Anybody Ever Fished A Cicada Fly?

[Sylvaneous]

Yes. I got to fish a good deal during the last big Cicada hatch. Towards the end of the event, I finally got a good pattern worked out. Man, it looked good, fished well and even the more spooky, oft-hooked fish ate it. I had other patterns that just weren't working as well. A big fly like this in daylight and clear water has a lot of detail to give it up as a phoney. I don't think they'll last until the next session. I'll have to record how I did it so I don't have to reinvent the wheel.
Syl

 

[dryflyguy]

I got in a few trips out to central PA for the 2008 emergence - and it was awesome. But things were kinda busy at workat that time, and I wasn't able to take off as much as I wanted to.
The next time that brood hatches however, I'll be 70. And should finally be able to fish them as much as I want I hope.

I also fished them on the green river on utah. The annual cicadas there are heavy enough that the fish take them apparantly, every year.

 

[WildTigerTrout]

In the summer of 08 I fished the Cicada hatch on Spring Creek a number of times. One word says it all, FANTASTIC! Can't wait for the next one!

 

[Acristickid]

Yes. Very fond memories.

 

[tomgamber]

pcray1231 wrote:

I just spotted an article that says some states may be getting

This year the Smokies and much of the south got it going on. I'm heading down, tryin to move it up to late June, I can't go any earlier than that. Anyone know when the peak of the fishing time was?

Yes, a friend from Nashville was mentioning them last week. Not fondly I might add, but I don't think she fly fishes.

 

[barbless]

The cicada hatch gave me considerable trouble in 2008. My cicada imitations were too small, and my 3x tippet was too light. Broke off what would have been my biggest trout ever.

 

[WildTigerTrout]

barbless wrote:
The cicada hatch gave me considerable trouble in 2008. My cicada imitations were too small, and my 3x tippet was too light. Broke off what would have been my biggest trout ever.

What size were your flys? 3x sounds about right to me. I tied my flies with 94840 Mustad size 4. I thought at times mine were too big. The trout would hit the fly but many times could'nt seem to get that big bug in their mouth. I did however manage to catch quite a few. I used 2x and 3x tippet on my Loomis GL3 9' 6 wt.. It was really fun casting what seemed like a Bass bug to those Trout.

 

[DotMan]

Out west in the Fall 2004 I took some Cicada flies to try just for the heck of it. Turns out it was a good thing I did.

 

[sundrunk]

Cicada time is to the dry fly fisherman what oktoberfest is to the beer drinker. Fishing can be down right silly at times. The challange with the cicada comes in being able to cast bigger flys acurately. You still have to place it in front of the trout, and some times that requires casting under shallow tree canopy, log jams and the like. To make it extra challanging on the vise I prefer only using natural materails-no plastics-

Brood XIX is what you are reffering to.

The challange is finding decent enough water to fish over down there-If I were to drive down for brood XIX, I would concentrate on the upper Chatooga. The Chatooga is your best bet for hooking into a big, wild, brown trout in that part of the country..Should be good time-10 hour, or so, drive, well worth it to fish over an event that only happens every 13 years or so.

 

[albatross]

DotMan, what is that fish? Bull trout? It's a beauty whatever it is...

 

[pcray1231]

I was admiring it myself, thinking it was a HUGE brookie. But I think you're right, bull trout.

 

[DotMan]

Yes, it was a bull and I was quite surprised. A real beauty.

Dot

 

[troutbert]

Carp go crazy over cicadas. I've seen them get right out in the middle of the stream, right in the current, and feeding on cicadas coming down in the drift.

And if a cicada drifted past it, they would wheel around and chase the cicadas downstream and hit them.

 

[PennKev]

Wow, what an apprpriate day to ressurect a thread.

 

[RCFetter]

Earlier today in the Beginner forum someone posted a link to an article on cicadas. National Geographic is expecting a lot to emerge this year along the east coast.

 

[lv2nymph]

Nice, let's get tying! :-D

 

[RCFetter]

In 2011, Penn State published an interesting article on Cicadas.

Periodical Cicada - Magicicada septendecim (Linnaeus)

About 2/3rds down the page there's a hatch chart by year and county. Here's an excerpt for 2013:

Table 1. Timetable of expected appearances of the periodical cicada in Pennsylvania.

Year(s) Brood No.

2013 (2030) II

Counties in Which They May Emerge
Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Chester, Dauphin, Delaware, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Luzerne, Monroe, Montgomery, Northampton, Philadelphia, Pike, Potter, Schuylkill, and Wyoming Counties; last emerged in 1996

 

[wsender]

Here's a site with a map highlighting some historical data regarding the upcoming brood with projections for the year as well.

http://www.magicicada.org/about/brood_pages/broodII.php

 

[JackM]

First you guys get an early opening day and now you get all the cicadas for 2013. Sheesh, talk about greedy.

 

[FarmerDave]

Anybody Ever Fished A Cicada Fly?

Yes. Caught the biggest fish that I ever caught on a fly rod with a cicada pattern.