One-Fly Guy

If you could only fish with one fly all day, which would it be?

by Scott Sanchez

The Hassenpfeffer Emerger (as a friend calls it) isn’t a fly for the timid, but the rewards are great. Most of my flies are three to four inches long. Because fast rods don’t generally throw heavy flies very well, for trout I usually use a medium-action, 7-weight rod with a sinking-tip, Teeny, or full-sinking line. The rabbit hide and fibers will move subtly as it drifts or falls, and one of my favorite retrieves is to strip it and let it drift like a dying baitfish. I’ve found that the eyes on it don’t necessarily elicit more strikes, but they do help prevent short strikes.

For trout I prefer to tie the Double Bunny on a long-shank streamer hook, but I tie it on the front half of the hook shank. This allows the fly to undulate, while preventing short strikes from side-swiping cutts and ’bows. For warm water, I use a standard stainless hook (Dai-Riki 930 or Mustad 34007) or a heavy-wire bass hook (Dai-Riki 810) and tie in a mono weedguard. For salt water, I use stainless hooks.

Originally, I used Zonker Strips in the pattern, but wide rabbit strips, such as Hareline’s Magnum Strips, make it easier to cover the lead underbody. If you do use Zonker Strips, cover the lead with mylar dubbing or tubing. Because I tie so many of these, I glue entire rabbit hides together and strip them out with a disposable box cutter knife. I prefer Val-A brand latex contact cement to glue the rabbit hide (the Coast to Coast chain of hardware stores stocks this or leather and canvas repair shops may have it). Barge-type contact cement will also work well, but the fumes can get to you.

My Australian friend, Mick Hall, ties some Mini-Bunnies out of squirrel strips, and Wapsi now sells squirrel and mink strips that would work on smaller flies. Rob McLean’s new Bar Dyed Zonker Strips can give the fly parr marks or a mottled look.

The Heart Pony Beads can be purchased through Dan Bailey dealers or craft stores. I’ve used adhesive-tape eyes covered with epoxy or substitutes and solid doll eyes glued on with Goop. Orvis sells a cone-head version, and other tiers use metal dumbbell eyes.

The One Fly rules changed after the ’94 contest to allow a maximum hook size of #8 3XL and to prevent the use of sinking lines. Consequently, a “standard” size Double Bunny hasn’t had a chance to regain its title.

Foam-wing Hopper

Adaptation and modification can be the best innovation. The Foam-wing Hopper came about as a way to make a longer floating version of the Henry’s Fork Hopper. The Henry’s Fork Hopper is a great pattern for difficult fish. It sits low in the water like a natural. The only drawback to it is that because of its low-floating nature, when you catch a fish you typically need to tie on a new unsaturated fly. While this is no big deal when spring-creek fishing, drift-boat fishing doesn’t allow this luxury. That could cause you to miss the rest of a good hopper bank. I have played around with foam-bodied hoppers, and my experience is that they float well and will catch the easy fish. However, when the fish are tough they received lots of refusals.

During the 1991 One Fly, Denny Anderson asked me to tie him a bombproof and permanently floating Henry’s Fork Hopper. I modified the original pattern by replacing the hen wing with a foam wing. I was pleased with the results and the fish liked it too. I originally tied this fly with polyethylene packing foam laminated to a synthetic wing sheet. I’ve since switched to 2mm craft foam. I’ve also added legs and an indicator to it. The legs have evolved from baling twine, Ultrahair, and single rubber legs to knotted rubber. When fishing, I dress the collar and head of the fly with floatant and leave the body undressed. This will suspend the body below the wing like a half-drowned hopper. The great thing about this fly is that increasing floatation didn’t hurt its flat-water performance.

You can tie this pattern in other colors to match your local insects. I like a golden brown (Copper Hopper), cream, tan, light olive, black, and just about any color except bright yellow.

These “One Flies” are productive patterns to add to your arsenal, and the ideas from them may help you create some winners for your own box.

Scott Sanchez is featured in the book Tying Flies with Jack Dennis and Friends and the video Understanding Fly Tying Materials. Author, photographer, and tier, Scott and his flies are popular fixtures at the One Fly. He works for Dan Bailey’s Fly Shop in Livingston, MT.

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