Buzzers, midges, diptera or Chironomids are the names of the tiny flies found on slow flowing rivers and and lakes. Tiny Chironomid flies that inhabit lakes and slow-flowing rivers are known by their common name to us as midges or buzzers, known because of their characteristic buzzing or humming. They appear in vast swarms on most still-waters towards the evenings, often they can be completely overpowering. Midges tolerate relatively high levels of pollution. The good news for fly fishermen is that they congregate on the windward side of a lake and their tiny larvae and pupae are eaten in large numbers by surface feeding trout. Buzzers start life as a bloodworm and live in the soft mud found in most still waters. These blood red worms get their colour from the oxygen and hemaglobin held within their bodies. When they are getting near to hatching they lose their blood red colour and take on a more somber appearance. They then make their way from the lake bottom up through the water columns to the surface. This is achieved by a wriggly swimming action. They swim towards the surface then stop either to catch their breath or waiting for the right conditions to hatch. When they stop wriggling towards the surface they slowly sink back down before swimming upwards again. When they eventually reach the surface they hang from the surface film and hatch out in to adult buzzers or midge. It is howver on the journey to the surface that Buzzers / Midges are at their most vulnerable. The midge pupae drift gently up to the surface where the survivors struggle to break through the surface film. Many do not make it, especially if the water is very choppy or if a flat calm has allowed oily film to form. At this stage trout patrol the surface sipping in huge quantities of hatching midges.
The life cycles of the buzzer can be imitated with a good degree of accuracy, they hatch out on virtually every day of the year. Some of the hatches will be localised and may not be spotted unless fishing in that area. Buzzer hatches can be spotted, by either looking for the adult fly, or finding the spent pupa bodies (shucks) in the surface film.
Product Code: CDCW30
