August is just a week away and hopper season is here, making this a great time for hopper fishing in Utah! The rivers around Falcon’s Ledge are fishing great right now and hopper and ant patterns are working well. The next two months are a great time to be in eastern Utah, fishing big dry flies on the rivers and streams until the end of September. In this blog we will share some of our favorite terrestrial patterns and techniques for terrestrial fishing in August and September.
A hopper/dropper set up is one of our favorite techniques to use in August and September. The hopper/dropper technique is a fairly simple set up using a large hopper pattern and a small nymph dropped off the dry fly about two to three feet. Using a large hopper pattern as a top fly is a great way to attract fish in the late summer and fall and also acts as a strike indicator for your nymph. Fish that are unwilling to come up for a dry fly will often take the nymph. To set up a hopper/dropper simply tie on a hopper pattern, then tie about two to three feet of tippet to the bend of the hopper, and finally tie on a nymph at the end of the tippet hanging from the hopper pattern. The length of the tippet from the hopper to the nymph depends on the depth of the water you are fishing. Different hopper and nymph patterns can be used depending on the river and conditions. We will share some of our favorite hopper and nymph patterns to use.
There are many different hopper patterns out there, but we have found that two hopper patterns are consistently good throughout August and September. The simple parachute hopper is a great pattern that works great and is simple and cheap. The other pattern that is very effective through August and September is a Parachute Madam X (PMX). The PMX is a very effective pattern that can be fished in a variety of colors and sizes. The olive or royal color tends to be the most effective on the rivers we fish in eastern Utah. The chubby is also a great pattern for late summer and fall fishing that comes in a variety of sizes and colors. It also floats very well and is great to use when fishing a hopper/dropper set up.
There are also some great nymphs to use as droppers during August and September. Lightening bugs and rainbow warriors are both great nymphs to fish in the late summer and fall. Spanish bullet perdigons and quasimodo pheasant tail nymphs are also very effective during this time of year. Try using your favorite nymph pattern as a dropper this August and September.
We hope to see you this August and September at Falcon’s Ledge for some hopper fishing in eastern Utah!
