Introduction

There's an awful lot of talk about buzzers these days... a lot of which is true... a lot of which is media hype in the same vein we're becoming acustomed to in the general media.

The pictures of the flies below are a mixture of patterns, all of them tied myself, all of them tested and definitely capable of taking fish.

I've never caught any particularly large fish fishing with buzzers, but what I will say is, almos without exception, the fish I've caught on buzzers have all tasted pretty damn good. There have been remarkably few "stocked this very afternoon" fish - you know the ones, missing a quarter of their slime coating, clipped and missing fins and tail, ladders in their scales and full to the brim with pellets and gravel when you get them home and clean them - compared with the ones I've taken on small waters using lures and "fry" patterns.

The "buzzer" as a pattern, is an imitation of the Chironomid midge larva. This is a hugely varied species, much overlooked by "science" in general with a vast array of colours, sizes and species. Colours range from almost yellow right through to black, by way of olive green, orange, red and browns. The only colour I've never heard of is blue - but I'll be prepared to bet there's a pond or lake somewhere that has a population of blue or blueish bloodworm and their cooresponding midges.

The patterns

There are myriad buzzer and bloodworm patterns, I am going to show the three most basic I know of.

The bloodworm:


The ascending pre pupa:
Click the image to see tying and pattern instructions!

The pupa:


Each of the above is a representation of a stage in the life of the midge, the "adult" fly being little more than a breeding mecahnism for the bloodworm, which lives considerably longer than the final stage of its life, as with most aquatic insects.