The Joe's hopper is proudly a Michigan fly and has a lot of history around it. Tied by Art Winnie in the 40s, it was later adapted and renamed by Joe Brooks. Throughout the 50s it was the number one hopper, and one of the only, until the Dave's Hopper was introduced with the intention of improving this pattern.
The wings were tied with Turkey Biot, making this the first fly to make use of this material. Not much has changed over the last 70 years apart from the wings being tied in alternative feathers due to availability.
The draw back to this fly is that it doesn't float as well as most of the modern hopper patterns, but still makes for a great sight fishing pattern, it?s just not the best searching fly.