Flashback Buzzer
Who doesn’t love a black buzzer? Buzzers or chironomids if you prefer, can surely be found almost everywhere there is water. From what I can gather, and experience would seem to back this up, black is often the most common colour of chironomid in our waters, with perhaps brown and olive hues being a close second. The exciting thing about buzzer patterns is that you can fish them all year round with success, even in winter if fishing stocked lakes and reservoirs for rainbow trout. The natural chironomid pupae don’t move quickly through the water column relying on short, jerky movements instead. This is important to remember when fishing buzzer patterns and to imitate them in a natural manner, your artificial buzzer patterns should move slowly too: often just using the wind and current to fish your flies for you. They also generate internal gases to help make them as buoyant as possible to compensate for their lack of swimming skills. As usual you should be watching for very subtle takes when fishing buzzers so concentration really is a key to success. Having said that, what I have found when fishing patterns in a natural manner (even when very, very slowly) is that gentle or not, trout tend to take them confidently.
Hook choice for this pattern is as always down to personal preference. I have used a light wire hook here but you could use a heavier gauge wire to help get the pattern down through the water column. Of course there is always the curved hook option if you prefer your buzzers to have a curved shaped abdomen. The flashback tinsel I used was mirage opal tinsel and I find that especially with patterns fished just a few inches below the surface, often a bit of flash can make all the difference. The tinsel should also help to suggest the buoyancy gases in the natural insect. There is also a theory too, that actively hunting trout will use the reflective underside of the water surface to locate prey and home in to any sparkly gases in the natural insects that are reflected on the underside of the water surface.
To dress the pattern then, vice your hook and tie in some gold or brass wire and the mirage opal tinsel. Use some black pheasant tail fibres for the abdomen. Bring the opal tinsel over the back of the abdomen and rib with the wire. At this point dub the thorax before forming the thorax cover with the remaining black pheasant tail fibres. Here I have used some Hareline micro fine dubbing for the thorax and I picked out the thorax using a dubbing needle just to give it some structure.
So there it is: a nice and simple flashback buzzer pattern to tie.
Black Flashback Buzzer – Abdomen: black pheasant tail fibres Back: mirage opal tinsel Rib: brass (or gold) wire Thorax: black Hareline microfine dubbing Thorax Cover: black pheasant tail fibre
SoftHackles 