My Hopper - Part 1 ( The Foam Body )

To tie 'my hopper' you have to prepare all the needed parts. The barred rubber legs are a great addition to any hopper or cricket pattern. Just put two of them together and make a knot, then cut one of the two pieces near the knot and the leg is ready. For the wing, I used a thicker plastic bag that I coloured with some black and brown waterproof pencils, then I cut it in the shape of of a hopper wing. Optionally you can use some plastic ball eyes or you can make some of a piece of mono filament. But now lets talk about the extended foam body. It is easier to tie it than it looks like. 

Mount a needle in your vice and pierce a 4 mm wide piece of foam like in the image below. 

Start the thread in front of the foam ( about 4-5 wraps ), then wrap twice over the foam like in the picture. Don't use waxed thread, you may get problems pushing the body off the needle.

Take a few wraps again in front of the foam, bend the foam over the needle and start wrapping the thread over the two foam parts ( about 2-3 wraps ), then continue with 4-5 wraps on the needle.

You chose how many and how big the segments of the extended foam body will be.

When you finished the body, whip finish, cut the thread and secure it with some head cement. Don't pull the body off the needle, push it.

Now it's time to put all the parts together and to tie the hopper.