Hi, I've been fly fishing 7 times now and caught a few fish with lures and nymphs and even had some takes on the dry (none landed yet though).

I haven't had any luck on buzzers at all..which of these areas do you think is the main problem?

(i) First of my casting varies from bad(when I'm not trying) to atrocious (when I think about it), interestingly quite a few of many limited number caught have been '1st' casts so I may well be spooking them with splashes etc.

(ii) This is probably daft.. I assume the buzzer should be fished with the sharp end underneath? If so, How do I keep it like that? I've been using quite thick 8lb mono and a blood knot which ends up quite bulky on the little buzzers, and they sit very stiffly on the line.. would I be better off with a more flexible line, and maybe a knot with a loop or something that lets the buzzers move around in the current more?

(iii) One place I fish is only 6 feet deep. I have an indicator thingy which I sometimes use and I have been putting it on the fly-line end of a 12 foot leader - should I be using the indicator as a device to set the final depth, eg setting it 3 feet or whatever above the buzzer?

It looks deceptively simple when others do it..

Thanks for any tips.
Nigel

welcome to the forum.
I think the sharp end refers to the hook point.
If you want to leave some slack in the knot use a grinner(uni knot) and don't tighten it. and give 6lb a go.
You can fish an indicator over depth,but only if you intend to retrieve.otherwise it needs to be set at correct depth for the water.

Jim

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Set the thingy for depth and let it drift so it kinda drags and drifts slowly and stops etc. Its a bit like coarse float fishing, exactly the same in fact ... but with 2 buzzers and a medium weighted nymph on the end.

Nigel.

When you first start fly fishing it's important to keep things simple.

I'd advise using a single fly on a 10-12ft leader. Concentrate on your timing when casting and if possible get a few lessons off a qualified coach or a proficient friend.

With flys think about it logically. If it's a shallow venue it's unlikely you'll need anything other than a floating line.

Look at the fly patterns and take into consideration the fly weight, how quickly it will sink and where the fish seem to be feeding. Unweighted buzzers sink slowly as they don't have a great deal of weight to drag the line through the surface film, (the thicker the line the more resistance and slower the drop).

A goldhead on the other hand will cut through the water quite quickly as will weighted fly's.

The faster you retrieve the more the fly will rise in the water, (providing you've given it sufficient time to sink), however the steady the retrieve the more likely the fly is to remain at a constant level.

Experimenting with different flys and retrieves, taking into consideration variables, such as fly weight, depth, fly line type, (floating , sinking, intermediate), your retrieve and how long you allow the fly to sink before you start your retrieve will all go a long way to helping your understanding and improving yourself as an angler. Also vary your retrieve pausing to allow the fly to sink slowly and then starting again.

That's really excellent advice Dave - well-explained and just what we beginners need, thank you very much.
Red Devil

Great advice Dave, especially the part about keeping it simple and using one fly to begin with.

There is a difference between not catching with a buzzer when there's not much of hatch going on and not catching when there's a lively hatch happening. The buzzer is often a very effective pattern generally, even when there's no hatch happening, but it would be fished differently under those conditions.

If you are not catching when there's a lively hatch going on, and you are fishing it suitably near the surface, then there are a few other considerations you can ponder to try and improve catch rate.

During a hatch the fish can become quite selective. They can focus on one type of food and just mop that up almost to the exclusion of anything else. Therefore, it is important to match the hatch. Colour can be surprisingly important. If the hatching midges are red make sure you are using a red buzzer, and so on. Does your buzzer match or just exceed the size of the hatching midges? Hatching midges are slow movers - to look natural your fly movement needs to be almost static. Sometimes suspender buzzers do the trick, if the fish are preoccupied with emerging flies in the surface film. You will be surprised how easy it is to fish your fly underneath the rising fish, and this is normally the first fault I consider when I'm not catching in a buzzer rise.

I often find with buzzer hatches, the less I do the more I catch, which is why it can look so easy if you get it right.

Hi Nigel and welcome to our world!

Here is a link to an interesting article on buzzer fishing
enjoy.

Techniques/ Buzzer - Jubilee Lakes - Angling and Fishing in County Durham

as others have said a casting lesson is worth a lot more than you pay!


Pete

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great advice in the link about speed of retrieve. ive always been told to cast out and let them hang which i personally have found unsucessfull. i now will experiment with this and hopefully will find out what buzzer fishing is all about.

cheers

bob

Absolutely...... this is probably way too heavy. Using leader material that is too thick for the fly is one of the biggest causes of reduced catches by novice fly anglers. All flies, not just buzzers, need to be fished on leaders that are of the right diameter for the size of fly used, they should not hold the fly too stiffly nor be so thin that that the fly spins the leader when cast.

The best way of deciding the correct diameter is to use the x-rating system that is printed on most leader/tippet spools. Divide your fly size by three to get the correct x-rating so, if you are using No.12 buzzers you need 4x droppers or tippet, if you are using No.14 buzzers you need 5x droppers and tippet and so on.

You might be wondering how you get droppers of 4x if using a factory supplied tapered leader or making up a tapered leader yourself. Make your leader up or take it from the packet - a knotless factory leader is best for this. Choose where you want your droppers and then tie in a length of the correct x-rating with a three turn water knot or surgeon's knot at each point. You might also want to add a tippet of the correct diameter if the point of the leader is too thick.

The beauty of the x-rating system is that it doesn't matter what material you use, the system takes care of all types and mixes of material. Breaking strain doesn't matter as long as it is enough.

Don't worry if you set up for No.12 flies with 4x droppers and then change to No.14s, you don't need to reconstruct your leader as one size diameter either way won't make a lot of difference. If you are using 8lb mono you are almost certainly using droppers/tippets that are too thick for normal sized buzzers. Some of the fluoro or copolymers of that breaking strain are starting to get into the right diameter range but as I said forget b.s. go for x-ratings and you'll find things a lot easier and you will catch more fish.

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A Fisherman’s Diary

Thanks everyone, that's a great help. Fly fishing has quite a steep learning curve with all the possible variants and hard for us starters to prioritise,

I have asked a couple of friendly and helpful people on the waterside but they were fishing continuously and I didn't want to disturb then too much, so basically apart from learning that black was a good starting spot I didnt get to talk about the more basic things. I have digested all you have said and I now have a plan.. he he


*Take time to tackle up properly rather than try and cast in 30 seconds of arriving
*Keep a little way from the edge to reduce spooking
*Only take buzzers so i dont get tempted to get the big white minkie out
*Learn these special knots and use finer line for the tippet
*Prioritise on finding a sheltered spot to help with my casting rather than my idea of what looks 'fishy'
*Only one fly to reduce tangles, and discard the leader if I do get a knot.
*I'll start with the buzzer high in the water, not sure how I'll suspend it there yet; the indicator I have must frighten the fish in shallow water, I'll try and read up about using 'wool' or something before I go.
* I'll adjust the height before swapping the buzzer color
*And, If I do get one, I'll try my new spoon and see what I learn.

I'll let you know how it goes, I should egt out this week sometime.

I'm also getting a casting lesson again (I had one).. Not for a week or two though.


Nigel