Terrestrial · Terrestrial

Grasshopper

Melanoplus
Grasshopper — Adult
Size
20–35mm
Hook size
#6–4
Hatch window
Season July–SeptemberPeak time 12:00–18:00 (hot, breezy)
Water temperature
18° peak
12°26°
Hatches from 12°C, peaking at 18°C, tailing off by 26°C.
How fish feed on it

Nothing about a beetle or an ant belongs in the water, which is rather the point — once it's in, it isn't getting out, and a trout that's spent all summer learning this doesn't need convincing twice. The takes tend to be confident and unhurried, especially along undercut banks and under overhanging branches where windfall has been landing for as long as the tree's been there.

Flies that imitate this
Hopper
Hopper
Chubby Chernobyl
Chubby Chernobyl
Dave's Hopper
Dave's Hopper
Fat Albert
Fat Albert
Stimulator
Stimulator
Ecology
Rivers & stillwaterFreestone rivers
Where you'll find this
  • North America — WestPresent
Present throughout
About the genus Melanoplus

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.