412 
FOREST AND 
STREAM 
August, 1919 
*THE GRASSHOPPER FLY 
By R. L. M. 
N OW it is obvious that if an immi- 
tation grasshopper could be made 
that would float like the natural 
insect, and could be cast like a fly, there 
would be a very strjng probability of 
catching trout with it. 
There are various types of imitation 
grasshoppers made, but they all have 
one great fault; they may float, in fact 
the majority cannot sink being construc- 
ted with cork as their chief substance, 
but one and all they are much too heavy 
to be used as a fly. It is true that they 
can be cast to considerable distances, 
but when they hit the water they make 
altogether too much of a splash on smooth 
surfaces and more often than not scare 
the fish instead of attracting them. The 
chief characteristic features of the com- 
mon grasshopper are the thigh joints 
of the posterior pair of legs, a mottled 
wing case and a pale yellowish body. 
The first serious attempt I made at 
designing a grasshopper fly was about 
10 years ago. The fly as then made 
had a light brown wool body, ribbed 
with pale yellow silk, a pheasant wing, 
ginger hackle and a tail made up of 
some strands of mallard, with a red 
feather mixed in. The red in the tail 
was introduced to catch the eye of the 
trout and attract the fish to his doom. 
This fly is known as the “Dr. Gates” 
and is named after one of my friends 
who is a very keen fisherman. It has 
a considerable local reputation in North- 
ern California, but has one great dis- 
advantage, it is a very poor floater; 
the body, being of wool, changes color 
when wet and when once it is water- 
logged it is very hard to dry it again. 
D uring the following years I de- 
signed several slight variations of 
this fly, but it was not until quite 
recently that I struck the correct com- 
bination necessary to produce a good im- 
itation of the natural insect. The fol- 
lowing is the correct dressing of the 
“Floating Grasshopper Fly, Series 1917”: 
The colors mentioned are taken from the 
Colour Chart of Societe Frangaise des 
Chrysanthemistes, which has a series of 
colors ranging from coal black to snow 
white and is used as a standard by the 
chrysanthemum growers of France. 
When describing colors from the chart 
I also give a popular definition of the 
color to help those who have not a color 
E are depending upon the 
friends and admirers of our 
old correspondent NessmuJc to make 
this department worthy of his 
name. No man knew the woods 
better than Nessmuk or wrote of 
them with quainter charm. Many 
of his practical ideas on camping 
and “ going light ” have been 
adopted by the United States Army ; 
his canoe has been preserved in the 
Smithsonian Institution; and we 
hope that all good woodsmen will 
contribute to this department their 
Hints and Kinks and trail-tested 
contrivances. — [Editors. ] 
chart to refer to. The feathers are in 
their natural colors unless otherwise 
specified. 
Wings: From the wing feather of a 
pheasant. These are meant to represent 
the wing cases of the grasshopper and 
should be tied on so as to lay down close 
to the hook, one on each side. 
Cheeks : Small cock’s hackle points 
(p. 19), dyed primrose yellow, shade 2 or 
a light canary color. The “cheeks” are 
meant to represent the thigh joints of 
the grasshopper’s legs which are the 
features that stand out most sharply in 
contrast with the rest of the insect. 
They should be tied at a slightly steeper 
angle with the hook than with the wings. 
Body: A quill-dyed Naples yellow 
shade 2, or a pale straw-colored quill 
(p. 29 on color chart). 
Body Hackle: The same color as the 
body, either dyed or from a brassy dun 
cock. The body hackle is quite short 
and is put on to assist floatation. 
Neck Hackle: A few turns of a me- 
dium ginger hackle. 
Tail: A few strands from a mallard. 
GRASSHOPPER has no tail, but 
these strands are meant to imitate 
the lower extremities of the legs of 
the insect which possibly stick out be- 
hind the ends of the wing cases when the 
grasshopper is in the water. I cannot 
say with any degree of authority whether 
or not the tail improves the killing qual- 
ities of the fly, but it adds a slightly 
finished look to the fly and therefore I 
put it on. 
The body hackle was added last year, 
as I found that with a plain quill body 
the fly took a great deal of drying to 
make it float again when once it had got- 
ten wet. But when I adopted the body 
hackle there was no difficulty in drying 
the fly. 
Now, although this fly is meant to be 
a dry fly, it should be dressed in the 
manner that the ordinary wet fly is 
dressed, viz., with hackles, wings, etc., 
tied more or less in a vertical plane 
above and below the shank of the hook, 
and not with the hackles standing out 
all around. The reason for this is that 
the fly should float on its side and not 
“cocked up” because the natural insect, 
which it is supposed to copy, in nearly 
every case floats on its side when it has 
the misfortune to fall on the surface of 
the water. Of course there is the added 
advantage that this fly can be used for 
either wet or dry fly fishing. 
T he most complimentary friend 
would never say that this fly has 
a remarkable resemblance to a real 
grasshopper; but when the fly is float- 
ing on its side the combination of feath- 
ers and quill have an extraordinary like- 
ness to a grasshopper in a similar posi- 
tion when viewed from above, and as 
both fly and insect are more or less 
opaque, I imagine that there is a very 
similar look about them when regarded 
from the trout’s point of view. The 
size of hook on which the fly should 
be dressed should range from No. 10 up 
