The Takahopper is my version of Pennsylvanians fly designer EdShenk’s Letort Hopper, The pattern was one of the first dry flies Ilearned to fish over 40 years ago and with much success catching fish itincreased my confidence in the pattern. The Takahopper remains my top dry fly.

I have modified the pattern to meet my requirements of designing adurable fly and a pattern that will sit lower on the surface of the water.To accomplish this, I replace the mottled oak turkey wing with asynthetic wing material. It became apparent to me that the underwing made of Mottled OakTurkey would often become shredded due to the effect of the troutsteeth or from the effects of casting.

I favor using River Roads Creation Mottled wing material, Pelon 808Interfacing or Web Wing. I believe the wing outline when viewed fromunderneath is a trigger point and these materials create that illusion. I replaced the rabbit fur dubbing with Fly Rite #9 Golden Yellowdubbing which is a shade darker than the majority of the dubbings onthe market and is made of polyester fibers which float well in water.

I designed the Takahopper to sit lower in the surface of the water bydecreasing the amount of deer hair found in the original design. Insteadof tying the deer hair head in-the round, I chose to only attach the deerhair on the top half of the shank; this allows the fly to sit flush with thewaters surface.

I fish the Takahopper as Grasshopper when tied in larger sizes thensize 12 and in sizes 12 to 16, I fish this pattern as a caddis.

I approach fishing this pattern by presenting the fly close to the bankand working it into deeper water. Movement is not necessarily adetriment to the presentation, some subtle movement can often elicit astrike; be sure to add a floatant like Umpqua Dry Magic initially and thenredress the fly by using Shimizakis Dry shake. If I only had one dry fly to fish it would be this pattern.

– Rick Takahashi