I have now redone this one, but I have had to split it in two due to size limits in posts.
The Hopper and the Bubble Hopper. I have tied the Hopper with a cock hackle, if you want to tie the wet version simply follow the instructions, but substitute a hen hackle for the cock. I don’t use genetic cock hackle on my Hoppers, the hopper is meant to be tied sparse, genetic hackle would be too dense…. IMO.
I have tied the standard Hopper black and the Bubble Hopper is the Red Arsed version









STEP 1
Mount the hook in the vice, attach and wind on the thread, catch in the rib as you wind towards the bend of the hook




STEP 2
Add a touch of dubbing to the thread. .




And wind on too form the body.




STEP 3
Follow with the rib.




I like to give the body a rub with Velcro at this point.





STEP 4
Take your hopper legs. In true Blue Peter style here’s some I made earlier.





Select four legs. I hold them as shown below.




Then slip them under the hook so that two go each side of the thread. I then grip them in this position.




And tie in.





STEP 5
Tie in the hackle, near side of the hook, shiny (good) side towards you.





STEP 6
Wind the hackle towards the eye and tie off.




STEP 7
Finally, form a small head, whipfinish and varnish for the completed fly.

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STEP 1
As STEP 1 above

STEP 2
Dub the thread. You can dub the red first and wind it on followed by the black, or you can dub both on at the same time, as I have done.


Then wrap to form the two part body.


STEP 3
Rib the body and tie in the legs as in STEPS 3 and 4 above.




STEP 4
Tie in two CDC feathers, by their tips on top of the hook shank.



STEP 5
Dub on another pinch of black seals fur and wrap to form the thorax.


STEP 6
Pull the 2 CDC feathers over in a loose loop towards the eye and tie down.


STEP 7
Trim waste and whip finish.


Both flies side by side for comparison



When tying in the legs it is important to tie them under the shank, I see many with the legs tied on top, that IMO is wrong.


To fish the standard hopper, simply gink up the hackle and fish static or twitch occasionally.
Do not treat the bubble hopper and fish either static or with the occasional twitch, or for something a bit different give it a sharp pull and it will go under the surface then pop back up, on occasions the fish will find this irresistible

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ukflydressing A UK based fly tying site packed full of flyting tips and photographic step by steps. Now with added fly fishing section.

Dennis,

All I can say, m'friend, you have _way_ too much free time on your hands if you knotted all them legs shown LOL

Thanks for updating the tutorial. Nice job!

Cheers,
Hans W

The result of several nights watching TV with a tray on my lap.
Very therapeutic.

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ukflydressing A UK based fly tying site packed full of flyting tips and photographic step by steps. Now with added fly fishing section.

dennis, are your hopper legs single strands or double?

fancy selling me one of those large bunches

Single strands.
If you want to make it easier don't knot the legs, tie them in as they are and when the fly is finished scrunch up the legs. Not as pretty to look at, but the fish won't care.
You can have the whole bunch for £100

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ukflydressing A UK based fly tying site packed full of flyting tips and photographic step by steps. Now with added fly fishing section.

not a bad idea but unfortunately i am nuts and just before the end of my first cast i will be blaming the un knotted legs for not catching anything

I know exactly what you mean.

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ukflydressing A UK based fly tying site packed full of flyting tips and photographic step by steps. Now with added fly fishing section.