The cream parachute hopper has proven itself as a great late season fly. This fly always lands in the proper alignment, presents the triggering feature of large splayed legs, and offers a large white wing post that makes it easy to spot on the water.

New Cream Parachute Hopper

On a late season hike to Wildcat Canyon, my friend Gregg Sutherland captured a couple hoppers and flicked them into the river. Before he offered them to the trout, I inspected the abdomen and noticed a segmented creamy underside, so I decided to imitate this in my new parachute hoppers.

A View from the Top

The yellow body Letort hoppers seem to work well in the early summer season, but when late August and September roll around, the parachute hopper seems to be more productive. I decided to produce eight cream parachute hoppers for the upcoming 2012 season.

Ribbed Abdomen and Pheasant Tail Legs

The only quality of my yellow Letort hoppers I’d like to improve upon is buoyancy. Last winter I tied some Charlie Boy Hoppers made from foam in an effort to discover a buoyant attractor fly that would suspend beadhead nymphs, be highly visible, and remain on top of the water without vigorous false casting. I made some tan and yellow Charlie Boys and gave them a try.

I had my best success on the Conejos River using the tan versions; however, the deer wing disintegrated after catching two fish. This was actually the best performance as the yellow ones that I used on the Arkansas River early in the season came apart simply from repeated casting. In short these flies were poorly tied, and I reverted to the reliable yellow Letort hopper.

Improved Charlie Boy Hopper

Jane bought me the fly tying book by Charlie Craven, the creator of the Charlie Boy Hopper, for my birthday so I decided to review the instructions. The materials list suggests using 3/0 thread instead of the standard 6/0. 3/0 is a stronger heavier thread that enables more pressure to be applied when tying down materials. Another change was the addition of hopper legs made out of rubber strands tied in a knot to simulate the bend in the large legs of a grasshopper.

Fish Eye View from Underneath

I decided to give the Charlie Boy Hopper another try. I tied 20 using yellow foam bodies and four using tan foam. I have quite a few carry over tan versions, and I discovered I was able to refurbish four bodies with missing wing material by attaching my thread near the head and tying in a new wing. I covered the top of the foam at the wing tie in point with clear nail polish and then cinched the thread down hard so that it was embedded into the foam. This flared the deer hair wing nicely and provides a very solid bond between the hair and the foam. I’m optimistic that these improvements will make the Charlie Boy Hopper a solid producer during 2012. The rubber hopper legs also add realism and movement, so that should enhance the productivity as well.

Top View

This is probably my most productive dry fly year in and year out. It’s easy to tie, floats reasonably well, and suspends beadhead nymphs. The only thing I could ask for is better flotation as the yellow dubbing tends to saturate and sink after five to ten casts.

During 2010 I thought that perhaps the Chernobyl ant had become my top large attractor fly, but during 2011 the yellow Letort reinforced its position on the throne.

In an effort to obtain better flotation I tied a bunch of yellow and tan Charlie Boy Hoppers entering the 2011 season, but I soon discovered that I didn’t properly tie the flies and the deer hair wing came loose fairly quickly. I found myself returning to the old reliable Letort hopper, and it didn’t disappoint. Consequently I tied 20 brand new size 10 yellow Letort hoppers in preparation for 2012 to avoid getting caught short.

Twenty Yellow Letort Hoppers

I have noticed the effectiveness of the yellow Letort hopper peaks in July in the early part of the season in Colorado. Perhaps this means the large yellow fly is also imitating golden stonefly adults. Hopper bodies of light gray and tan seem to take over in the late season.

My Best Topwater Producer

Suppose I could have a fly with the profile and fish catching abilities of a Letort hopper, but the buoyancy of a Chernobyl Ant? If such a fly exists, I would likely fish it every day all season long. It would only get removed when fish tuned in to specific insects or I needed to fish deep.

Charlie Boy Hopper

In one of my fishing magazines I spotted the Charlie Boy Hopper, created by local Denver fly designer, Charlie Craven. I love the fly shop owned by Charlie in Old Arvada called Charlie’s Fly Box. I checked out Charlie’s web site and printed off the tying steps for making Charlie Boy Hoppers and planned to create some of my own during the winter of 2010. Unfortunately, by the time I refilled all my proven inventory, I ran out of time.

Deer Hair Wing on Top

However, 2011 is a new year, and I prioritized making Charlie Boy Hoppers for the coming season. I had everything required to make these flies except Zap-A-Gap and a sharp razor blade, so I visited a fly shop and picked up these necessities. The tying instructions were quite voluminous, but once I’d done my prototype, I discovered they are fairly easy to tie. I was so optimistic that this fly will be a winner, that I made 15-20 of them in different sizes and color combinations. I tied 5 tan and 5 yellow in size 10, and then 3 bright green in size 10. I then added 3 tan and 3 yellow in size 12.

Segmented Foam Underside

I’m quite anxious to test these flies on the streams in 2011. The foam bend back style should really provide a lot of buoyancy, yet I feel like the profile is close to that obtained with the Letort hopper. If these work as expected, I’ll have no problem floating two medium size beadheads through delicious pockets and runs.

I was introduced to the Chernobyl Ant on the Green River below Flaming Gorge Reservoir ten years ago by my guide, Mark. We drifted all the sections of the river, and the most productive fly was the large Chernobyl Ant. Mark had me cast the large buggy ant near the bank and ahead of the drift boat. He was expert at maintaining the speed of the boat and instructing me on when and how to mend so that we held long drag free drifts in all the attractive eddies and currents along the bank. I experienced some of the best fishing ever during these couple of fall days on the Green River. I asked Mark if he thought the Chernobyl Ant would work in other streams in Colorado, and he guaranteed it would.

I began tying a few Chernobyl Ants to experiment with during my Colorado outings. Typically I used it as a top indicator fly due to the buoyancy of the foam body. During late summer when fish would refuse my Letort hopper, I’d substitute the Chernobyl Ant hoping that the fish would grab the trailing nymph and not pay attention to the top fly. Guess what? I discovered that the fish loved the Chernobyl Ant and rose to smash it as frequently as they nabbed the trailing nymph.

Peacock Flash on Underside

The only change I make to tying this fly compared to store bought versions is the addition of a peacock metallic chenille on the underside of the foam. My guide, Mark, featured this attractor quality, and I adopted it. I’ve also experimented with brown legs and fancier striped rubber legs, but the brown seems to perform as well as any. The first thing to get damaged from usage is loss of legs or appendages. After a Chernobyl loses two or more legs, I generally set it aside, and then in the winter I rehabilitate with limb replacements.

Refurbished Chernobyl Ants

I’m not sure what a Chernobyl Ant imitates, but the fish, especially bank hugging browns, seem to like it. Possibly it imitates large terrestrials that get blown into the water from time to time. It certainly looks buggy with its large black body, peacock chenille underbody, and dangling rubber legs. The yellow foam section on top of the fly is purely for the fisherman, and this fisherman loves its visibility.

Yellow Indicator on Top

This past summer I probably used the Chernobyl Ant more than any other season. In fact, I tied the Chernobyl to my line as the top fly first on many occasions where I’d previously opted for a hopper. The combination of fish catching ability, visibility, and buoyancy are difficult to surpass. My favorite application is on small headwater streams with dense vegetation reaching out to the casting area. When there isn’t enough space to execute repetitive backcasts to dry a traditional dry fly, I dig into my fly pocket for a Chernobyl Ant. This fly can simply be roll cast or dapped in tight quarters with no drying required. It works like a charm. Another benefit on small streams is that the fish that are too small, can’t get the large hook in their mouths and fall off, so I only tend to land fish worthy of counting.

New Chernobyl

During the summer of 2010 my best Chernobyl days were probably on Chalk Creek, Fooses Creek, North Fork of the St. Vrain, and Clear Creek. These streams are all small in scale and the ease of fishing the Chernobyl Ant created hours of fun. My son, Dan, and I hiked into the North Fork of St. Vrain Canyon from Meeker Park on a very hot September day, and caught numerous brown trout on the Chernobyl Ant. Dan is a believer in Chernobyl fishing!