Cicadas Spring of 2021 in PA

[afishinado]

Article about the cicada hatch in the spring of 2021. From the map provided in the article (below), it looks like they will hatch in many parts of PA this spring.

Cicada 2021

 

[gulfgreyhound]

May Cicada Jam?
GG

 

[Dave_W]

Thanks for the reminder!

We had cicadas in Adams County in 1987 and 2004. I fished 'em both times but they were concentrated in certain areas and nonexistent in others. I would not expect to see them evenly widespread across the area shaded in the map.

Nevertheless, something to look forward to in 2021.

 

[Bamboozle]

What Dave said...

I experienced the same thing, sometimes only a mile apart in the same Township and keep in mind, the broods don't migrate.

 

[SmoothOperator]

Caught a few trout about ten years ago above Ingleby during the infestation.....Took a size 8 hedgehog,,,,( salmonfly imitation)

 

[troutbert]

It's a little hard to see what counties are shown on that map.

When you all fished this brood in past years, were you targeting mostly trout, or bass, or carp?

I've mostly fished the cicadas in Centre County. But I think that's a different brood.

As others said, the distribution is spotty, not uniform. They seem to prefer deep fertile soils. There are a lot in limestone soil areas. And few to none in sandstone soils areas.

 

[dryflyguy]

The last cicada event in Centre county was in 2008. It was a big one.
And that brood isn't due again until 2025.

Even though that map shows them emerging again there this spring, I kinda doubt that will be the case.
I believe this brood will be more into south central PA.
I'm thinking around Yellow and Cove creeks, and the Cumberland valley

 

[Bamboozle]

I didn't fish Brood X the last time because nowhere that I was fishing regularly had cicadas, despite the entire counties being highlighted that time, like they are this time.

It is really simple though, drive around with your windows open...

If you are in an area where they are present, you WILL hear them and if you look around during the early days of the emergence, you WILL see them as they crawl over everything.

I’m no geologist but as far limestone areas go, during the last Brood X emergence I lived in Saucon Valley and we had almost none, however 8 miles south of me near Shelly they were EVERYWHERE but that area isn’t limestone.

True story: The last emergence I was looking for an imitation so I picked a few off a car and drove 8 miles home with them on the passenger seat so I could copy them at the tying bench. It was hysterical; on the ride home, they sat on the seat like two well-behaved kids and they posed like two artists models on my tying bench until I made my creation. When I was through, I released them in my back yard.

So, IF they were a male & female and IF there is an emergence this time in Saucon Valley….

…you can thank me. ;-)

 

[Dave_W]

Bamboozle wrote:

True story: The last emergence I was looking for an imitation so I picked a few off a car and drove 8 miles home with them on the passenger seat so I could copy them at the tying bench. It was hysterical; on the ride home, they sat on the seat like two well-behaved kids and they posed like two artists models on my tying bench until I made my creation. When I was through, I released them in my back yard.

So, IF they were a male & female and IF there is an emergence this time in Saucon Valley….

…you can thank me. ;-)

Love it! If they show up this year, give me a call.

 

[Dave_W]

Bamboozle wrote:
I’m no geologist but as far limestone areas go, during the last Brood X emergence I lived in Saucon Valley and we had almost none, however 8 miles south of me near Shelly they were EVERYWHERE but that area isn’t limestone.

This was my experience in 2004.
They were very heavy in parts of Adams County, which lacks limestone (mostly) but when I drove over the mountain to the CV, hoping to find them on the famous streams... they were absent.

 

[Dave_W]

dryflyguy wrote:
The last cicada event in Centre county was in 2008. It was a big one.

Yep.

PA FF forum old timers such as dryflyguy, troutbert, and myself ("Fishidiot" in those days) recall the 2008 emergence as we talked about it on this forum and the old FFP forum, although many of the regulars were tight-lipped about where exactly they were hitting the good fishing.

 

[wgmiller]

Everything you ever wanted to know about cicadas (and more): Cicada Mania

 

[WildTigerTrout]

I fished the 2008 hatch in Centre County. What a blast! Bugging for trout like a Bass! Size 4 and 6 hooks!!

 

[afishinado]

troutbert wrote:
It's a little hard to see what counties are shown on that map.

When you all fished this brood in past years, were you targeting mostly trout, or bass, or carp?

I've mostly fished the cicadas in Centre County. But I think that's a different brood.

As others said, the distribution is spotty, not uniform. They seem to prefer deep fertile soils. There are a lot in limestone soil areas. And few to none in sandstone soils areas.

The distribution is spotty, but they will likely show in many of the same places as their last appearance.

From the link above, here is a list of counties in PA and "places" they were found 17 years ago >

Pennsylvania counties: Adams, Bedford, Berks, Bucks, Chester, Columbia, County, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Fulton, Huntingdon, Lancaster, Lehigh, Luzerne, Lycoming, Mercer, Montgomery, Northampton, Perry, Schuylkill, Somerset, York

Pennsylvania places: Archbald, Artemas, Bedford, Carroll Valley, Coopersburg, Dinosaur Rock, Downingtown, Gettysburg, Green Lane, Kintnersville, Lake Nockamixon, Lancaster, Lititz, Malvern, Mertztown, Mohnton, Mt Gretna, Oaks, Oley, Perkiomenville, Phoenixville, Pittston, Quakertown, Red Lion, Roaring Spring, Solebury, Spring Mount, Stewartstown, Topton, Upper Black Eddy, Warwick Park

 

[larkmark]

Fished them at Raystown lake. Big carp. I think they were the larger ones that you see every year. We made spun deer hair roughly size and shape and they took them. Was surprised that bass etc did not show interest.

 

[dc410]

I remember a pretty big emergence of them in the Clarks valley in 2004. I had a pretty good day fishing on Clark’s and the Cicadas were everywhere in the vegetation and in the water. However, I can’t say that I even saw one fish take a Cicada and I couldn’t buy a hit on a Cicada pattern that day. All the fish I caught that day were caught on my normal type of Clarks Creek bugs.

I would absolutely love to get into some carp actively feeding on Cicadas. Last time the stars didn’t line up for me and the window of opportunity quickly slipped away on me. I remember saying at that time, in 17 years I’ll give it another shot!

 

[reds]

I lived in Fulton county during the last emergence. I fished them a few times on yellow creek. I remember specifically up in the gap seeing trout and carp rising to them. I used to drive up to the little j a lot back then and there weren’t any up there at the same time.

That was the first time I remember seeing cicadas and the sideling hill area was infested with them. The timber sale I was working on was crawling with them. One thing to look for when searching for them is flagging( dead tips)on the branches of trees, when they bore into the tips of tree branches this becomes easy to see.

 

[wgmiller]

dc410 wrote:
I remember a pretty big emergence of them in the Clarks valley in 2004. I had a pretty good day fishing on Clark’s and the Cicadas were everywhere in the vegetation and in the water. However, I can’t say that I even saw one fish take a Cicada and I couldn’t buy a hit on a Cicada pattern that day. All the fish I caught that day were caught on my normal type of Clarks Creek bugs.

I caught them on Clark's back in 2013 (for some reason I was thinking it was more recent than that). It was the tail end of the "hatch" and a few fish were taken on my cicada fly. I tie and use Loren Williams periodical cicada pattern and it's been very effective: Loren Williams cicada fly recipe The date I have on my pics was June 9th, FWIW.

 

[troutbert]

The tail end of the cicada event is when the fishing is best.

That's when there are large numbers of them ending up in the water.

In the early part of the event you hear a lot of noise from the cicadas, but not many of them are ending up in the water then.

 

[Dave_W]

For the 2004 emergence here in SCPA:

According to my angling journal I first saw the bugs on 14 May at Devil's Den (this is in Adams Co. near Gettysburg for non-history types) and they were around for five weeks. The last ones I saw or heard in heavy numbers were at Harper's Ferry on 24 June.