at Bristol, for it was well suited to Chew Valley Lake.'
-Bob Church
Guide to New Fly Patterns (1993)

The version I give is the one in Trout Fly Patterns by Taff Price (2005)

Bristol Hopper

• Hook: down-eyed 8-12
  Thread: olive
  Body: olive seal's fur or similar
  Rib: fine pearl lurex
  Hackle: brown cock
  Legs: 6 bunches of 2x knotted cock pheasant tail fibres

[seanie]

Nice Fly Steve, Saved a blank on many a day

[Scratch]

Shall I start the ball rolling with the legs debate? Over, under, parallel, or just whacked on any old how?

[steve collyer]

Originally Posted by Scratch

Shall I start the ball rolling with the legs debate? Over, under, parallel, or just whacked on any old how?

As you can tell, I hedged my bets!

[marks]

Hi Steve, I have always tied mine with the legs under the body. This is because the people that I learnt the pattern off told me that's the way to tie them. Tied in two bunches either side of the hook facing back and down, to the hook point.

Any opinions on that?

They certainly work for me, mostly with the back of the fly right in the surface film. Also though they can be a good fly retrieved under the surface.

Cheers,
Mark

---------- Post added at 11:27 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:24 AM ----------

Beat me to it Rob, too slow on the keyboard me.....

[Wee Jimmy]

Originally Posted by Scratch

Shall I start the ball rolling with the legs debate? Over, under, parallel, or just whacked on any old how?

Aye well Chris Ogborne used to advocate tying the legs beneath the hookshank as this would somehow help to get the rear end of the fly down underneath the film. I cant quite see why this should be the case myself.... If I want the body to sit in, I trim the hackle fibres beneath the hook and leave the body un-ginked.

[oakham orange]

For me its,

Hopper... Legs under the body

Daddy.... Legs over the body.

[arkle]

Having tied more than a few of these myself, as a Bristol resident for Bristol flyfisher's. I can say that almost everyone without exception asked for the legs to be tied just below the line of the body & no longer than twice the body length. Some asked for the hackles to be clipped, others not.

[steve collyer]

Originally Posted by arkle

Having tied more than a few of these myself, as a Bristol resident for Bristol flyfisher's. I can say that almost everyone without exception asked for the legs to be tied just below the line of the body & no longer than twice the body length. Some asked for the hackles to be clipped, others not.

I'm all for local knowledge on these matters.
I've knocked-up another one & put it in the O.P.
Hope you like...

[muddler9]

Legs down seems right to me.