Published Jan 29. 2010 - 14 years ago
Updated or edited Nov 30. 2015

Jan's Giant Buzzers

I have always loved fishing buzzers for many years for trout, its just my favorite way of fly fishing except perhaps daddylonglegs. Most of my fishing is on reservoirs sometimes desolate windy rough places, where buzzers come into their own.


Not your typical buzzers. Three of these giants make a handful.

I have always loved fishing buzzers for many years for trout, its just my favorite way of fly fishing except perhaps daddylonglegs. Most of my fishing is on reservoirs sometimes desolate windy rough places, where buzzers come into their own, We have all been there, fishing buzzers on the drift as slowly as we can to match the wind speed,or water drag being on the bung or without. But how many times does your fly line go through too fast for buzzers when the wind is too strong taking your line far too fast for these flies to work properly.

Have a look at these buzzers and see the size. Most people would be shocked, but I love fishing them without a bung. Nothing wrong with the bung its just my preference that's all. When fishing them singly or in pairs, try them when it gets quite rough, because they are bigger they go down faster, and when your line is going through the water faster than what, you want the buzzers that will stay on a better presentation line.

Don't panic about the size. I used to scrape bloodworm and have gathered many a bloodworm longer than one inch on my blade. The takes can be often violent and quick try them on the bank or in a boat they work the same. I love fishing these larger patterns when the weather suits 6lb line 8lb on the droppers, try tying red ones also they can be deadly in these sizes. Most people I know generally fish buzzers from 16s to size 10. For these bigger ones I have had the best results when the water depth ranges from 10 to 30 feet and quite windy.

I have been tying buzzers with kevlar for a while now. I think the bodies out of kevlar look really the part. I have also changed from using hooks like B100s or any curved buzzer hooks for my buzzers. Using the B175s or fulling mill competion heavy weight really give a good pattern. Maybe its me but I seem to get many more takes and have more confidence in the style and shape. It all started with the giant buzzers when I ran out of hooks (which seemed inpossible to my friends because I have hundreds). I took out a B175 4/0 and tied about 5-6 to try. To be honest I thought they looked really cool, but as you can see alot bigger. Well the weekend came and off I went with my friend Brian fishing in a boat on a large resevoir.We started fishing buzzers. Catching trout seemed to be a little slow, we had fish but had to work for them, so I changed to my giant kevlar buzzers. I hadnt shown Brian these before - we all like to sneak one on your mates now and then don't we? When he saw them he said you're having a laugh aren't you, you nutter? You have no chance. Well to big he kept saying.

I just laughed and said you never know. To be quite honest I never had a take on them and was just about to give up when I hooked into and landed a rainbow about four pounds. He was gobsmacked. Ten minutes later another one on the giant buzzer. "Give me one", he kept saying. "give me one" and so on for a few minutes, so I gave him two. He had two fish on them and couldnt really believe it, because of the size. Going back to the shore a guy asked what we where catching on so I gave him the buzzers and went off. He just stared at me with disbelief. Two weeks later the guy came up and said I tried them and caught two fish - "I still don't believe I did it with buzzers that size".

They do work well. Tie some yourself. Dead easy to do. Just have confidence. They work. So come on lets have some comments back. I will always answer if your not too scared to tie them, and all the best to you all.

Materials

Hook: B175 4/8 or Fulling Mill 6/8
Thread: Black Uni Thread, 6/0
Body: Black, Brown, or Green Kevlar
Head: Two Orange Cheeks - Goose Biots
Varnish: Three Coats Flu Glue

Instructions

  1. Tie in the black kevlar at the head, work back down the body tying in the kevlar to where the bend of the hook just starts.Go back to the eye just stopping short.
  2. Start to rap the kevlar back to the eye, not touching turns just missing each time to create a gap exposing the black thread, tie down very well ( kevlar can slip if not tied down well)
  3. Now have alook at the buzzer and decide how big you want the head. ie go back with the thread say just short of a 1/4 of a inch a rough guide only gently move forward to just short of the eye and build a small cone shape. End the thread behind the cone
  4. Tie in two biots one each side, tie down behind the eye tie off. A little tip I do is once you have tied off the buzzer at the eye,is get the thred again and go behind the goose biots with the thread and do a tiny little cone tie off with 2-3 turns only.
  5. Finish of with a good coat of flu glue, on the thread and biots only not the Kevlar. Repeat when dry
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Comments

Martin Joergensen's picture

nebc, Hooks such ...

nebc,

Hooks such as the B175 from Kamasan don't come in different lengths. The Kamasan hook doesn't even have an 1X, 2X or whatever-X in its description. So putting a length in there makes no sense!
And in general we will tell you if a hook needs to be a special length by putting in a description like "short shank saltwater hook" or "long shank, straight eye streamer hook".

I can also recommend looking at the flies and the tying steps (where applicable) to see the hook length and shape. Generally our hook recommendations are guidelines and meant as a hint to what hook can be used.

Martin

If only putting your...

If only putting your hook size that does not tell us enough. Would like the hook lengths as well...1X, 2X, 3X etc.

Very cool! Thanks v...

Very cool! Thanks very much. Gotta tie some. I found a stillwater research project that checked the contents of trout's stomachs, over a 10 year period. "Midges" constituted more that half the contents, followed by "Scuds"....thus constituting about 3/4ths the trout's diet. Maybe we should think about that when we tie flys and go fishing! Keep your lines wet and tight! Thanks.

Martin Joergensen's picture

John, Hook sizes ...

John,

Hook sizes are what you can read: 4-8 or 6-8 depending on the make. Hook sizes are universal and basically the same all over the world.

And a bung is a strike indicator. Read about buzzer fishing here.

Martin

What is the hook siz...

What is the hook size in American-ese? What is a bung? Thanks.

Let me know Mike how...

Let me know Mike how you get on that would be great

Great article Jan, b...

Great article Jan, buzzers look really well tied, I'll look forward to trying them. Mike

will have to start l...

will have to start leaving my lures at home!

Thanks for your comm...

Thanks for your comment Antony much appreciated

Another great idea f...

Another great idea from the thinking mans fly tyer ! Keep it up Jan.

Martin Joergensen's picture

Roger, Most fly s...

Roger,

Most fly shops will have Kevlar tying thread - often in different colors. It's usually very thick, and perfect for this purpose. If you can only get grey, consider using a marker to color it.

You can also consider using thick tying thread, like Uni-Thread 3/0, which should be widely available.

Martin

hi love the buzzers ...

hi love the buzzers where can i obtain the kevlar for the body. thanks Roger B.

Hello Jan, I like...

Hello Jan,

I like your giant buzzers and am going to make some, the kevlar is neat.

Great website

buzzer fishing is do...

buzzer fishing is done on a fly rod. i use a 9ft/6 loop multi 6wf, but any rod like this upto 7wf i think is best. I like to fish these giant buzzer on larger reservoirs 20 acres or more in a good depth of about 10 to 20 feet especialy when it is very rough. the results can be amazing fishing singly or with two, hope this helps Jan.Just cast out and let them drift or try a very slow figure o eight

Great article. I ha...

Great article. I have a few questions. I'm not entirely clear on what fishing outfit you were using. So this begs the question, what kind of a fishing rod and reel are you using, spinning, baitcast, or fly? I'd also like to know the general location (state or county) of where you fish these patterns, please. Thanks!

Giant buzzers ...

Excellent article thanks,I tied up one on B175 size 6 black thread red wire rib orange goose biot cheeks whilst it did look kind of cool! It was ridiculously huge! Surely it can't work?? Fished it yesterday floating line 13ft leader to my utter amazement it took 8 rainbows and I missed a few the takes were savage - thanks another pattern in my arsenal. I came home and tied 14 more giant buzzers

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