Another question about cicadas...blah blah blah!

[The_Sasquatch]

So I don't have any orange material. There is an off chance I may decide to drive up to Clark's tomorrow AM and try this cicada thing.

I have yellow. I made a cicada fly that has a yellow (instead of orange) underside, because again, I don't have orange. Is this a game of color, or profile? Should I go blow some money on orange crap, or will my bumble bee cicada do the trick?

 

[djmyers]

take an orange sharpie to your yellow material.

 

[The_Sasquatch]

For the record, I used this pattern:
http://hatchesmagazine.com/blogs/Hatches/2011/05/18/periodical-cicada-by-loren-williams/

I also didn't have that flashy stuff for the wings, so I used deer hair. Maybe I should just stay home ;-)

 

[ryguyfi]

go to walmart, dollar store, etc and get some orange foam.

You don't even have any orange egg yarn?

 

[The_Sasquatch]

I never fish w/ eggs. I have orange dubbing. I guess I could use that.

I just used an orange and black sharpy and made the legs. You guys think plain deer hair is cool for the wings?

My fly tying supplies are VERY basic. I pretty much only tie PTs, HE, EHC and Wulffs. Those are the flies I use most of the time.

 

[DJBerg]

hit a micheals they have more foam then you will ever want and that's the smallest amount they sell.


Untitled by dj.berg, on Flickr

like four fiddy sen!

 

[PhilC]

anything orange will do...there should be enough foam to keep that puppy floating...my best option on hand was ice dub

 

[The_Sasquatch]

Word. I'll try orange dubbing. Foam isn't the issue. I got foam! I have white foam too, which I can color orange. On second thought, maybe I'll do that for the body instead of dubbing.

Any thoughts on the wings? Deer hair cool?

 

[wgmiller]

Post up the pic. Let the internet be the judge! :-D

One thing to remember is, these fish have been seeing cicadas for almost a month now...

 

[The_Sasquatch]

Meh. I decided not to go. I may still tie up a cicada just for fun, but not tonight. I'm going back to my original July 4 plan: Native brookies on patriot dries. 'MURICA!

 

[dryflyguy]

Squatch -

When the cicadas were on central PA streams in 2008 - I tied patterns with orange foam, and ribbed with heavy black thread.
And I also tied some with black foam, ribbed with heavy orange thread.
And they both worked equally well.

As for wings, I used orange deer hair on some, and used swiss straw on others - again, both worked equally well.

Guess what I'm getting at - is that the pattern isn't very important.
If the fish are taking cicadas - they'll hit anything that's close IMO

 

[troutbert]

I used black foam, deer hair wings, and ginger hackle to indicate legs. And that worked fine. Ginger hackle actually looks pretty good. The actual color is tan/orange, not Glo-bug orange.

They weren't that fussy. I think they would have hit anything big and black. A big Letort Cricket would probably have worked. Just a big chunk of black foam lashed on a hook would probably have worked.

Clarks Creek is very slow moving and if everybody and his brother is pounding Clarks, the fish might be pickier though.

There must be some other streams, maybe some with smallmouth and/or carp where the cicadas are on.

 

[wgmiller]

troutbert wrote:
Clarks Creek is very slow moving and if everybody and his brother is pounding Clarks, the fish might be pickier though.

There must be some other streams, maybe some with smallmouth and/or carp where the cicadas are on.

Couldn't agree more about Clarks being a slower stream. The fish there have some time to inspect your offering.

The heaviest concentration of this brood seems to be northeast of Harrisburg along the Blue Mountain line. I'd love to find some warmwater action because I'm sure hooking up with a bass or carp on a cicada pattern would be a blast. That opportunity is quickly fading though as it appears their reign is ending.

I'm starting to see pictures of annual cicada nymphs emerging, so soon we'll hear their noise. They certainly don't offer anywhere near the same opportunity as the 17-year brood though.