Dry Flies, Rivers, Trout & Tarpon.: Holy Hopper Hatch!

OK, I don't carry or cast hoppers very often. Next to never. I can't remember the last time I tied one on, though there's probably some record of it on here someplace. I don't ever recall casting one on the Ranch. Beetles, ya. Ants, of course. I only own a few hoppers, but I remember putting 3 or 4 in my beetle box five days ago when I got here. I'm not even sure why. Probably because there were a few empty slots.

Yesterday was cloudy and looked good, but there was no activity from mid-morning until the thunderstorms with a weak cold front rolled in mid to late-afternoon. Nobody did any good, and I couldn't find a riser.

This morning I walked down from Ranchview at 10:00 sharp. Too early, but it was clear. Downstream from the lot there was a little protection from the 5-10 north wind. It still didn't look good, nobody was in the water casting, and I never saw a rise. However, the air turned nearly dead-still as the morning ended, and I finally saw some callibaetis and mahoganies following the meaningless tricos on the water, but only one or two rising fish that didn't stay put. As I made my way below the big island, a good fish came up twice in the same spot. A mahogany soft hackle took that one and saved the skunk for the day. My watch said 12:12 as I released it.

As I was doing so, I could see and hear a couple of large splashes 150 feet downstream of me. As I made my way down, there was another fish slurping fairly violently. What the hell? This is the flat water where its usually hard to see a nose 50 feet in front of me. Smutting sippers, but not these two.

I could see some dragonflies in the air, so I thought maybe they were eating one or two of those. There were some other crane fly-looking things flying around, so maybe one or two of those. I have a few I bought for the Beaverhead a decade ago, but they're in the truck buried in some shit-fly box. Meanwhile, these explosive eats became more plentiful.

What the hell are they doing? Then I saw a lone hopper float by me. Could that be it? Then another, and another. Before I knew it, I could see a hopper on the surface almost anytime I wanted, and there were a few trout taking two or three a minute. Hell, sometimes two or three in 20 seconds. I had a couple hoppers crawling on my waders. The water was full of them! How did that many get on the water so fast? Most were not kicking or twitching, they were floating dead-drift. I picked up a half dozen or so from the water, and they were still alive. Dark, mottled wings sat flush against the brownish-yellow bodies. I've seen cicadas on the Green like this, but not hoppers, and not here.

I had only two each of two different foam-bodied patterns in my vest, and quickly tied one on. The rest, as they say, is history. I don't believe what I saw, on the water I saw it on. For a while, a few fish actually became "selective," "picky," or whatever you want to call it. They were letting hoppers float right over them and eating the next one. No wonder they don't eat tricos! I did get some refusals, and didn't feel like I had the perfect match, but I'll work on that in case I live long enough to see this again. I even threw the hopper to a couple of subtle risers in front of the ranch houses late in the afternoon after all the mayhem died down. They both ate it to end the most memorable day. 10 big fish hooked in one short afternoon, conservatively.

So, maybe I won't be so quick to cuss the early morning breeze. God, do I actually wish for it now? I'm still not convinced that's how they got there. These hoppers were in the middle of the river, 50-75 feet off the bank. I don't know how they got where they were unless they blew in way upriver and floated down. Steve Guest said he caught six at Bonefish, a mile or two above me, so it wasn't just where I was. But why doesn't this happen on all the windy days when the banks are full of hoppers? And it wasn't that windy. I've seen worse, more times than I can count.

This marks the 40th year since my first visit fishing the Ranch. I've never seen anything like this. I've seen fish eat hoppers. I've seen the hoppers along the banks every late summer and early fall. But to have the water full of them, and the trout eating them like brown drakes, still blows my mind. Now I'll look for it every day, although I don't know how I'll do it any different than any other day. Watch the water for noses, or in this case, splashes. Like the landmark you tell somebody about, "You can't miss it." I'll keep a few more hoppers in the vest, and I'll cast one to every splashy rise I see. I just heard somebody did pretty good fishing the banks of the Beaverhead last weekend with hoppers. Maybe its time to join the hopper party. I was right in the middle of it today. Center stage.

Pictures don't do these tanks justice. They're all fat, and average 20 inches!