I wish I had seen the video below a month ago, as ‘hopper season was upon us here in eastern Idaho—cooler nights and high-elevation freezes are bringing my favorite time of the year to a close, unfortunately, but there are still a few hearty terrestrials out there.
Tying round rubber hopper legs can be one of those challenging endeavors that make a fly tier simply give up on the process. A simple knot in the rubber leggs will often work, but there’s virtually zero stability, and, often, the legs fold over themselves and look anything but natural on the water. I can see where using Tim Flagler’s method above, with two rubber strands for the base, can add that needed foundation to keep the legs in place. I hadn’t seen this before—next year’s hopper patterns will definitely incorporate it.
— Chris Hunt