Fly of the Month 06.24b Terrestrials - Jack Cabe [Hopper]
Any trout and especially cutthroat trout in the summer months on western rivers will attach this Southern Appalachian hopper fly pattern which has its roots from a western trip influence. As developer of Cabe's Hopper, he was the proprietor of Mainstream Outfitters in Highlands, North Carolina, not far from center of town that closed in 2001. Jack C. Cabe (1942-1997) was born in Highlands and grew up there like the six generations of his family before him.
Jack Cabe developed a terrestrial pattern he called the Mainstream Hopper, named after his fly shop. It doesn't look like most grasshopper patterns, like Dave’s Hopper, the Letort Hopper or Joe's Hopper. It has a down-wing, Trude appearance, no rubber legs or spun deer-hair collar. The body is dubbed, not yarn or wrapped foam. It has calf tail for a wing, red floss for a tail, and the dubbed body is a rich, dark brown. The thorax is mixed grizzly and brown hackle. Some say the fly is a stonefly rather than a terrestrial, which is how Orvis briefly marketed the fly pattern.
At competing fly shops and in catalogs, the fly pattern is called the "Jack Cabe," in recognition of him. That moniker also avoids weighing in on whether it is a stonefly or grasshopper or an attractor. In a travel magazine article on craftsman-built Mackenzie drift boats plying the Middle Fork of the Salmon River, there's a single sentence about searching the fly box for "a Jack Cabe, a fly so deadly it can't be photographed, compared, or described in print" making the fly seem exclusive, elusive and magical.
“When cast on the water, the fly really does give the impression of a grasshopper haplessly floating on the current. On one fly fishing trip to the Rockies, Cabe fished a pattern called a Michigan Hopper. He saw the potential for a Smoky Mountain attractor in that fly, and brought it back to western North Carolina. He based his Cabe's Hopper on it, which he created out of the materials he had on hand.” – Don Kirk
Jack would never refer to the fly as anything other than the Mainstream Hopper, though a well-respected guide in Montana is insistent that it's a "Jack Cabe" and it catches on. A story circulates about a couple cowboys telling a well-heeled shopkeeper near Bozeman, or maybe it was Red Lodge, he was using the wrong fly name and he must correct it before another was sold. - Reference: Kirk, Don. Hatches & Fly Patterns of the Great Smoky Mountains (2014).
The Jack Cabe Hopper, alias the Mainstream Hopper, alias the Jack Cabe Fly - The object of fishing is to catch fish, which this fly does! Inspired by one man's experience and desire to land fish, the Jack Cabe Hopper ties together family memories. It's mid-morning in September, the walk to the river through the abandoned pastures of grasshoppers into raspy air of drunken flight. "A good sign," he says. He smiles as he bites into his pipe and a faint smoke ring of Sir Walter Raleigh rises below at arm's length away, the only response I am capable of is a soft "Oh yeah" and the crunch of dried grass under my feet always a bit intimidated whenever I fly fish with my father-in-law.
"I think a hopper'll be productive today," he says, the smile never leaving his face. I can tell he is planning to be more of a guide than a fisherman on this trip. "And there are some real decent rainbows in there.” The smile gets a little broader.
The Jack Cabe has become its own distinct pattern, with the only remaining feature of that earlier fly being the basic configuration and that calf tail wing. He has lymphoma, and the time we have to spend together is lessening. The rest of the morning and into the afternoon proved to be everything you could want in a fishing trip, and remains bright in my memory I will deplete the box of flies in time, but I did embed the one that caught that rainbow, as a souvenir, into the visor of my truck, where it remains. In memoriam: Jack C. Cabe, October 10,1942 – January 7, 1997.
- The Origins of a Trout Fly, Wildlife in North Carolina. By Geoff Cantrell, son-in-law, originally from Balsam
Remembering a Legend - After reading Geoff Cantrell’s article in Wildlife in North Carolina magazine, I tied some Jack Cabe flies and fished with them this fall, catching and releasing the best two trout of the season, both browns. I love to tie and fish with flies that were designed by fly tyers and anglers from western North Carolina, like the Adams Variant, Sheep Fly, Yallerhammer and others. Men like Fred Hall from Bryson City, Newland Saunders and Cap Weise from Lenoir, Roger Lowe from Waynesville, Don and Kevin Howell from Brevard, and Bo Cash from Nebo, North Carolina. What made, and makes these men legends is their willingness to teach and share their knowledge. Jack belongs with this group and would be pleased with Geoff's article.
- Letters from Readers, Wildlife in North Carolina magazine, Mike Ramsey, Newton
There has been some discussion as to what the original body color was. It can also be tied with mahogany or gray dubbing for the body. Jack said that the red tail is a “must”, and that white calf, or kip, tail will not work.
Fly of the Month 06.24b Terrestrials - Jack Cabe [Hopper] Jack Cabe
Hook: Dry, 2xL
Size: 4, 6, 8, 10
Thread: 6/0 Black
Tail: Red floss, red rooster hackle, or red calf tail
Body: Dark brown dubbing (aim for mahogany)
Wing: Tan calf tail, trude style
Hackle: Grizzly & brown, mixed
Originated by Jack Cabe, Highlands, NC
Reference: Southern Appalachian
Directions:
1- Debarb and mount hook in vise, make thread wraps from the eye to the hook bend, let the bobbin hang.
2- Select an ample amount of red material and mount with a pinch wrap on top of the hook shank. The length is slightly more than the hook gap. Let the bobbin hang after returning to the hook bend, being careful not to "flare" the hackles.
3- Cover a two inch or so of the thread with dubbing wax of your choice. Begin dubbing in tight noodles advancing to slightly more than the halfway point of the hook shank. Let the bobbin hang.
4- Select a small amount of white kip (calf tail) and clean and stack. Tie in the kip immediately in front of where the dubbing stops and make wraps toward the eye stopping about an eye length from the eye. Trim the kip at an angle and finish covering in tight wraps taking the thread to the spot wherre the kip was tied in. Let the bobbin hang.
5- Select a grizzly rooster hackle with the length about one and one half the hook gap. Strip a quater inch of barbs from the stem. Repeat the process with matching brown rooster hackle. Tie in the grizzly and brown rooster by the tip with the "shiny" side toward the eye. Make wraps to one eyelength from the eye with the hackle together or seperately. Secure with two thread wraps. Trim the excess stems and hackle and form a thread head and with a whip finish of four turns.
-Tom Adams, Alen Baker
Any trout and especially cutthroat trout in the summer months on western rivers will attach this Southern Appalachian hopper fly pattern which has its roots from a western trip influence. As developer of Cabe's Hopper, he was the proprietor of Mainstream Outfitters in Highlands, North Carolina, not far from center of town that closed in 2001. Jack C. Cabe (1942-1997) was born in Highlands and grew up there like the six generations of his family before him.
Jack Cabe developed a terrestrial pattern he called the Mainstream Hopper, named after his fly shop. It doesn't look like most grasshopper patterns, like Dave’s Hopper, the Letort Hopper or Joe's Hopper. It has a down-wing, Trude appearance, no rubber legs or spun deer-hair collar. The body is dubbed, not yarn or wrapped foam. It has calf tail for a wing, red floss for a tail, and the dubbed body is a rich, dark brown. The thorax is mixed grizzly and brown hackle. Some say the fly is a stonefly rather than a terrestrial, which is how Orvis briefly marketed the fly pattern.
At competing fly shops and in catalogs, the fly pattern is called the "Jack Cabe," in recognition of him. That moniker also avoids weighing in on whether it is a stonefly or grasshopper or an attractor. In a travel magazine article on craftsman-built Mackenzie drift boats plying the Middle Fork of the Salmon River, there's a single sentence about searching the fly box for "a Jack Cabe, a fly so deadly it can't be photographed, compared, or described in print" making the fly seem exclusive, elusive and magical.
“When cast on the water, the fly really does give the impression of a grasshopper haplessly floating on the current. On one fly fishing trip to the Rockies, Cabe fished a pattern called a Michigan Hopper. He saw the potential for a Smoky Mountain attractor in that fly, and brought it back to western North Carolina. He based his Cabe's Hopper on it, which he created out of the materials he had on hand.” – Don Kirk
Jack would never refer to the fly as anything other than the Mainstream Hopper, though a well-respected guide in Montana is insistent that it's a "Jack Cabe" and it catches on. A story circulates about a couple cowboys telling a well-heeled shopkeeper near Bozeman, or maybe it was Red Lodge, he was using the wrong fly name and he must correct it before another was sold. - Reference: Kirk, Don. Hatches & Fly Patterns of the Great Smoky Mountains (2014).
The Jack Cabe Hopper, alias the Mainstream Hopper, alias the Jack Cabe Fly - The object of fishing is to catch fish, which this fly does! Inspired by one man's experience and desire to land fish, the Jack Cabe Hopper ties together family memories. It's mid-morning in September, the walk to the river through the abandoned pastures of grasshoppers into raspy air of drunken flight. "A good sign," he says. He smiles as he bites into his pipe and a faint smoke ring of Sir Walter Raleigh rises below at arm's length away, the only response I am capable of is a soft "Oh yeah" and the crunch of dried grass under my feet always a bit intimidated whenever I fly fish with my father-in-law.
"I think a hopper'll be productive today," he says, the smile never leaving his face. I can tell he is planning to be more of a guide than a fisherman on this trip. "And there are some real decent rainbows in there.” The smile gets a little broader.
The Jack Cabe has become its own distinct pattern, with the only remaining feature of that earlier fly being the basic configuration and that calf tail wing. He has lymphoma, and the time we have to spend together is lessening. The rest of the morning and into the afternoon proved to be everything you could want in a fishing trip, and remains bright in my memory I will deplete the box of flies in time, but I did embed the one that caught that rainbow, as a souvenir, into the visor of my truck, where it remains. In memoriam: Jack C. Cabe, October 10,1942 – January 7, 1997.
- The Origins of a Trout Fly, Wildlife in North Carolina. By Geoff Cantrell, son-in-law, originally from Balsam
Remembering a Legend - After reading Geoff Cantrell’s article in Wildlife in North Carolina magazine, I tied some Jack Cabe flies and fished with them this fall, catching and releasing the best two trout of the season, both browns. I love to tie and fish with flies that were designed by fly tyers and anglers from western North Carolina, like the Adams Variant, Sheep Fly, Yallerhammer and others. Men like Fred Hall from Bryson City, Newland Saunders and Cap Weise from Lenoir, Roger Lowe from Waynesville, Don and Kevin Howell from Brevard, and Bo Cash from Nebo, North Carolina. What made, and makes these men legends is their willingness to teach and share their knowledge. Jack belongs with this group and would be pleased with Geoff's article.
- Letters from Readers, Wildlife in North Carolina magazine, Mike Ramsey, Newton
There has been some discussion as to what the original body color was. It can also be tied with mahogany or gray dubbing for the body. Jack said that the red tail is a “must”, and that white calf, or kip, tail will not work.
Fly of the Month 06.24b Terrestrials - Jack Cabe [Hopper] Jack Cabe
Hook: Dry, 2xL
Size: 4, 6, 8, 10
Thread: 6/0 Black
Tail: Red floss, red rooster hackle, or red calf tail
Body: Dark brown dubbing (aim for mahogany)
Wing: Tan calf tail, trude style
Hackle: Grizzly & brown, mixed
Originated by Jack Cabe, Highlands, NC
Reference: Southern Appalachian
Directions:
1- Debarb and mount hook in vise, make thread wraps from the eye to the hook bend, let the bobbin hang.
2- Select an ample amount of red material and mount with a pinch wrap on top of the hook shank. The length is slightly more than the hook gap. Let the bobbin hang after returning to the hook bend, being careful not to "flare" the hackles.
3- Cover a two inch or so of the thread with dubbing wax of your choice. Begin dubbing in tight noodles advancing to slightly more than the halfway point of the hook shank. Let the bobbin hang.
4- Select a small amount of white kip (calf tail) and clean and stack. Tie in the kip immediately in front of where the dubbing stops and make wraps toward the eye stopping about an eye length from the eye. Trim the kip at an angle and finish covering in tight wraps taking the thread to the spot wherre the kip was tied in. Let the bobbin hang.
5- Select a grizzly rooster hackle with the length about one and one half the hook gap. Strip a quater inch of barbs from the stem. Repeat the process with matching brown rooster hackle. Tie in the grizzly and brown rooster by the tip with the "shiny" side toward the eye. Make wraps to one eyelength from the eye with the hackle together or seperately. Secure with two thread wraps. Trim the excess stems and hackle and form a thread head and with a whip finish of four turns.
-Tom Adams, Alen Baker