Grey Boy Buzzer

A Must-Have Chironomid Pupa

Grey Boy Buzzer

If you haven't seen or fished the popular Grey Boy Buzzer, it's about time, as they say in Cheech's home town, you get all "lerned up".
 Either way, there's good reason it's a popular style chironomid pupa pattern -- it plain works. And by "work" I mean that it's easily becoming a staple in my fly box, right alongside the Oil Slick Buzzer and my standard Universal or the smaller quill bodied patterns.

And to put on my nerdly bug hat here, one of the reasons it does so well is that it's a spot-on imitation of a pupating chironomid as they ascend to the surface to hatch. Although there are many different color combinations you'll see in the naturals, one of the more common ones I see is the gray/white segments with black and/or red segment dividers that we're imitating with the Grey Boy.

Grey-boyish looking pupa

As with most of my pupa patterns, I'm fishing these with a strike indicator and hanging them anywhere from a foot to twelve feet or more below the indicator. Just switch it up until you find where the fish are feeding. Once you dial that in, it's usually on like Donkey Kong.





Finally, once again, the materials here are super-simple. I tie more of these with White UNI-Flexx, but the gray color also works very well. Just ask this fine colored up Colorado Cutthroat from the other day.

A colored Colorado Cutthroat who likes Chironomids

Material List

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Hook: Fulling Mill Czech Nymph Hook - 14
Thread: Danville 70 Denier, Black
Body Ribbing: UNI-Flexx White
Under-Body Ribbing: Veevus Holo Tinsel, Cranberry SM
Wing Buds: Veevus Holo Tinsel, Orange, MD
Breathers: McFlylon - White
Coating: Loon Fluorescing UV Clear

Other tools from the tutorial:
Stonfo Hackle Pliers