When you see fish moving at the surface, yet they are refusing a dry fly, it’s often the case that they are feeding just under the surface, rather than on it. To be able to hold a nymph an inch or two under, try using a buoyant pattern to suspend it. Use the Big Ball Buzzer on the point of your leader, with a normal buzzer on a dropper above it; not only will the Big Ball suspend even heavy epoxy buzzers with ease, but it’s a pretty effective emerging buzzer pattern in its own right.

Hook: Kamasan B170, size 8
Head: Black Ethafoam booby cord
Butt: Hot orange floss
Body: Natural rabbit fur dubbing
Rib: Stripped peacock herl
Thorax: Natural rabbit fur dubbing

How To Tie The Big Ball Buzzer Fly

1. Clamp the hook in the vice. Take a section of black foam and trim it to a point before tying it in.	2. Wind the thread down the shank using touching turns to create an even underbody.	3. Tie in a section of orange floss and make several touching turns to form a bright butt. Then tie it off and clip the excess.
4. Use your thumbnail to strip the fibres of a piece of peacock herl and then tie it in.	5. Using very small pinches of rabbit fur, form a fine dubbing rope. Wind it up the shank in touching turns.	6. Rib the body using the herl by winding in neat, open turns. Tie it off – leaving space for the thorax – and clip away the excess.
7. Form another dubbing rope using the rabbit fur, making it slightly thicker this time.	8. Wind the dubbing rope to create a thorax, before whip finishing and cutting the thread.	9. While it’s not strictly necessary, clipping the foam section to a rounded shape using scissors makes for a neater fly.

Total Fly Fisher