Foam Hopper
The foam grasshopper is August's dinner bell - a big, leggy, unsinkable terrestrial that bank-feeding trout smash all summer, and the definitive top fly of the hopper-dropper rig.
From July to the first frosts, grasshoppers blunder into rivers by the thousand along grassy banks, and trout mug them with a violence they show nothing else. Modern foam hoppers - buoyant, rubber-legged, nearly indestructible - turned this feast into fly fishing's favorite summer game: bang the banks, watch the eat, and let the foam carry a dropper besides.
What it imitates
A grasshopper overboard: fat body, kicking rubber legs, splat landing - summer's biggest common surface meal.
When & where it wins
Grassy banks July-September, windy afternoons especially (wind blows hoppers in); western rivers made it famous, but any meadow stream plays.
How to fish it
SPLAT it near the bank - the crash landing is the trigger, not a delicate cast. Dead-drift with an occasional leg-twitch. The hopper-dropper (nymph 60-90 cm below) doubles the season's take.
Sizes & variants
6-12 in tan/gold/pink (pink shows and fish don't mind); Chubby Chernobyl, Morrish Hopper and Fat Albert are the modern squad.
Tying notes
Foam-and-legs construction - more craft-project than classic tying; durable enough that one fly lasts weeks.
Common mistakes
Fishing the middle of the river (hoppers come from BANKS), too-gentle landings, and quitting the pattern after lunch - hopper eats run to dusk.