Black Hopper (Fishing in the surface film)

Hoppers are one of my favourite stillwater patterns to use when the fish are up. All though generally fished as a dry fly they are great to leave dangling in the surface film. This one has a few extra wraps of wire in the butt section to get it to sit right in the water. The legs give that buggy appeal to trout and represents many different food items. You can do the hoppers in a range of colours and although people will argue the colour is an important choice I think as long as the trout spot them, they are a sure thing. I find aside from the black, that claret and ginger are the other go to colours for me.