I have to say the last time there was a big central PA hatch I went fishless. And was less than impressed with fishing cicadas. I drove down the valley at Spruce Creek (Union County) and then along White Deer. Cicadas everywhere and a tremendous hum through the valleys. Lots of Cicadas on White Deer and nary a rise.
I traveled across the state forest roads to Penns Creek. Cicadas humming the whole way. At Penns there were large mats of cicadas on the water and, as on WD, not a single rise. I cast a few on top. (I had come prepared with a couple dozen cicada flies.) Tried sinking a few as drowners. Not a single hit. Didn't see a single rise. Either at the Cherry Springs stretch or the Poe Paddy stretch.
Went on to Spring Creek. There a few were humming and flying around. It seemed they were just starting in State College. Again a few on the water but no rises and nothing interested in my offerings.
I decided to visit Steve at FlyFisher's Paradise shop. He told me there wasn't much action on cicadas so far. I picked up some of his flies to add variety to my collection.
Next day I repeated the same path, Spruce Run, White Deer, Penns, and Spring. Again, mats of cicadas on the water and no fish action. I wasn't disappointed as that massive hatch covering miles and miles of forest is an amazing experience in nature. But I didn't even see a rise in two days on streams.
I still have a bunch of those flies but I'm not really going to expend much energy to try fishing the next hatch.
Hoping others have better luck with this one.
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