Cicadas - did it happen ?

[AndyP]

My memory isn'twhat it used to be but wasn't this summer supposed to be some kind of double whammy cicada brood hatch event ? If so..... did it ever happen ??

 

[wildtrout2]

My memory isn'twhat it used to be but wasn't this summer supposed to be some kind of double whammy cicada brood hatch event ? If so..... did it ever happen ??

It hasn't in my neck of the woods. It's a case of "the boy who cried wolf". lol

 

[Bamboozle]

 

[PennKev]

My memory isn'twhat it used to be but wasn't this summer supposed to be some kind of double whammy cicada brood hatch event ? If so..... did it ever happen ??

Next year is the emergence of brood XIV. This is the one that will create phenomenal fishing in Central PA.

 

[Swattie87]

Next year is the emergence of brood XIV. This is the one that will create phenomenal fishing in Central PA.

It’s gonna be like Bells Beach and the 50 year storm. And I will be there.

 

[jifigz]

I have learned that I will just begin caring about cicadas whenever I see them and begin to see fish eating them. When that happens, I will hit the vise, tie some flies, and go fishing. There is too much hype and hullabaloo regarding them and then....nothing.

 

[Bamboozle]

Just last week I was looking a cicada fly I created in 2004 for that year's Brood X emergence.

I never even knotted the thing on because the emergence was so localized I didn't see or hear a single cicada in the areas I fished in both 2004 & 2021.

If I was smart, I'd tie up a bunch for Brood XIV and sell them for $5 a pop to the folks that think they'll be important fly to have next year... 😉

 

[troutbert]

The cicadas did emerge, where they were predicted to emerge.

 

[jifigz]

The cicadas did emerge, where they were predicted to emerge.

Even a few years ago when they were supposed to emerge in central PA and they actually did emerge and were everywhere, the fish didn't care and the fishing was lousy.

 

[bringthepain]

It’s gonna be like Bells Beach and the 50 year storm. And I will be there.

Just waiting for my set to come in

 

[Swattie87]

Just waiting for my set to come in

Mountains on both sides, I’m not gonna bushwhack to Canada.

 

[Swattie87]

The only times I’ve actually seen fish going bonkers for them has been on Brookie streams. But, all but the biggest Brookies struggle to actually eat them. I fished a Cicada pattern for about an hour and went about 1/50 on hookups. Switched to a normal Wulff or EHC or whatever and they ate it just as well like normal and I hooked and caught far more.

Was actually more fun to just sit and watch them trying to eat a natural one as it drifted the entire length of the pool.

 

[hooker-of-men]

Vaya con cadas.

 

[laurelrun]

When they emergence hit the greater Harrisburg area in 2021, you had to look for places that had a heavy prevalence of the bugs. Middletown reservoir was absolutely overrun with them. Much like Swattie described, a bug on the water was attacked, mainly by bluegills, who could not swallow anything. Every cast led to my fly being pulled under, but only a few hook ups. Every time a largemouth got to the fly first, I hooked it. It was lights out dryfly fishing for as long as I cared to cast.

I had maybe my best ever dry fly fishing day on the Yellow Breeches in an area inundated with them. Any fish spot yielded a strike. Since I had intended to tie them up to carp fish, a too large hook made for fewer hookups. Any fish that found the hookpoint came to the net, including my first ever wild 20" brown.

Early in the emergence I fished Muddy creek in York county and could hear them thundering away from the next ridge over. But no takers and no bugs where I was fishing.

In short, I'd say, go find the bugs near fishable water, and you'll have a blast.

 

[jifigz]

When I was high school or shortly after I graduated, carp were just devouring every cicada that hit the water on Raystown Lake. I was on a boat bass fishing. We were sitting in deep water, but those carp were just cruising around eating those cicadas as soon as they hit the water. It was a very impressive sight to see, and I have never forgotten that experience.

Since then, however, I have never seen a fish eat a cicada. It has all just been hype.

 

[coyoterahn]

When they emergence hit the greater Harrisburg area in 2021, you had to look for places that had a heavy prevalence of the bugs. Middletown reservoir was absolutely overrun with them. Much like Swattie described, a bug on the water was attacked, mainly by bluegills, who could not swallow anything. Every cast led to my fly being pulled under, but only a few hook ups. Every time a largemouth got to the fly first, I hooked it. It was lights out dryfly fishing for as long as I cared to cast.

I had maybe my best ever dry fly fishing day on the Yellow Breeches in an area inundated with them. Any fish spot yielded a strike. Since I had intended to tie them up to carp fish, a too large hook made for fewer hookups. Any fish that found the hookpoint came to the net, including my first ever wild 20" brown.

Early in the emergence I fished Muddy creek in York county and could hear them thundering away from the next ridge over. But no takers and no bugs where I was fishing.

In short, I'd say, go find the bugs near fishable water, and you'll have a blast.

I had the same kind of experience a bit north of Harrisburg. When you found the cicadas, many times the fish were willing to take them. Actually caught my first tiger trout on a cicada pattern. And to add, the smallmouth bass were also willing participants on a local ww creek.

 

[PennKev]

Yeah, nevermind, it's a waste of time. Stay home. Just forget about it.

🙄

 

[troutbert]

Yeah, nevermind, it's a waste of time. Stay home. Just forget about it.

🙄

Yep, same with the Green Drake hatch.

Sulphur hatch, too.

 

[Bamboozle]

I keep reminding folks, unlike mayflies which can hatch at multiple places in a region and over a large area, the cicada emergence is VERY localized so take ANY maps with a huge grain of salt. Instead, focus your attention on trying to dig up information and SPECIFIC bodies of water where the bugs of a particular brood emerged the LAST time...

And keep in mind that on larger streams & rivers or large lakes you might need to know the pool, stretch or cove because there could be bugs in one spot and zero a half mile to a mile away.

Some anecdotal information:

in 2004, I was living outside of Bethlehem. There were NO Brood X cicadas on my property, nearby or where I fished yet there were a gazillion bugs just a few miles down the road towards Quakertown. That's where I drove to get some samples to imitate.

BTW - The 2004 "maps" and hype showed the entire region as in the "zone."

In 2021 am living in Berks and my property was covered with Brood X cicadas and the sound was deafening. One day I grabbed my gear and the single cicada imitation I tied 17 years prior and headed to the closest stream with my car windows open. Before I even drove a mile away...

...silence and no cicadas at any nearby trout streams.

BTW2 - The maps and hype for 2021 also showed this entire area as IN the emergence zone.

Bottom line, if you plan to fish the next "hatch" and don't know a SPECIFIC creek, lake or pond where there were bugs 17 years ago, expect to drive around a LOT with you car windows open...

 

[jifigz]

That is great and all, Bam, except for when you are where the cicadas are extremely thick and the fish still don't care.

Then, it is still just a bust.