Well, they wouldn't have had to look very hard yesterday. The dang things were EVERYWHERE!
Chasing the Cicadas
- Thread starter jifigz
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tomgamber
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excellent!
mt_flyfisher
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I wonder if he missed the hatch.
SBecker
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Chasing trout and watched this ol donut mouths lips slowly chasing my cicada down stream. Even though I knew it wasn’t a good idea on my 5wt, I couldn’t pull the fly away.
25’’ 8-10lbs
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sarce
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It's been a while since I've been on here. Life got busy, but this cicada talk has roped me back in! I was fortunate enough to get out on some local MD streams back in 2021 for brood X and did well the few times I did go. I wish I had gone more.
So as I sit here in MD eyeing up the PA cicada madness, I was just wondering if anyone could be so kind as to try and paint a picture of how far east and south these bugs are emerging (in numbers that fish actually notice). If you don't want to name streams, towns or geographic features work! Edited to add, I am talking about areas that haven't already been mentioned in this thread...I read the whole thing.
I have looked at some of those online report maps but find they are hit or miss, as there are entire counties that are supposed to have heavy emergence of brood XIV and yet these maps don't have any reports from these areas. I take it this is due to lack of participants in the surveys rather than lack of bugs, but I'd rather not drive 2+ hrs for a complete bust.
So as I sit here in MD eyeing up the PA cicada madness, I was just wondering if anyone could be so kind as to try and paint a picture of how far east and south these bugs are emerging (in numbers that fish actually notice). If you don't want to name streams, towns or geographic features work! Edited to add, I am talking about areas that haven't already been mentioned in this thread...I read the whole thing.
I have looked at some of those online report maps but find they are hit or miss, as there are entire counties that are supposed to have heavy emergence of brood XIV and yet these maps don't have any reports from these areas. I take it this is due to lack of participants in the surveys rather than lack of bugs, but I'd rather not drive 2+ hrs for a complete bust.
Nocktavius
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Try the cicadasafari app. Should give you a good amount of intel on closer spots south and east.
sarce
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I had not looked at that source yet, thanks!
So I pull it up and this is basically the area that baffles me. No reports anywhere here, really?
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From what I’ve seen, the activity is north of that area.
That area had Cicadas in 2021. I fished a couple Brookie streams and they would try to eat them, but mostly couldn’t. I got lots of hits, but only successfully landed one. A standard Wulff worked just as well, and I switched to that and was catching them as normal.
That area had Cicadas in 2021. I fished a couple Brookie streams and they would try to eat them, but mostly couldn’t. I got lots of hits, but only successfully landed one. A standard Wulff worked just as well, and I switched to that and was catching them as normal.
sarce
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Thanks Swattie and that's very interesting because many of the counties in that area are shown as expecting "heavy emergence". And the same is true down here where some western MD counties are supposed to get heavy emergence, but they just had the 2021 brood.
My experience in 2021:
I went to my closest marginal wild trout stream during peak cicada. I only had 1.5 hrs to fish. I caught 6 wild browns on cicadas including a 14.5" which remains my largest brown in that specific stream. I also had an hour one day to fish the C&O canal and the cicadas were almost done by then, but I did manage to get a small 3-4 lb carp to chase down my imitation. I've been planning to hit this year's brood ever since!
Alright, fellas. Yesterday, I got my first cicada eaters. The one stream that I have been monitoring had fish eating cicadas. I was throwing a streamer and catching fish and then I witnessed a nice brown of about 15" come up and crush a cicada as it drifted by. This led me to immediately tie on my new cicada pattern invention. After a few drifts over the fish, he tried to eat it, but the fish missed it. This led me to just keep casting it and seeing what would happen. I had many fish try to eat it, and I landed several, but I also lost several. The fly I schemed up is tied on a 3xl #8 streamer hook. I also witnessed a few refusals from fish. Overall, I like the pattern, but I think it has too much orange on it. I am going to tie the same basic pattern today with less orange and more black. The fish that I landed were so fat. They had guts that looked like they just didn't know they should stop eating. They were FAT!
After tying up some more flies today, I am headed back out and fishing as much as I can before this spectacle ends. The fish definitely want to eat your cicadas, folks. Get out there!
After tying up some more flies today, I am headed back out and fishing as much as I can before this spectacle ends. The fish definitely want to eat your cicadas, folks. Get out there!
My cicada fly and a fish from yesterday.
Updated fly. Same premise, less orange.
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I’ll take a dozen, half that size, and half two sizes smaller, for standard small stream hopper dropper work.
nymphingmaniac
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looks nice. I might make the legs a little longer but that'll catch fish. If there are any left over once the cicada mania is over they will continue to catch bass on the Juniata
ROVERT
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Glad you got on them. I'm very interested to know if they are still active today in the cool rain.
tjsingle
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Hit up Central PA yesterday. Had some solid success on cicadas. I went to the same stream on Sunday and there was not nearly as much action as yesterday, the heat really helped I think.
I think I could've used a size smaller, and maybe my hookup ratio would've been better. Still got two solid 16-17" browns on cicada's along with some other good sized fish. I had couple takes in white water that were pretty large fish, the one was over 20". Where I was fishing, it was very pocketed. Best action was around 330 to 430PM. Between the cicada's, and other hatches I had an awesome day.
When I was casting, my line felt a little bit off, and I guess the imitation was good enough to attract a friend. Not my tie, something I bought off Etsy for the 2021 hatch.
I'm not sure if I'll get back up to Central PA before the cicada's start to wane, but it was super cool to experience.
I think I could've used a size smaller, and maybe my hookup ratio would've been better. Still got two solid 16-17" browns on cicada's along with some other good sized fish. I had couple takes in white water that were pretty large fish, the one was over 20". Where I was fishing, it was very pocketed. Best action was around 330 to 430PM. Between the cicada's, and other hatches I had an awesome day.
When I was casting, my line felt a little bit off, and I guess the imitation was good enough to attract a friend. Not my tie, something I bought off Etsy for the 2021 hatch.
