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Aquatic insects
BUZZERS: The description 'Buzzer' is not the actual na me for any species of insect, but one Anglers seem to have made up as a general term for this particular species. The scientific name for these insect is actually a Chironomid which are members of
the
Diptera Order of flies. There are over 430
different species, but rest assure you won't need anywhere near this amount of variety in your fly box. Some of these don't even have an aquatic life cycle so have no relevance to Fly fishing. However, with this number of species, it is most likely that there will be a buzzer hatch at some point in the day!
 The life cycle of Buzzers can often be over looked with anglers often only focusing on the last of their Pupa stage, just before they are ready to break free of the waters surface film & transforming into winged adults. However variants of these flies can be fished from the very bottom of the water, right up through the depth to actually sitting up on the waters surface.
A sign that it may be time to fish the Buzzer, is watch for fish 'heading & tailing'. When you see fish rising like this, Buzzers may just be what's hatching.
In breezy
conditions the trout may well swim upwind sipping-in the buzzer
pupae as
they go. In angling terms, we call this nymphing. Wind, or lack of dictates how best to fish these.
As we have learnt more about Buzzers, anglers have saw the benefit of tying these up not only on grubber hooks (curved), but also sometimes tying them on straighter hooks such as the Kamasan B175, but smaller & skinnier. At rest a pupa is curved with a slim body often with a tapered body with a ribbed texture, the colour of the adult fly already showing through. But as they swim up through the water, they flick back & forward, straightening out at times, so a cast of flies varying with curved hooks & one or 2 straight gives a good effect. The head will be more
bulbous as this is
where the wings and legs have developed inside. From the top of the head area, prominent white
tufts which are the breathing filaments or 'breathers' as we refer to them in Fly tying. The size of Buzzers can vary depending on time of day & species. It has been suggested that some smaller species will hatch
during
the day but the bigger buzzers will hatch in the evening or early
morning.
CADDIS - ORDER: TRICHOPTERA
I think Caddis are a misunderstood aquatic species, as we anglers tend to solely fish imitations of the winged adults, i.e. Sedges, even though the majority of their lifecycle is spent in the larval stage (nymph) in fresh water. Caddis vary in size, anywhere from about 8mm in length up to 25mm and live from several months to a year.
For fly fishing purposes, a bit of knowledge on watercraft is a must when it comes to these insects as their appearance and for some species, individually crafted housing, vary greatly. But one thing for sure is that signs of these we beasties in any waterway, is a good indicator of healthy water.
There are over 1000 species of this insect alone around Europe, but can all generally be put into these three groups for fly fishing purposes:
1. The Caddis we generally recognise as having their own, custom designed & built portable housing.
11. Free roaming Caddis with fixed accommodation, i.e.; the nooks & crannies in rocks. These have their own catch nets in the door ways for predation.
111. Genuine free roaming Caddis, having no housing whatsoever. Sometimes mistaken for smaller Damsel nymphs.
Caddis Larva spends most of their existence on or near the bottom of the waterways. So imitations of these should be fished near the bottom. If fishing a cased Caddis pattern, use this as the attractor, with the view of actually catching on the team of nymphs &/or emergers that follow.
Cased Caddis is a little more difficult to imitate as the materials they use depend on the time of year and construction materials available in that environment.
Even on a Stillwater’s like here at Allandale Tarn, I’ve found species that prefer using granules of shale & sand; some that construct their housing almost entirely from small snail shells; one species that likes a variety of twigs and greenery in strips; and the lazy ones that use sections of a plant called Mares tail which goes from a fresh green colour to a jet black and then there’s the free roaming species also. Some free roaming Caddis are best represented by the simplest if small Damsel variants and fished as such.
Caddis emergers are when they have metamorphosised into the fully developed winged adults but are still largely encased in their pupae membrane, swimming or crawling up to the waters surface where they can then break free on this membrane & stretch out their wings as fully matured airborne adult Sedges. Imitations of these should be fished just below the surface film or even pulled fast up through the water as emergers can swim fast.
Clouds of adult Sedges are signs of a mating swarm and a more visual sign that there was & may still be a good hatch of these on. These adults can still feed so may live for some weeks and vary greatly in colours from blacks, browns, greys and oranges. Still the most popular imitations to Fly fish with, they can be fished in a dead drift or skimmed fast as you can retrieve along the surface. I would suggest using a fast retrieve for couple of cast with the dries and to get the trout’s attention. Then if the fish aren’t immediately in a chasing mood, leave the next cast in a dead drift so as the flies look spent on the drift which should seem like an easy meal.
So don’t forget about the larval stage of this important beastie as they can be fished at any time of year and fishing them in a cast of 3 or four flies would be an advantage particularly when the trout aren’t chasing. For those that prefer a single fly like myself it’s a simple weighted slim nymph pattern or a big arsed Sedge for hauling along the surface and for the more fickle trout, maybe just a chunky suspender pattern in a drift. When it comes to Caddis, there’s a fly out there for everyone’s preferred way of fishing, boat, bank or wading.
*If you're looking for some ideas, google search 'Caddis images' and it'll bring up pictures of the real thing as well as tied flies.
BEETLES: With over 20,000 European species alone, there are more beetles in the world than any other insect. They vary enormously, in size, colour, shape & so on. But generally they can be identified as having horny fore wings (elytra), that meet in a straight line down the middle of their back. The hind wings, if present, are membranous & fold away under the fore wings. Beetles come equipped with biting jaws & feed on a variety of both plant & animal matter.
Not all species of beetle are terrestrials. The lifecycle of many species happen in the water. These will be covered under 'Aquatics'.
Beetles grow from eggs, that hatch into larva, then moult again into fully grown larva before they pupate. At this stage they then form a Crysalis (the same as caterpillars into butterflies), before re-emerging as the adult beetle.
In fishing, I can't think of a pattern that would represent any stage in their life cycle other than the fully developed adult beetle, I do not know why that is but will try to find out more as maybe we are missing an opportunity in fishing here!
Basic anatomy of a ladybird
MAY FLIES: Anyone who has taken up fly fishing has at some time heard tales of this much revered insect, due to the famous but short lived final stage of it's life cycle. To date there are about 50 identified British species alone.
The Mayfly nymph, hatched from eggs, live in the bottom of lakes & rivers, with some species taking up to 4 years to reach maturity. Once transformed into the glorious adult, they no longer feed, so the seasonal window for fishing these flies is also relatively short lived.
The adults are flimsy insects with fine antennea, one or two pairs of wings and actually, mostly only fly at night. Despite their name 'May'-fly, in Europe they are mostly seen as adults between the months of April to November.
The colours of these insects vary depending on the species & their wing span ranges from about 12mm up to an impressive 60mm!
Mayfly nymph fly fishing patterns remain very simple compared to Damsel nymph fly variants. However the adult fly patterns can vary enormously in size. colour & use of materials.
lifecycle of the mayfly 
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