Tying instructions - Sexy Legs Hopper

We received a lot of snow from the good Lord this morning.  A few issues with the buses en route to and from the schools this morning but it seems that the snow is clearing off the roads.  More snow tomorrow morning!  I have a cold which seems to have been picked up at an arcade.  Why my kids didn't get this nasty thing, I couldn't guess "why?"  I thought about going back to sleep but I my chai tea had some ginseng in it.  I am now sipping coffee.

Since I took care of most of my errands yesterday and am procrastinating my current chores which include cleaning the toilets . . . I figured, why not  make a few flies and give the good folks what they have requested of me.  And that would be tying instructions of foam hoppers and flies.  Yes, I have finally come to my senses.

It's been quite a while since I posted tying instructions.  I hope these serve you well and won't be confusing.  Some of my patterns are of my own design and others are a mash-up of different patterns which have come from a lot of research.  As my loyal but few followers know (lol), I love top water patterns - especially, foam flies.

SEXY LEGS HOPPER tying instructions - for smallmouth, trout, panfish, etc.

Materials:

Size 8 or 10 hook - even a 12 or 6 or whatever.  I am using an 8 as I do with most foam flies.
2mm foam
Rubber legs
Ultra Thread 70 Yellow
A great bonding adhesive.

1) Use your scissors or a cutter to cut two pieces of 2mm foam measuring 4 in. x 1/4 in.  One end needs to be round or slightly triangular at the tip.  You can use craft foam from big box store, Hobby Lobby, etc.  The "store" bought foam is just a tad under 2 mm.  The fly shop foam and store bought foam float the same.

2) Glue the two pieces of foam together as shown in the photo above.  As you can tell, I'm not perfect but this pattern will work.

3) Cut two pieces of foam meauring 1.5 in. x 1mm  It doesn't need to be tapered.  Mine just look that way because I use the sections of foam between the pieces I stamp out with a cutter.

4) Make a couple of loops with your rubber legs.

5) Place the foam legs through the loops.  This can be a tad tricky.  I hold down one tip and use my bodkin to place the loop over the legs.

6) Pull the loop tight - not overly - and trim the excess rubber legs.

7) Secure the foam body at the top of the bend of the hook.  Create 3 more segments - 4 in all with "tail".  The last segment you create at the tip should be made with about 1 mm or less of room near the eye of the hook.

8) Tie in your indicator at the first segment and then do a "crossover" under the indicator and then secure the indicator at the second segment with a few wraps of thread.

9)  It seems that I forgot to take a photo of tying the legs.  You can see here the bend of the legs extends just past where you first secured the body on.  When tying on the legs, don't pull the front of the body over until the legs are secured.  As you make the wraps for the legs, don't pull too tightly because we don't want the legs to splay out too much.  Cut the excess foam legs and secure with glue now or after you finish the fly.

10) After securing the legs, make a "crossover" with your thread and secure the top of the foam with the bottom of the foam at the first segment.  Cross back over, make a wrap or two at the second segment and then crossover again to the first segment.  Tie in some rubber legs, make a few more wraps with your thread and do about three half-hitches.

11)  In this photo, you can see my "crossovers".  Trim the indicator to just past the first place that you secured the body at the bend of the hook.  Apply glue, Zap-a-Gap or whatever to the bottom of the body along the hook shank and at the thread wraps.

Good luck and email me with any questions - rzrbk804@yahoo.com

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