LaFontaine's Buzzball - A Step by Step Guide

LaFontaine's Buzzballs!

In the book Trout Flies: Proven Patterns by Gary LaFontaine, he sates that he developed this fly for the great winter midge hatches on the Missouri River here in MT.  I have found that this simple and effective little fly does a great job mimicking midge clusters wherever they are found.

In recent years, the Buzzball has had a huge resurgence in popularity with the credit mostly going to Mark Raisler of Headhunters Fly Shop in Craig, MT.  He has found that the Buzzball also works great in the summertime on the MO when there are a ton of dead bug parts on the surface.  I, as well as everyone else he's turned onto this fly (I actually think Sara R. gave me my first one), have had amazing success with it.

It doesn't end there.  Being the endless experimenter that I am, I've taken the Buzzball all over Montana and used in on a variety of waters.  I've tested it on everything from the freestone rivers and Georgetown Lake, to stocked borrow pits and high alpine lakes.  I've also experimented with the recipe.  The variable here is the orange hackle used in the original pattern.  If you use brown or black instead of the orange, you can cover a variety of lighting and hatch situations.  I've also found that substituting a cream colored hackle for the orange is extremely effective for the spruce moth which occur on the west-side, freestone streams.

The Buzzball is ridiculously simple to tie, easy to see on the water, and extremely effective in a variety of situations.  In my book, that is what makes a good fly!  Here's the recipe for the original and step-by-step instruction.

Hook:  Size 18-12 dry fly hook (16 is my favorite)
Thread:  8/0 burnt orange
Hackle:  1 grizzly hackle in the appropriate size (approx. 1 1/2 gap length); 1 light dun hackle (smaller, but size doesn't matter); 1 orange hackle (smaller, but size doesn't matter) 


Step 1:

Wrap the hook shank thoroughly and evenly.


Step 2:

Tie in the grizzly hackle in a size appropriate to the hook.

Step 3:

Tie in the orange hackle (size is not important because this is going to get cut).


Step 4:

Tie in the light dun hackle (again, size in not important because this going to be cut) and the advance thread to front of the hook.


Step 5:

Palmer both the orange and light dun hackles to the front of the hook.

Step 6:

Cut the orange and light dun hackles to about hook gap length all around the hook so that it resembles a bottle brush.

Step 7:

Palmer the grizzly hackle forward and then whip finish.

Step 8:

Cut the grizzly hackle flush to the orange and light dun on the top and bottom of the fly only.  Your done!

Purple Haze Quigley Cripple

Purple Haze Quigley Cripple 

Hook:  Size 18 dry fly 

Thread:  Purple 8/0

Tail:  Saddle hackle fibers cut to the same length after you tie them in

Body:  Purple thread for small sizes; floss, dubbing, or 1x 370 Uni Stretch for larger sizes

Ribbing:  Black 6/0 thread

Thorax:  Build a little ball of black dubbing

Wing:  Fine deer hair (dyed green is shown)

Hackle:  Your nicest dry fly hackle in the appropriate size (green grizzly is shown)

Supposedly, this fly was developed when Bob Quigley realized that his Humpy became more effective after it had been chewed up by trout.  All I know is that this cripple pattern is, by far, the most effective dry fly pattern for mayflies I've ever used.  

I use the size and color scheme shown for BWO's but you can tie this thing in any size or color scheme to match any and all mayfly species from baetis to drakes.  You can also tie it really small for the larger midges we get on the lower stretches of the freestones. 

I can confidently say that the Quigley Cripple has caught me more fish than any other dry fly pattern out there.  Feed it to your local snotty, PHD trout today!

The Flashback Purple Haze Soft Hackle

The Flashback Purple Haze Soft Hackle is a great fly pattern and is effective in all sizes but works best in sizes 22-16.

FB Purple Haze SH

HOOK: Size 22-6 (best in 22-16) - scud or nymph
THREAD: Purple 6/0
RIBBING: Black small diameter wire
FLASHBACK: Medium pearl tinsel
BODY: Thread in small sizes, purple dubbing for larger sizes
THORAX: Hand blend dubbing mix in natural or bright colors with some rabbit fur for texture
SOFT HACKLE: Partridge hackle tips for small sizes, palmered partridge for larger sizes

This fly (in the appropriate sizes) works great for midge, baetis, and caddis hatches. I love to fish soft hackles. When you are doing it right, it is as much fun and requires as much, if not more, skill than dry fly fishing.

Making something look alive with respect to its natural movements can be more challenging than making something look dead or still.    

Western Montana Dry Fly Report

Cut off your nymph rigs.  The bugs are here!

Mating midge swarm on the lower Bitterroot

Rock Creek:  You may want to wait to cut off your nymph rig until you actually see rising fish here.  I'd bet money that some BWO's and march browns float by and interrupt your nymphing.  Along with the regular winter nymphs, incorporating baetis and larger mayfly nymphs on a short leash system can be really fun.

The Bitterroot:  The fish in the lower river are keyed into the large sized midge hatch which is occurring daily at noon.  These midges are just a bit smaller than BWO's and the hatch is very similar.  The mating swarms even look the same (see photo).  These midges don't cluster so patterns which suggest a single hatching midge is the only way to go.  Yesterday was the first day I observed Skwala adults floating on the surface.  It was pretty funny to watch them wiggle through pods of large rising fish and go totally unnoticed!  I've noticed Numora in the air and on water and have been hearing those great sounding rises the fish make when they are on to them.  The weirdest thing, NO BWO's yet.  I've never seen Skwala before BWO's.  I hope they still come!

The Clark Fork:  The reports from the fly shops are saying that the lower river (below Missoula) is in great shape and that there are good hatches of BWO's and march browns daily.  When the Skwala's get going here, it's the real deal.  There are 500X more of them and 600X less guide boats, dudes, and fair-weather fisherpeople than on the Root.  The Clark Fork is my favorite stream and this is my favorite time of year.

The Blackfoot:  If your still looking for winter nymphing, go here.  You may see some fish looking up but there are safer bets for finding dry fly opportunities right now.

Area Lakes:  Beavertail Pond, Frenchtown Pond, and the secret bass pond are mostly thawed.  Detailed reports will come soon...        
      

CDC Guide Fly - The Hanging Midge

CDC Hanging Midge

• Size 22-18 1XL Dry Fly Hook
• 8/0 Black Thread
• Black Antron Dubbing 
• Olive CDC Oiler Puffs

This fly works great for the larger midges found on the lower reaches of the Bitterroot and Clark Fork.  It is a million times more effective than some more complicated flies.  You can tie up a dozen of these before you even finish a beer.  They also work for emerging baetis.  Since those two hatches overlap and happen in both the spring and the fall, this fly is a real asset to have in your box!  My first fish on the dry of 2014 fell to this guy yesterday in a scum line near Lolo.  That is a solid month later than when this normally happens.  We usually are fishing midge dries by Valentines Day.      

Western Montana Fishing Reports

Rainbow in downtown Missoula

The Clark Fork (at Warm Springs):
Some of the best fishing up there is during this time of the year.  It's all about the right flies up there.  They want pink tailwater stuff right now.  Midge stuff, pink scuds, eggs, and the sot hackle sow bug rules here!  I had a 40 fish day up there last week with many of those nice browns running over 18" in length.  There were midges and i noticed one rise but nothig in the way of solid dry fly fishing yet.

The Clark Fork (around Missoula):
Water levels are down to where accessing the good winter runs is not a suicidal act.  The water is still cold and there is not a lot going on yet.  I dredged up a few right in downtown yesterday.  Normally, at this time of the year, the CF has been nymphing great for months and is starting to pop BWO's.  Not this year.  I did notice some rises to the midges yesterday.  They were too few and far between for me to cut the nymph rig off.  Flies that work include: Smaller rubber leg stones in brown/green, worms, big prince and pheasant tails nymphs, eggs.  Fish the slow winter runs still.

The Bitterroot (lower)
For the most part, you wont see me fishing the upper Bitterroot.  It can look like the Salmon River in NY up there these days and I don't go fishing to hang out in a crowd.  I do fish the lower river consistently though.  It is a different beast and most fishing reports don't give it enough attention.  I hope to shine some light on it.  The water is still big but it is clear and green.  The nymphing is fantastic right now.  I caught lots of huge pre-spawn rainbows and some great browns on the soft hackle sow bug trailed below a rubber leg stone.  This river is normally on fire this time of year.  The trout haven't even got going on the midges yet this year.  Normally, they'd have been eating them on top since Feb. then weeks of BWO's followed by all the big bugs and the crowds.  It is still a total nymph game right now, but not for long.  Stonefly nymphs that look like skwala, worms, eggs, midges, baetis nymphs, and the soft hackle sow bug rules here!

Rock Creek
If you don't mind throwing nymphs, specifically egg patterns, you can have a life changing day up at the creek right now.  Just be sure to know what a redd looks like and stay the fuck away from it!!  The big Clark Fork rainbows and cutts are staging in the lower reaches and their brown friends are right behind them getting ready to eat eggs.  The chance to catch the fish of a lifetime, all day long is there, but you have to work for it.  Nymphing heavy and deep and losing all your flies is the only way to go about it.  You have to put in some footwork too.  Get away from the other fisherman, commit yourself to a full day and you will catch fish like you never have before.  Stonefly nymphs in any size or shape, smaller mayfly stuff, worms, egg patterns, the soft hackle sow bug should be illegal on this stream!  Pinch your barbs!

The Blackfoot
The same story as the Clark Fork around Missoula.  Still big and cold from the crazy winter.  The same nymphs in the same type of water will work.

Area Lakes
I'm excited to have this as part of my report because nobody reports on the lakes and that is just stupid.  Western Montana has thousands of awesome lakes and ponds and a ton of elbow room and great fishing.  I love to fish still water.  I think it can be incredibly hard and fun.  So here it is:  the area lakes are all still frozen!  Of course, but Beavertail Pond is normally open by now.  I checked last week and it was still frozen.  There was about a foot of thaw at the edge.  I'm going back to check on it today.  Ice-out in Montana should be declared a state holiday!  I'll keep you informed.  Once Beavertail goes, the rest follow in perfect succession in relation to their elevation.  You will certainly see pictures of big, nasty, steelhead sized, brood stockers on the blog soon.  Stay tuned!