Overview
This Charlie Craven pattern from Charlie's Fly Box demonstrates why attractor patterns continue to dominate fly boxes across the country. The Hippy Stomper doesn't imitate any specific insect - instead, it triggers predatory responses with its combination of movement, flash, and profile. The foam back ensures the fly floats indefinitely even in the roughest water, while the chartreuse coloration makes it exceptionally easy to track. The white rubber legs create lifelike movement that trout find irresistible.
Related patterns
Behavior & presentation
- Natural Behavior
- Large terrestrial hoppers, beetles, and cicadas tumble from grasses during windy conditions, hitting water with audible splashes. Their panicked kicking and wing-buzzing create surface commotion that draws aggressive strikes.
- Where Trout Eat It
- Freestone trout across varied structure respond to the chartreuse foam and white rubber legs. Fish rise from behind boulders, along undercuts, and in runs responding to attractor profile.
- How to Fish It
- Fish as searching pattern, casting to likely water systematically. The foam never sinks—fish it all day, excellent as dry-dropper indicator.
- Best Water
- Focus on South Platte, Colorado River, Arkansas River structure—pockets, runs, pools in 1-4 feet.
- Strike Type
- Violent surface explosions mark aggressive feeding—fish commit fully to large, struggling terrestrial profiles.
Fishing strategy
- Rigging Suggestions
- Fish on a 9-foot leader tapering to 3X-4X tippet. The exceptional buoyancy makes this an outstanding indicator fly for heavy dry-dropper rigs.
- Seasonal Timing
- and fall when terrestrials are active, but catches fish throughout the season as an attractor pattern. Peak effectiveness during hopper season from July through September.
- Pro Tips
- The foam construction ensures the fly never sinks, even after numerous fish or extended fishing sessions.
Where to fish it
Rivers anglers pair with this fly, with local shops that stock it.
River details and fly shops from River & Run, our sister site.
Entomology
Grasshoppers inhabit streamside vegetation and frequently fall or are blown onto the water, where they struggle violently with powerful leg kicks and wing flutters. Fish eagerly strike these large terrestrials because they represent substantial caloric value and create enticing surface disturbance.
- Order
- Orthoptera
- Family
- Acrididae
- Common name
- Grasshopper
- Organism
- terrestrial
- Life stage
- adult
Pattern details
- Moving Water
- Rocky Mountain
- dead-drift
- stonefly-hatch
- hopper-season
- classic
- modern
- attractor
- searching-pattern
