Looking for something else?
Try one of these!
Hippie Stomper Fly Step-by-Step:
One of the first posts to grace this blog in the spring of 2020 was a Hippie Stomper tutorial. A favorite pattern from recent Colorado trips, the tutorial was hastily tied and uploaded to an SBS template long since abandoned. Long overdue for an overall, I finally sat down this weekend with just that intent. While much of the content below remains the same, the SBS below has been updated to better reflect the pattern as Andrew Grillos originally tied it.
—
I first learned of the Hippie Stomper while preparing for a week-long Colorado trip slated for August 2019. The little terrestrial came recommended as a highly buoyant option for Hopper-Dropper rigs that would still induce strike on those days when trout shied away from larger offerings (Chubby Chernobyl, Fat Albert, etc). While my boxes were fairly well stocked, and I hadn’t intended to add the Hippie Stomper to my Rocky Mountain arsenal, a last-minute visit to the local Cabela’s resulted in a handful of Andrew Grillos’ famed pattern making their way into my box.
By week’s end I was glad they had as they were my top performing terrestrial taking brookies, colorado river cutts, and brown trout over the course of my adventures. Since that trip, I’ve begun tying these little wonders myself and found them equally irresistible to panfish here in the deep south.
| Materials: | ||
|---|---|---|
 3x Long All-Purpose (#6-16) |  70 Denier (colored to match) |  Moose Body Hair* |
 2-mm Foam (Black) over 1-mm Foam |  Flashabou (colored to match 1-mm Foam) |  Round Rubber Legs (Barred) |
 Grizzly Hackle (sized to hook gap) |  Antron or Para Post (White) |
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. A small commission may be paid for purchases made through these links.
Hippie Stomper Fly Step-by-Step Tying Instructions:
(Mobile Viewers: Click images to enlarge or rotate phone to landscape)
Tips and Tricks
- Substitutions – While Grillos’ original recipe calls for an underbody of flash, I’ve found Ice Dub an effective alternative. Admittedly a little too bulky on smaller (size 14 and below) patterns, the flashy Ice Dub allows for a slightly fuller, buggier profile on larger Hippie Stompers.
Proof of Concept
As mentioned in the intro, this pattern proved a winner during my 2019 visit to Colorado. And while it produced throughout the trip, our final morning along Boulder Creek stands .
Our trip effectively over, we had a few hours to spare the final morning before heading to the airport. Having spent the night in Boulder, we decided to explore the local creek. Moving upstream beyond the “tube hatch,” we found a small pull off and made our way down to the water. No obvious hatch underway, I tied on a small black & red Hippie Stomper with an Ultra Zug Bug dangling 12” below the bend. In the hour that followed, roughly a dozen brown trout came to hand. At least half, enthusiastically electing to rise for that Hippie Stomper.
Tight Line!
Chris
Species Caught on the Hippie Stomper to Date:
- Brook Trout
- Brown Trout
- Colorado River Cutthroat Trout
- Bluegill
Enjoy our Content?
Subscribe below to be notified anytime a new Step-by-Step is added.
Support our Content
Enjoy our content & want to help support our work? Consider clicking one of the Ads below the article if something catches your attention. Each click brings in a small bit of revenue to help offset the cost of maintaining & hosting this great site!
Looks like a good pattern for brown lining expeditions down here. 😀
Definitely! They make a great panfish bug when tied on larger hook (#6 or 8). I’ve caught plenty of bluegill on these over the years.