Cicadas have an ‘up’ side — great fishing
File this under “silver lining.” While most area residents will be annoyed, disgusted, even terrified by the hordes of periodic cicadas that will soon saturate this region, one group awaits the insect legions with glee. It’s those fly fishermen again. Viewed always by the non-fishing public as a bit eccentric, fly-fishers are really out there on the fringe this time. They actually welcome the cicadas’ brief 17-year cyclic emergence. They know that once the trout, bass, carp and sunfish catch on to this protein lode literally dropped before them, the fish will abandon caution and gobble every cicada that crash-lands onto their stream or lake. Area fly anglers intend to be there, casting imitations of these big, noisy, colorful bugs (they are true bugs, by the way; members of the insect order Hemiptera) and enjoying fast-action fishing they may only know three or four times in a lifetime.
The soon-to-appear brood of cicadas has spent the past 17 years living underground as sub-adult nymphs, feeding on the fluid of tree roots.
Their synchronized emergence as adults allows millions to survive and lay eggs despite constant predation from birds, snakes, squirrels — and fish, that will gorge on cicadas as long as they last. Some estimates of cicada abundance indicate we can expect over a million per acre.
Recently retired, Eugene Gordon of Mount Braddock intends to take advantage of the coming cicada invasion, which will likely begin in early May and last through mid-June. An accomplished fly-tier, Gordon generally ties tiny nymphs, midges and dry flies that you have to squint to see. But right now he’s tying what in the fly-tying world are huge imitations, meant to mimic the red-eyed, black-bodied, glossy-winged cicada.
“As a fly-tier, what’s really interesting about these cicadas is how fly-tying methods and materials change during the intervening years between emergence events,” Gordon said. “I remember back two cycles ago, it must have been 1981 or ’82. I was just getting interested in fly-tying. Back then we tried to build the cicada bodies by spinning deer hair on the hook and then clipping it to shape. By 1999, the next emergence, a lot of synthetic materials were available that made it easier to build realistic imitations. This time, with what’s available, our cicada flies look more life-like than ever, but it (tying one) still takes time.”
Gordon relates how in 1999 he and a fishing friend were on a stream in Somerset County and had not caught any trout.
“We’d been using traditional flies but the fishing was very slow. The cicada emergence was just coming on, and we hadn’t yet tried our newly improved cicada fakes,” Gordon said. “But the whole mountain behind us was alive with cicadas, and a few were flying over the water. I tied on a cicada fly, cast it on the stream and a trout smashed it before I was ready to set the hook. We both fished cicada flies for the rest of the morning and caught trout constantly.”
While fishing cicada flies during the periodic emergence can be wildly effective, there are a few tricks to it. Experts, like Gordon, say you must build a little “heft” into the fly. It can’t be all “fluff and air,” according to one fly-fishing advice website. It’s important that the fly “plop” onto the surface with a bit of disturbance just like the real ones, which are fairly dense and heavy.
That presents an enigma for fly-anglers, who are accustomed to laying out their casts to settle on the water like a gentle breeze, with as little splash as possible. But when trout are keying on cicadas, they expect to sense a ruckus.
Once the fly is cast heavily onto the surface, it’s important–as always in fly fishing–to achieve a drag-free drift, so that the bug is moving along like a real insect carried by the current. If the line drags the bug faster than the current is moving, even a cicada fly won’t entice a strike.
Perhaps a bit surprising, Gordon said carp can be more selective and “spooky” than trout when feeding on cicadas. Gordon fishes carp occasionally because of the brute strength they exert at the end of a fly line.
He said it’s important to be stealthy when casting to carp. He likes to cast out ahead of a cruising carp and wait for it to approach and gulp the fly off the surface.
“There’s a trick to setting the hook when a carp takes,” Gordon said. “You see that big mouth suck in the fly and your impulse is to strike immediately, but that will pull the fly out of the fish’s mouth. It’s better to wait a second or two to allow the fish to turn back toward the bottom, then when you strike you’ll hook up.
“Hang on, when you hook one,” Gordon warned.
Gordon is not the kind of angler who only takes from nature without paying back. He is the founder of the Chestnut Ridge Chapter of Trout Unlimited, which has worked to restore and enhance trout streams in the Laurel Highlands since 1995. The national Trout Unlimited organization honored the chapter Gordon started with its Silver Trout Award, recognizing it as one of the most active and effective local chapters in the United States.
Gordon said no one should fear the coming clouds of cicadas. “They won’t bite,” he offered. “But the fish will.”