Fly Tier's Bench: Bakko's Phat Azz Hopper

I see a lot of flies in my everyday life . . . and I love them. I have run a fly shop for most of my working life. And if it’s not the latest offerings from the commercial fly vendors, it’s customers showing me their creations and variations, or my own shop guys who surreptitiously creep into my office with a hidden fly cup in their pocket to discuss ideas. I love every bit of it, but I have to say, my days of seeing new and exciting things are getting fewer and farther between. But they are, thankfully, not extinct.

A great “for instance” is Kyle Bakko’s new Phat Azz Hopper. Kyle is a new Umpqua Feather Merchants signature tier, and his patterns came to my attention with the debut of the 2025 catalog last fall. I always eagerly peruse the new signature patterns, and several of Kyle’s flies immediately jumped out at me for both their practicality and creativity.

Bakko’s use of multilayered foam bodies and foam cutters, and his eye for accuracy and proportion, make his flies stand out in the increasingly crowded new-fly world. I chose his Phat Azz Hopper for this issue because of the incredibly creative way he builds the head. But I could have just as easily picked his unusual Big Sky Hopper pattern, which is tied on a jig hook. In fact, I could have blindly chosen any one of his new flies for this article and fulfilled my requirements easily.

Bakko is a 44-year-old single dad with two boys, Finn and Sawyer. He was born, raised, and still lives in Billings, Montana. His unbridled enthusiasm and love of fly fishing are evident even in a short conversation, and he left me with the impression that there’s nothing he loves more than designing new flies, along with the requisite “product testing” it entails.

His Phat Azz Hopper, like all good patterns, was developed to fill a need. Bakko does a lot of float fishing, and his usual method includes a dry/dropper rig on rivers like the Stillwater, Shoshone, and Yellowstone. Big droppers like Pat’s Rubber Legs or crayfish imitations require a buoyant dry to hold them up, and Bakko was unsatisfied with previous offerings, so he set about to create a magnum foam hopper that would do the job.

As it turns out, the Phat Azz has such a great profile that he often ends up cutting off the dropper and just fishing the single hopper, to great effect.

Bakko starts with three layers of 2mm foam, laminated together with Super Glue or 3M Super 77 spray adhesive. Once the foam is cured and dried, he uses a River Road Creations Beavertail Foam Cutter to punch out the bodies, which results in thick, shapely, multi-toned slabs of foam on which to start building.

He creates a segmented extended body using thread to divide the rear end of the foam. Then, through an astonishing display of arts and crafts prowess, Bakko uses sheets of 1mm foam to build a realistic shellback, sighter, and insanely lifelike legs.

After adding a mottled underwing and a few Sexi-Floss legs, he goes to work with a marker to fill in the eyes and mottle the body as he sees fit. While at first glance this hopper seems overly complicated and difficult to tie, I can attest that once you give it a few tries and figure out the proportions and processes, this fly is incredibly quick to tie and results in something you’ll be excited to show off to your friends, as well as the fish.

I presently own a couple dozen practice flies that I tied in preparation for this article, and have since tied a dozen more. Mixing and matching the various colors of foam and fly sizes has gotten a bit out of hand, and I find myself needing another fly box. It’s the story of my life.

Phat Azz Hopper Recipe

• HOOK: #6-12 Tiemco 2457.
• THREAD: Brown Magpie Materials 110-denier or Veevus 8/0.
• BODY: Three laminated layers of 2mm Thin Fly Foam, cut with a River Road Creations Beavertail Foam Cutter, size medium for hooks #6-8 and small for #10-12.
• UNDERWING: Hareline Olive Micro Barred Voodoo Fibers.
• SHELL: Tan 1mm Razor Foam.
• SIGHTER: Orange 1mm Razor Foam.
• THIGHS: Tan 1mm Razor Foam.
• FRONT LEGS: Tan medium Sexi-Floss.
• KICKER LEGS: Red small Sexi-Floss.

Step-by-Step Instructions for the Phat Azz Hopper

1. Dress the hook with a layer of thread from the eye to the point where the thread hangs even with the point on the barb. Punch out a three-layer body using a River Road Beavertail Cutter. Using a single-edge razor blade, make a shallow slit through the bottom piece of foam that goes from the “neck” of the body to the beginning of the abdomen. This slit should be about the length of the hook shank.

2. Put a small drop of Super Glue at the bend of the hook and press the hook into the slit on the bottom of the body, making sure that it is square on the hook. Bring the thread up and around the body at the bend, forming the first segment with three or four tight wraps.

3. Advance the thread rearward, forming four segments and crossing the thread over the top of the body. Each segment should be three or four tight wraps, and the segments should decrease slightly in size toward the narrow end.

4. Work the thread forward again, crossing on top to form Xs and moving the thread back to the starting point. The crosses should show only on top, and the bottom should show only smooth segments.

5. Cross the thread over the top of the fly to make the next segment in the middle of the thorax area, then once again to just behind the eye for the final segment.

6. Cross the thread back to the thorax segment and tie in a bunch of Voodoo Fibers directly on top. Trim the end of the Voodoo Fibers to just a bit longer than the abdomen. Trim the excess off the front flush to the hook.

7. Cut a half-inch-wide piece of 1mm foam, fold it in half, and cut one end to a point.

8. Lay the shell squarely on top of the body and tie it down with two wraps just beyond the start of the taper. The point should extend to the second-to-last segment. Cut another ¼-inch strip of orange 1mm foam, cut it to a point, and tie it in on top of the first piece, with the tip of the taper just short of the first. Cut a 3- to 4mm strip of foam for the thighs. Tie one end down on the near side of the body in the same segment you have been working in.

9. Cut the strip of leg foam at an angle, forming a point about even with the second segment. Then take the cut piece, turn it over, and tie it in on the far side of the hook in the corresponding position. Trim any excess foam flush against the body at the tie-down.

10. Fold the shell and sighter strips back over the body of the fly, and cross the thread forward to the last segment. Apply a thin coat of Super Glue to the inside of the shell strip, as well as the top and sides of the two front body segments.

11. Fold the shell strip forward over the front two segments and pinch the ends together beyond the hook eye. Try to keep the edges of the foam lined up and evenly overlapping the sides of the body. Hold the foam together for a few seconds until the glue grabs.

12. Bring the thread up and over the shell strip, cinching it down in the head segment, then fold the sighter foam forward and do the same. Trim the sighter foam just beyond the tie-down and knock the corners off. Cut the folded piece just beyond the end of the head and at a slight angle to form the head shape.

13.  Tie in a length of Sexi-Floss for the front legs by catching one end on the near side in the front segment, then looping the end around to the far side and catching it again. Make sure these legs are squared up on the sides of the hook. Draw 3 or 4 inches of thread from your bobbin and run the Super Glue brush up the thread to coat it. Make four tight wraps in the head segment and clip your thread. The Super Glue will take the place of the whip finish on this pattern.

14. Tie an overhand knot in two pieces of small Sexi-Floss. Put the point of the foam thighs into the knot and cinch the knot tight, then repeat on the other side. Trim the excess Sexi-Floss close to the knot and add a tiny spot of Super Glue to hold everything in place.

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Charlie Craven co-owns Charlie’s Fly Box in Arvada, Colorado. He is the author of four books, most recently Tying Streamers: Essential Flies and Techniques for the Top Patterns (Stackpole Books, 2020).