Hey guys, I'm new over in this section. I've been making crappie jigs for a few months and have made a couple decorative stacked hair jigs and a popper but never a bug type fly. I posted in the jig tying section but thought y'all might want to see it too.

I had some down time tonight and had been admiring various peoples realistic flies. I have really been wanting to tie a grasshopper to use in ponds with my fly rod or even under a bobber with a split shot like when I was a kid. I don't have any "fly" material besides what I use for jigs so I made due and I think it came out... Hoppery I had a nice body built up with chenille and deer hair but when I started putting legs and wings it all got covered up. I'm not sure how those guys go from front to back without covering everything with thread. Anyways, butt is deer hair, legs are hackle stems, and wings are hack tips. I used clear silicone to stick hair and hackles together, and to fill in the gap in the legs. Also 2 drops for eyes. Took me over an hour for real lol. So, what do y'all think?

The proof will be in the pudding, as they say. Take it fishing!
But as for the tying, there is no substitute for rolling up your sleeves and tying ten, twenty, one hundred of them. The more of them tied, the better the feel for what you want and how to get there. I'll wager that after you've tied a few dozen, you will find your satisfaction on an exponential increase.

If it will catch, it's a fine fly. And I am sure it will.

Thank you sir. There will be more, but I'll have to get a whole lot faster before I tie many lol. I want to get some foam and tie some of the known hopper flies.

Looks good to me. One thing about flies is how they cast. I can't tell the scale from the photo, but you might cast one first. It could grab a lot of air and be tough to cast on a lighter weight Rod.

I admire the time you put into the fly. I think 20 minutes is about my limit on one fly. My favorite flies are the 5 minute flies. I tinker with patterns and materials to try to come up with something that works where I fish. There are a lot of check boxes I try to hit when coming up with a design, but most don't excel in every way. Can it be cast without breaking your rod or arm? Does it move through the water well? Does it look right wet? Does it hit the depth you want? Is it durable? Do the fish find it attractive? Does it resemble some natural forage? What clarity of water will it work? Is it weedless or semi weedless?

But like the Flyfishing warden was saying, the more you tie of a pattern, the better you feel about what you want and the getting there.

Thanks karstopo. It's tied on a little cricket hook I found in my tackle box. I just mashed the little barbs on the back down with pliers. I'm guessing from head to tail it's probably 1" or just over. It definitely may not cast well at all lol. If not I'll have to use a spinning reel, bobber and split shot . As far as the time it took, it is from lack of knowledge on how to tie something like that, and figuring out how to attach everything as I went along using trial and error lol. I did have a little time added in waiting on the silicone to dry enough to add some color. It was still not set up at all, just enough to not completely stick to the marker.

I don't even know what slicone is beyond the caulk I've gotten on occasion. An inch, that's not big at all. It's hard to tell in a photo.

I've really gotten into the UV cure materials. Just a few seconds to cure. I think there are flexible type of formulations.

Lol it actually is DAP brand silicone/caulk from the hardware store gotta make due with whatcha got. I actually do want to get some of the clear goo that cures with uv that would be awesome. I just measured and its a little under 1 3/4" sorry my imaginary measuring stick was way off when I wasn't looking at it.

That fly looks realistic, the fish are the real judge's. Tying with foam is far quicker, I second the UV cure if you want a quick epoxy type finish.

that does look buggy..

Thanks fellas!

Very nice!

Definitely buggy... Have fun, Tio