In his second article on buzzers, Terry Lawton gives some hints to help in selecting suitable patterns and colours of artifical and how to fish them. < Back to Buzzers - Part One

Fishing buzzers, whether using a single fly or a team of three, is a challenging, imitative and exciting way of catching trout in stillwaters. Seeing the dorsal and tail fins of trout feeding under the surface is a sure sign that they are feeding on midge pupae. In my last article I stressed the importance of the static retrieve when fishing buzzers and the need to concentrate hard so that subtle takes can be seen and trout hooked. Good buzzer patterns must be dressed very sparsely and should mimic the key triggers of the natural pupa: the colour of the body which should be ribbed, size and the breather and tail filaments.

One Dr Bell who fished Blagdon in the 1930s was one of the first anglers to realise the importance of buzzers and he developed his Black Buzzer pattern. Moving forward to the 1960s, John Goddard came up with his Hatching Midge Pupa and then in the 1980s his Suspender Midge which is kept afloat with a white ethafoam ball. Since then there has been a veritable explosion of new buzzer patterns as a look at any fly catalogue will confirm. There are probably as many patterns of buzzer as there are naturals!

The vast number of both naturals and artificials makes it very difficult to know how to set about deciding how to buy - or tie - a sensible selection of patterns and then which ones to fish. The colours of the natural pupae vary from species to species and range from pale olive, through shades of brown to the red of bloodworms. As to their size, compared to hook sizes they range from about a size 14 right down to something as small as a 28 hook.

At the start of the season buzzers, or their pupae, are likely to be small and dark. As the weather warms up, they tend to be bigger and lighter in colour including oranges and reds. The as the end of the season and autumn draw near, they darken in colour and will be similar to those found at the start of the season.

When trying to match a buzzer hatch, you should take a common sense approach to it as you would when trying to match any other type of hatch. If you have caught a fish, look in its mouth, throat and gill covers to see if there are any buzzers - or anything else - present. If there are, good. If not, try spooning its stomach contents with either a marrow spoon or a stomach pump. Whichever you use, put the contents of the spoon or pump on to a white plate or saucer and add some water. This will help you to separate the contents and give you a chance to spot any buzzers or nymphs that the fish may have eaten. You can then select an artificial that appears to be a good match as to colour and size. If you have not caught a fish, have a look to see what is floating about on and in the surface of the water. If you have got a small, fine mesh net with you, you should use it to collect samples from the water surface. Again, having a plate or saucer will make separating and identifying anything swept-up that much easier.

If you are still not making any progress, try asking the fishery manager or fellow anglers what patterns and sizes they find are effective. Trial and error will soon start to show you which patterns and colours are effective on your particular waters.

When fishing with a team of buzzers, do check which fly catches the fish. You might want to change one of the other flies to this pattern and see if it is more effective. If you continue to struggle to catch fish when fellow anglers seem to be succeeding, do make sure that your retrieve is static and that your technique is right before changing fly pattern, particularly if you have matched your artificial to an actual pupa. It can pay to vary both the size and colour of your artificials, particularly when starting to fish but also during the time you are fishing in case the trout have started feeding on a different colour or size of buzzer without your having realised.

When fishing stillwaters where there is a lot of weed - in high summer for example - aim your casts into the clear patches of water between weed beds and even into any holes in the weeds. A tiny twitch every now and then - imitating the struggle of a pupa tryng to break-through the surface film - might induce a take. When fishing very close to weeds, take care that you don't get your flies caught in the weed and make sure that you keep checking that there is no weed on your flies.

If there is a breeze blowing, you may need to mend the line upwind to control the speed of drift of your line and flies. As with the static retrieve in still, calm conditions, you are aiming to mimic the behaviour of the natural pupae as they drift towards the surface to hatch.

When casting to fish that you can see rising to buzzers, speed and accuracy is vital as you will need to be able to land your fly close to the fish. To improve speed and accuracy you may find that it helps to shorten your leader. Straighten your line and leader as quickly as you can and wait for the fish to hit your fly.

What are good patterns to start with? Virtually everything that I have ever read about fishing with buzzers has praised the Diawl Bach (dressed very sparsely) as well as referring to black buzzers. While every angler will have his or her own favourites, buzzers tied from copper wire, flexi-floss buzzers or epoxy or super glue buzzers in a range of colours should give you a sporting chance.

< Back to Buzzers - Part One

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