One evening while looking through the forums I found a swap called the Hoppicator Swap. The swap called for any fly that could be used as an indicator fly. This gave the swap tier many options, so I decided to participate in my first fly swap because I had so many flies that I could pick from for this swap. About this time, I developed an itch to tie up some Hopper Juans and what better way to relieve that itch than to have a reason to tie them.
Created by Juan Rameriez, the Hopper Juan brings a ton of fun to a net on a summers’ day. From its segmented foam body to its elk hair wing to its bright indicator hot spot the Hopper Juan is an awesome looking fly. Juan did an awesome job bringing this fly to life.
While looking for materials to tie the Hopper Juan I found the Montana Fly Company wing material that Juan’s original recipe called for to a bit expensive so I substituted it with web wing and I used 3/0 thread rather than the UTC 140 that the actual recipe called for simply because it was the only tan thread I had at the time. I probably could have gotten away with a wood duck color or something like that instead of tan thread but I was more worried about the color of the thread rather than how much thread bulk the fly gained because I used 3/0 thread. I also didn’t use Gator Hair, I already had indicator material so that is what I used.
This is a nice fly that is in my opinion a great hopper imitation. It floats well and can have a small dropper pattern like the Copper John (tutorial here) under it. The little flash in the tail gives the fly just enough zing to give it a bit more bin appeal that is needed to catch our attention. As far as being able to see it, make sure to use a bright indicator material, not necessarily so you can see it but more so you can easily see it.
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To see Juan’s post about the Hopper Juan on his blog click here.
MATERIALS:
| Hopper Juan | |
|---|---|
| HOOK: | TCM 5262 size 6 |
| THREAD: | 3/0 Ultra Thread |
| FOAM: | 2 mm Craft Foam - Chernobyl Shape |
| UNDERWING: | Web Wing Material |
| WING: | Elk or Deer Hair |
| Flash: | Root Beer Krystal Flash |
| LEGS: | Centipede Legs |
| INDICATOR | Highly Visible indicator Material |
VIDEO TUTORIAL:
What is you favorite Hoppicator pattern? Leave your answers in the comments section.