Late summer is time to target trout with grasshoppers and other terrestrial insects

Before breakfast on his first morning camped on the Upper Peninsula’s Two-Hearted River, Ernest Hemingway’s fictional character Nick Adams easily caught several dozen grasshoppers still damp with dew and popped them into a bottle. He later used them to catch several trout.

It is well known that the author moved the Two-Hearted southwest to Seney, either for that river’s more evocative name or to disguise the fact that he was writing about the Fox River, which he himself fished after returning from WWI in 1919.

The subterfuge aside, Hemingway’s depiction of Adams’ live-bait tactics is spot on, right down to the “tobacco juice” hoppers spit when skewered on a hook. Tackle and tactics have evolved since Hemingway’s story was published a century ago, but trout still relish grasshoppers and other terrestrial insects.

You can use live grasshoppers for bait, as Adams did, but artificials will catch just as many trout and spare you the trouble of catching them twice – once to put them into a bottle, and again to take them out without losing them.

If you don’t tie your own, most fly shops carry a good selection of terrestrial patterns from realistic hoppers, crickets, and ants to more fanciful and almost extraterrestrial forms like the unsinkable foam Hippie Stomper.

Live grasshoppers come in all sizes, so carry an assortment from sizes 12 or 14 to imitate flightless juvenile hoppers to sizes 6 or 8 to match the big, burly fliers.

Hemingway most likely caught brook trout in the Fox River, but all trout species will take hoppers and other terrestrial insects.

Unlike aquatic insects, which often hatch for brief periods at certain air and water temperatures, terrestrial insects may fall into the water at any time during the day. Windy days can offer more action, as crawling insects are shaken from overhanging limbs and flying insects are blown off course.

RELATED COVERAGE FROM OUTDOOR NEWS:

A trout pilgrimage to Ernest Hemingway’s “Big Two-Hearted River” (Part 1)

In Search of the Good Water, Part 2: Idaho’s quiet streams near Hemingway’s Ketchum, Idaho, resting place

Fly fishing need not be intimidating; here’s where to start

Late summer is hopper time on any trout stream that flows through pastures or other grasslands, from broad rivers like the Namekagon and White in the north to the narrow ribbons that snake through the valleys of the Kettle Moraine and the Driftless Region.

In bigger streams, trout feed on terrestrials in boulder runs, riffles, and deep flat pools, which provide cover from avian predators. In smaller streams, surprisingly large trout often hunt hoppers under the cover of bankside vegetation.

Trout hit hoppers and other terrestrials sporadically, grabbing one here, one there, as they fall haplessly into the water. Cattle and sheep that graze along streambanks can stir up grasshoppers and create a “hatch” that opportunistic trout respond to.

If livestock tolerate your presence, you can sometimes use them for cover.

Tread lightly near streams. Heavy footfalls cause vibrations that telegraph a warning to trout. Stay low to avoid casting a shadow and approach runs or pools from downstream whenever possible.

Forget the delicate presentations required when using tiny dry flies that imitate emerging aquatic insects. The splat of a grasshopper on the surface of a quiet pool is about as subtle as a cheeseburger falling from the sky. On narrow streams, you can sometimes elicit a take by landing a hopper on overhanging grass and flipping it into the water.

Since landlubber bugs are out of their element in water, they often kick and squirm as they float downstream. Spice up a dead drift with the occasional twitch to make it look like it’s struggling.

Hoppers aren’t the only terrestrial option for summer trouting. Keep an eye out, too, for crickets, ants, and small caterpillars.

Earlier in the year, try June bug imitations in the evening or after dark, when these big bugs bumble about. This year’s periodic cicada hatch offered trout a protein bonanza and anglers a rare opportunity to throw big bugs at big fish.

Adams (and presumably Hemingway himself) toted a beer bottle stuffed with grasshoppers when he fished Michigan’s Upper Peninsula rivers. With a few extra terrestrials in your vest, you can be ready when any bug that crawls, hops or flies creates a feeding frenzy on your favorite trout stream this summer.