Fly of the Month April by Les Lockey

The Vicar Buzzer (Peter Batchelor)

Hook: Kamasan B175 or Fario FBL301 (barbless), size 10 or 12.

Thread: Black UTC 70, or any flat black thread.

Rib: Black Flexifloss.

Abdomen: Black UTC 70 thread.

Collar: Flat silver tinsel, medium.

Thorax/Head: Black UTC 70 thread.

Photo 1. Secure the hook in the vice and starting at the eye, wind on a short bed of thread and remove the waste thread.

Photo 2. Leaving a short tag end, catch in the Flexifloss with a few tight turns of thread then stretch the Flexifloss rearward and bind it down to just before the hook bend with touching turns of thread.

Photo 3. Return the thread in touching turns to the tag end of Flexifloss. Bind down the tag with thread to near the eye. Stretch the tag and cut off the waste then return the thread to the rear of the thorax.

Photo 4. To create the segmented abdomen, wind the Flexifloss under very gentle tension and in slightly open turns up the shank, gradually relaxing the stretch as you go. When the Flexifloss meets the thread, tie it down securely and continue to bind down the Flexifloss to near the eye before stretching it and cutting off the excess floss and return the thread to the rear of the thorax.

Photo 5. Tie in a length of flat silver tinsel, bind down the tag end with thread to just short of the eye and return the thread to just before the tinsel tie in point.

Photo 6. Wind on two overlapping turns of tinsel, secure the tinsel with thread and remove the excess tinsel. Tidy the area with a few turns of thread.

Photo 7. Continue to wind the thread to the eye and back several times to form a fairly bulbous thorax and head. Whip finish and remove the thread.

Photo 8. Lightly coat the whole fly with thin UV resin and cure with a UV torch to complete the fly.

Tying tips

• This is a very simple fly to tie and using a flat thread will help to produce a slim, smooth body, but remember to occasionally spin the bobbin holder anticlockwise to keep the thread flat.
• There are various names for Flexifloss including Spanflex, Super Stretch Floss and FlexxFloss, to name but three, however, they are all basically the same material although there can be differences in their thickness. For smaller sized hooks, standard Flexifloss is usually too thick, so I simply split the floss by making a cut in one end and pulling the two pieces apart.
• In order to give the impression of a segmented abdomen, don’t be tempted to stretch the Flexifloss when winding the rib as this will reduce the segmentation effect. The Flexifloss should be wound under very light tension which is gradually released part way up the abdomen. As you wind the Flexifloss and gradually release the tension, I find it helps to trap each turn with your finger before making the next turn.
• To help maintain the segmented effect, sparingly use a light and runny resin so as not to clog up the gaps between the Flexifloss. I use Solarez Bone Dry which comes with a very fine pointed applicator brush which is ideal for this task. I start by coating and curing the head and thorax before carefully applying a very light resin coating to the abdomen.
• This pattern takes its name from the silver collar at the rear of the thorax, which unlike most other buzzer patterns is somewhat oversized which is a characteristic of the pattern, so don’t be shy with your thread when creating the thorax and head. However, the option of adding a collar to your favourite slimline buzzer pattern is another good variation to have in your box. You can also try using a variety of different collar, body and rib colour combinations, although the one here is invariably my first choice. A traffic light collar made with pearl tinsel wound over red holographic tinsel is another variant that works well, as does a collar made from a few turns of Glo Brite Floss Number 8 and an all red version with a red holographic tinsel collar, makes a very useful bloodworm imitation when fished close to the bed of the loch.

Fishing notes

• Early in the season, shallow areas of the loch are likely to be the first to warm up and see an increase in fly life activity, particularly small dark buzzers, but expect the bulk of the activity to heighten from late morning into the early afternoon as the temperature rises. Conversely, cold winds will push cold water onto the downwind shore which in turn is likely to suppress fly life activity, so choose your locations carefully.
• Buzzers are often fished by straight lining teams of 2, 3, or 4 flies on a floating line with the heaviest fly on the point, which is an ideal set up for the Vicar Buzzer. In windier conditions, however, the drift of the flies is likely to need slowing down which can be helped by using a midge tip or slow intermediate line.
• When fishing buzzers, the best retrieve is invariably no retrieve at all. Simply cast them out at an angle to the wind, straighten the cast, allow the flies to drift round on the wind and hang on. If needed, an occasional slow steady pull followed by a long pause mimics the rise and fall of the natural well, but arguably the best way to achieve this presentation is to fish buzzers on the washing line with a buoyant dry fly such as a Flat Daddy, FAB or a Booby on the point and the buzzers suspended on the droppers above the point fly, or if you need to fish deep, place the heaviest buzzer on the top dropper, which for me, is usually the Vicar Buzzer.