Nicely seen and captured, why is it illegal?
I agree - very nice capture...
I would guess that live grasshoppers are too deadly on trout to be legal in some waters. Here is an alternate option:
Of course, there are purists who don't consider the above as a fly, they consider it a lure. They consider flies to be tied only with feathers. This could be an important consideration if you are fishing in "fly only" waters. Then you might have to fish with one of these:
These are catalog images...
John, Wyoming and a few other states consider live bait to be worms and minnows. We floated the Bighorn River last Wednesday. It is a trout fishing destination. A lot of fishing destinations in the western US are ski towns (Aspen, Jackson Hole, Sun Valley) which makes them very upscale and pricey. Not so with Fort Smith, Montana. The only thing to do there is fish and drink adult beverages if you are so inclined.
We saw grasshoppers galore and trout feeding on them near the banks. We couldn't get them to take our artificial ones.