Tim Angeli
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And maybe a .357
Zach, I’d strongly consider going bigger if the main use will be as grizzly deterrent.
I’ll second that. Those are great trout reels, and that’s a really good price price, especially with the free fly line.
Rainy’s Grand Hopper (http://www.rainysflies.com/siteassist_images/flies/480/0505.jpg) is one of my absolute favorites. Simple and yet deadly effective. That being said, it’s not great at holding up droppers, especially larger droppers.
In Yellowstone, I like to fish a pattern with some pink in it. For some reason pink works great in the park. Trixie the Hooker (googling this one at work was a little risky, but I found a picture here: http://www.dreamdriftflies.com/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=10&products_id=2011&osCsid=266e90d738d2965e9fe1d507603481c4) or the Western Lady Hopper (http://www.dreamdriftflies.com/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=10&products_id=2014&osCsid=266e90d738d2965e9fe1d507603481c4) are two of my favorites.
If you want to hold up real heavy droppers, try tying up some patterns with a larger wing. A real thick deer hair or synthetic wing will hold up very heavy droppers. Your hopper will sit lower in the water, but that thick wing will hold it up. Something like Idylwilde’s Chubby Chernobyl works well in this situation (http://www.idylwilde.com/html/fly_gallery.php?category_id=1&subcat_id=30&page_num=2). Tie it with a really thick wing, cover it in floatant, and that thing will stay up all day.
The Hopper Juan is sweet, as is the Charlie Boy hopper, which I especially like in the smaller sizes. David Darnell tied up some great hoppers and posted some pics a while back (http://www.itinerantangler.com/cgi-bin/board/YaBB.pl?num=1245733681/0). I can attest that this pattern works great.
There is definitely no shortage of options when it comes to good hopper patterns. Hopefully some of the above will give you some ideas to work with.
Tim
