Hopper Fishing on the Missouri River

By: Warren DeMark

It’s 9 pm in the middle of August. The sun just started setting and you haven't started dinner yet. You woke up at 5:30 am today to hit the Trico hatch and stayed on the water for way too long. You had the time of your life squinting at size 20 bugs all day and repairing 5x leaders. A couple of Missouri bruisers were fooled in the midst of the hatch, and lots of fly line was seen leaving your reel when they went on their screaming runs. It was a successful day, as is any day you can fool some trout into sticking their noses out of their aquatic home into our warmer, dryer domain. But you’re tired and dehydrated now, and if you wake up tomorrow at the break of dawn, there may not be enough coffee in the world to prevent you from taking a nap in the river. If only there was a way to wake up at noon and catch fish on size 4 dry flies. Enter Grasshoppers.