The Lil' Hollywood Hopper

 Last week, I shared my Hollywood Hopper pattern with you.  While a great pattern, many people love to throw a smaller sized hopper say in size 12 or 10.  With that in mind, I tried to scale down the pattern to a smaller size.  The choice in hook is purely personal.  The wide gap allows to hold bigger fish and you can use whatever hook you choose.  Just make sure you don't have a small gap because you will lose a lot of fish.  Please excuse the lack of instruction on this video as you are accustomed to.  If I could do it over again, I'd leave the music out.  Enjoy and tie some up and have fun!

The Lil' Hollywood Hopper from Juan Ramirez on Vimeo.

Hopper Time

If you are looking for a challenging but fun pattern to tie for hopper season, take a look at the Hollywood Hopper.
It was a challenge for me to come up with this one, but once I figured it out, I loved it.   Feel free to make changes as needed but do this for me.  Have fun and get out and fish!  These are also available from Montana Fly Company and their dealers.  Here is one online shop that carries all of my patterns with MFC.  www.dreamdriftflies.com



The Hollywood Hopper from Juan Ramirez on Vimeo.

Club Sandwich

The Club Sandwich is a hot fly to have right now.  This summer is all about hopper & droppers.  The Club Sandwich can be tied to imitate many different insects.  My favorite thing about the C.S. is the legs.  I love to have all those rubber legs moving and grooving in the water.  I have fished this pattern as a hopper on the surface of the water and at the end of the drift, I stripped it like a streamer.  That drove the fish crazy!  Tie some of these up or go to your local shop and pick a few of these things up.  

MFC ties the Hopper Juan

I received a recent batch of Hopper Juans from Montana Fly Company.  Take a look and see what you think.  There have been a few changes and a few tweaks here and there that they took care of.  Now all I need you to do is to ask for them in your local fly shop.  They are available in sizes 8, 10 & 12.  I fish the size 8s most often but the 10s & 12s will work great for the smaller streams.

 #8, 10, & 12s

Make the Best of It.

When I thought about fishing the Ark today, I imaged a dark, cloudy day, occasionally spitting snow and about 1:00 or so the BWOs would come off and the fish would rise to them in the clear, low water.  Well  today was not quite what I had imaged.  After a few days of warm weather, some of the lower elevation snow was melting and made it's way to the river.  While it was slowly dropping and clearing, it definitely  was not how I had hoped it would be.  The day started clear and cold.  The wind was blowing as it always does this time of year.  The water was higher and off color and the fishing was a bit harder than usual.   After about an hour of fishing I had a terrible thought.  Could a skunk be coming?  I haven't been skunked since leaving the Rio Grande in New Mexico where on any given day it could happen, but on the Arkansas?  Really? I realized this is possible but not for me.  I have invested way too much time in this passion and since this was not the Rio Grande, I didn't have to worry.  The fish would come.  Soon the first fish and second fish were found in a usual spot and on a usual fly, the cream caddis larva.  With the weather hot and cold, snow and bright sunshine, the fishing was still slow.   I kept telling myself to throw on a woolly bugger, as I love to fish them in this type of water and in these conditions.  When I did, it was pretty intense.  Follows right to the rod tip and then they were gone.  I knew I would see lots of fish this way and also assumed I could hook up with 1 out of 4 or 5 follows and I did.  The rest of the day was spent this way all the while I was waiting for the BWOs to start emerging.  I saw about a handful and that was it.  The sun would come out after a few minutes and the bugs would disappear along with the clouds.  I didn't see a single rise all day long and after a good day on the water and some testing of new patterns, I called it a day and headed home.  Some days, no matter how bad, are just plain better than sitting in front of a computer at work.    

Love the old cars in the canyon.  Do they ever move them?

First fish on the bugger.

Lots of these in the water.  

Pretty little things.  

Although I see these the most, I still throw a cream colored one and they eat it.  Hmm, I wonder if they would eat an olive one????

About a size 14

There were only a few of these out today.  I didn't see a single rise today.  

Caddis are out, but not many.

Testing out a new hopper pattern.  It floated well but it needs to be tweaked a bit before summer.

This is a cool pattern that I want to use more on this river.  It's a Jeremy's Arizona Prince.

I eventually hooked up with a few of these.

 Currently my favorite fly on the Ark. My cream caddis larva.

Fan Photos

These are from one of my students and friend.  I love the looks of these and hope to be able to recieve some more pictures of flies or fish photos.  So send them over and I'll post them.

Juan

Hopper Juan Tying Video

Hey guys, I am still alive and well.  I survived the holidays and I also survived going with out a computer for several days.  I finally got it fixed and want to thank Rick for helping me out during the busy times.  Thanks!!
I lost all of my videos on the computer, but fortunately for us, I still had them on the camera.  I uploaded a couple of foam flies for you to watch.  These were filmed during my "Working with Foam" class on 12/18/09.  They are a bit long, but you'll get the point.  Enjoy them and let me know what you would like to see and I can try my best to do so. 

Don't forget that I will be in Denver for 3 days this upcoming weekend and would love to meet you guys that tune in.  Stop by and say hi. 

Tying the Club Sandwich in HD from Juan Ramirez on Vimeo.




Tying the Hopper Juan from Juan Ramirez on Vimeo.
Tied during the "Working with Foam" class on 12/18/09. The Hopper Juan is my signature pattern that works great as a hopper or stonefly. I fish this thing about 10 months of the year, usually followed by a tungsten Glossy Back Baetis as a dropper and have tons of fun fishing this way.

Flys and some more flys

Hopper Juan

Green Drake

Go 2 Prince

Bullet Head Foam Stoned Hopper

Juan's Holo. Baetis

Orange Stimulator

RS2

Furmisky Caddis

Juan's Baetis Nymph

Mini Hopper Juans. ( Juanitos)

Belly shot

Hopper Juan belly shot.

BWO Emerger

BWO Barr Emerger using floure fibre wings.

BWO parachute

My Beatis Nymph

Bullethead Hopper Juan

Here is a new twist on my Hopper Juan that I have been playing around with. I added a deer hair bullethead to this fly to give it a bit different look. I have fished with a couple of these and they work just fine. The body is still that of the original and can still be changed according to what color you want it to be. You can add knotted hopper legs if you like or just keep the barred legs tied in X-style as the original. Tie some up and let me know what you think.