BUZZER FISHING

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The Buzzer Explained.

Its a real joy to see a greater number of flyfishers taking up the buzzer approach. This can only be good for the angler, as it will instill confidence in the use of smaller flies. These new school buzzer users will have no hesitation to fish nymphs or small wets with confidence and thus add a new weapon to their fly fishing armory.

Buzzers are midge pupa and take their name from the buzzing noise they make when in a swarm although I've never heard this buzz myself.

They start life as a bloodworm and live in the soft mud found in most still waters. These blood red worms get their colour from the oxygen and hemoglobin held within their bodies. When they are getting near to hatching they loose their blood red colour and take on a more somber appearance. They then make their way from the lake bottom up through the water columns to the surface. This is achieved by a wriggly swimming action. They swim towards the surface then stop either to catch their breath or waiting for the right conditions to hatch. When they stop wriggling towards the surface they slowly sink back down before swimming upwards again. When they eventually reach the surface they hang from the surface film and hatch out in to adult buzzers or midge.

The life cycles of the buzzer can be imitated with a good degree of accuracy.

Buzzers hatch out on virtually every day of the year.

Some of the hatches will be localised and may not be spotted unless fishing in that area. Buzzer hatches can be spotted, by either looking for the adult fly, or finding the spent pupa bodies (shucks) in the surface film.

Various tactics and methods are available to imitate the buzzers life cycle.

We will run through a few of them.

Bloodworm.

These bright red worms live on the lake bottom. There are plenty of imitative patterns about to choose from that will represent them with some degree of accurately.

We need to get the artificial down to were the live bloodworms live so I would suggest a weighted pattern be used. This can be achieved either by the use of lead in the tying or a bead head pattern.

The following tactic is best fished in a flat calm.

When


Bloodworms live in the soft mud all the year round.

Where


Best fished in water no more than ten foot deep and over mud or silt.

Line


Floating line.

Leader


Minimum of twelve foot. Or as long as you can handle. The longer the leader the deeper you can fish. Only one bloodworm on the point.

Retrieve


As slow as possible. Only enough to keep the kinks out of the line. Or fished static.

How to


Cast out and let the bloodworm sink to the bottom. You can simply leave it there in the hope that a fish will pick it up. Fish will pick up a static bloodworm but I prefer to retrieve slowly. You must be alert for the slightest of tugs or on the other hand a fish may pick it up and run with it so a solid tug will be felt. If nothing is felt, finish your retrieve and cast out to a different piece of water. Try to cover a different area of water on each cast. If you pick up weed every cast either try a faster retrieve or the static approach.

Tips


If you catch a fish using any method. Spoon it. If bloodworms are found in the contents you will know that the fish have been or are feeding close to the lake bottom



Hanging out the Washing.

This method was introduced to me from the competition circuit and should work OK when the fish are cruising just below the waters surface.

When


Try this method if you can see a lot of surface activity, buzzers or empty shucks.

Where


Best fished in water no more than ten foot deep and over mud or silt

Line


Floating line

Leader


Minimum of ten foot. Or as long as you can handle. The longer the leader the farther apart you can keep your flies. Fish this method using two buzzers and a booby on the point to hold the buzzers up.

Retrieve


As slow as possible. Only enough to keep the kinks out of the line. Or fished static.

How to


Cast out and wait a few seconds for everything to settle down. If fishing from a boat only retrieve line at the same speed as your drift. A slow retrieve is best to keep in touch with the flies.

Tips


If nothing is happening with the static approach try giving the line a shot pull or two. This should create some movement with the Booby and hopefully attract the attention of a cruising fish. On occasion a fish will take the floating Booby. Competition rules state that you may use up to four hook points. This means that you can fish a booby on the point and top dropper with two buzzers on the middle droppers.



Standard Buzzer Fishing.

This method is (for lack of a better description) the more traditional approach.

A long leader over twelve feet with two droppers is required along with good concentration.

When


All the year round

Where


Best fished in water no more than ten foot deep and over mud or silt

Line


Floating line. If fishing a team of buzzers then any line could be used to get your flies down to the correct depth but a floating line is the proffered approach.

Leader


Minimum of twelve foot. Or as long as you can handle. The longer the leader the deeper you can fish. Three flies per leader. A weighted pattern on the point with two unweighted patterns on the droppers. Unweighted patterns should be used if the fish are near the surface.

Retrieve


A slow retrieve is best for this method.

How to


Cast out and let everything settle. Wait a few seconds for the point fly to sink. When you think the point fly is deep enough start a very slow retrieve. Hold the rod tip about a foot above the water. Keep an eye on the loop or arc of line from the rod tip to the water. If you see the loop or arc move, lift the rod (hopefully) in to a fish.

Tips


You can hedge your bets with this method by using a bead head buzzer or bloodworm on the point, a normal buzzer on the middle dropper and a Black Pennell on the top dropper. With this set up you will be fishing the three stages of the buzzers life cycle. On the retrieve side you can pull in about three foot of line. This will pull your leader up in the water. You can then let the leader sink back down simulating the actual buzzers sinking.



The Bung or Sight Bob.

This is an adaptation of an upstream nymph river tactic and has become very popular on many still waters.

When


All the year round

Where


Best fished in water no more than ten foot deep and over mud or silt

Line


Floating line

Leader


A short leader will work with this method. You will need at least three feet from the end of your fly line to your Bung or Sight Bob. The leader from your bung or Sight Bob will determine the depth of the fished buzzer or buzzers.

Retrieve


No retrieve required. If boat fishing a static retrieve is best for this method. With a static retrieve you are only retrieving the line at the same speed as the boat drifts.

How to


Cast out and let everything settle. Watch the Bung or sight Bob for any movement.

Tips


Don't just watch for the Bung or Sight Bob disappearing. Keep an eye on its movement. Not every fish that takes your fly will pull it under. Some fish will cruise just under the surface trailing the Bung or Sight Bob along with them.

Deep Booby Buzzer.

This method works at times but is not consistent enough to be adopted by the casual angler yet.

Its another multi-opportunity method and does have its uses.

When


All the year round and when no surface activity is observed.

Where


Best fished in water no more than twenty foot deep and over mud or silt if possible

Line


Fast sink DI7 or similar.

Leader


A shortish leader of around ten foot is best. A Booby on the point with a buzzer or two on the droppers.

Retrieve


No retrieve required but a slow retrieve does work best If boat fishing, a static retrieve or very slow retrieve is best for this method. With a static retrieve you are only retrieving the line at the same speed as the boat drifts.

How to


Cast out and let everything settle. The booby should hold the buzzer above the lake bed. This is a feel only method so concentrate on line touch or watch the arc or loop of line from your rod tip to the water.

Tips


A buzzer pattern incorporating a little foam breather will hold the buzzer up better. If nothing is caught within half an hour try a different method or move to another location.

I have not covered every possible buzzer method but only the basic ones.

Other buzzer methods do exist. Some of the Irish anglers pull buzzers with a great degree of success. With the Irish pulled method I don't think that the fish take the flies as buzzers but as something that is simply swimming past and is edible. It doesn't really matter what the fish thinks its eating as long as it take your imitation.

We also have the suspended buzzer. This is simply fishing suspended buzzers like dries. The difference being that suspended buzzers sit in the water and not on it.

The above buzzer fishing descriptions should give you enough information to at least give them a try. Like all fishing you will get better with practice and your confidence will build in the use of these methods.

Some questions are raised with the above methods.

I.e. When do I fish hard on the bottom or up in the water columns?.

This will be explained in the next article.

Watch this space.