Buzzers, midges and the fly-fisher’s curse
Words: Alan Hobson. Photos: Angler & Antelope. Article from the DO IT NOW Online Magazine.
Nature
Contributor: Alan Hobson
Midges, crane flies, gnats, deerflies and mosquitoes are usually found in and around water and it is these two-winged, mosquito-like flies that drive both trout and fly fishermen crazy.
They drive the fish crazy because there are several thousand species, they are small and the sheer volume of insects in the water makes them an irresistible snack, seldom passed up by trout. Using only the minimum amount of effort, the trout either inhale the pupae in a slow, relaxed but purposeful porpoise* or sip as they cruise along slowly. And it is this attitude of complete disdain and the sound of enthusiastic sipping, along with the fish showing itself so gracefully that drives fly fishermen dippy. Furthermore, one fly competing against thousands of these tiny, unglamorous insects seems almost futile.
To add insult to injury, success in imitating these tiny insects requires special fly-tying skills, never mind a magnifying glass to see something so small (hooks used are #18 – #24, from 6 mm down to 3 mm). Therefore, you need to bump up your skill levels a few notches to present the microscopic fly so delicately that it looks like a natural amongst the thousands of real insects the fish have to choose from. It is a bit like trying to find a needle in a haystack amplified by the fact that you can see the fish feeding without a care in the world.
There is an up-side though. As the female crane fly titillates across the surface of the water and lays her eggs, she teases the trout to leap out of the water. So while this action is unfolding, all you need to do – other than have the correct fly imitation, match the hatch and present it in the area you saw the fish move – is to focus as the suspense mounts and wait for the fish to descend on the fly.
Takes will either be very subtle (you will merely see the line straighten or move to one side) or your rod will be jerked out of your hand as the fish inhales your fly with gusto, along with many of the real thing.
A typical life cycle usually involves the eggs dropping down to the silty bottom and attaching themselves to substrate. When nature presents all the right conditions, the egg will hatch into a larvae; slender and worm-like in shape, which moves through the water columns using whiplash body movements. Larvae or bloodworm can grow up to 30 mm depending on which species of insect it is. Imitating this stage of its life cycle requires a floating line with a long leader that’s fished over old weed beds that have died back in winter, or over a silty bottom. This technique requires a lot of practice to be able to do a very fast figure of eight retrieve (twitch of the fly line using your pinkie and thumb and rolling the line between those two fingers), with lengthy pauses in-between, to mimic the whiplash body movements of the larvae.
In the next stage of its life cycle, the larvae transforms into a midge pupae, developing wings, legs and a white tuft on its head and tail that resembles a Mohawk hairstyle. The pupae ascend to the surface and lie suspended upright in the meniscus (the last layer of the surface of the water). The adult then breaks out of its shuck (outer covering), and once its wings have been strengthened by the wind, it flies away. This process can happen in a few seconds, but is longer in winter as the wings take longer to dry and strengthen in the cold.
There are two techniques one can use to imitate the emergence stage of the life cycle. The first is buzzer fishing, which usually requires fishing more than one fly attached to your leader, about 30 cm apart. These flies imitate the translucent shuck of the pupae and a slow lifting of the fly brings success during a hatch. The suspender buzzer technique is applied only when you see the fish porpoising, as it means that the fish are zoning in exclusively on the pupae lying suspended in the meniscus. Cast your fly in the general area where you witnessed the fish porpoise. This is extremely exciting fishing, as you focus on your fly and wait for the fish to find it. Often, you will see the trout’s dorsal fin pop out of the water like a shark on the prowl as it makes a beeline for the buzzer, so be prepared.
The adults form mating swarms in their millions and one regularly sees vertical columns near the water within 24-four hours of emergence, which resemble smoke signals. It is this stage that really turns the fish on and usually occurs more actively in the twilight hours or as the sun sets because the insect is most vulnerable on the surface of the water as it metamorphosizes. Once the clouds of insects dissipate after mating, the males die and lie spent on the surface of the water. The females meet the same fate once having laid their eggs. Such is the enthusiasm of the fish, they cruise and sip like a Pac-Man gulping in thousands of dead insects. This occurrence is termed the fisherman’s curse because there are so many of these tiny goggas, thus making it extremely difficult to intercept the gulping path of the trout to achieve a hook up, as the fish cannot see when its head is half out of the water as it feasts along the surface.
If one can muster enough patience during the hectic activity, calm the nerves and present the fly on the proverbial ticky and trick the fish into taking your tiny morsel, the sense of achievement is immense.
More information
Highly recommended reading reference material on this topic: Guide to aquatic Trout Foods by Dave Whitlock. Available from www.netbooks.co.za
For more information on techniques: www.tomsutcliffe.co.za
*Porpoise – when the fish just breaks the surface of the water.