Grasshopper

Forget the overhanging branch — nothing about a grasshopper falls out of a tree. This one gets jumped or blown straight off a grassy bank in hot, breezy weather, mid-afternoon into evening from midsummer through early autumn (December through March if you're in Patagonia rather than the Rockies), and it's the biggest terrestrial pattern most anglers carry — size 6 to 4, nothing dainty about it. Don't leave it sitting once it's down, either: give it a small kick or twitch after the cast, since the naturals struggle rather than lie still, and that movement is often the difference between a fly that gets looked at and one that gets eaten. A grassy bank in full sun on a windy afternoon is the water to prospect with it, whether or not anything else is showing.

• North America — WestPresent

Melanoplus is a large genus of grasshoppers. They are the typical large grasshoppers (and in some cases migratory "locusts") in North America. A common name is spur-throat grasshoppers (also "spurthroat" or "spur-throated grasshoppers"), but this more typically refers to members of the related subfamily Catantopinae.