Seventeen yr Cicada Hatch

[John Gillio]

I was wondering if anyone had any luck fishing the 17 yr cicada hatch this summer. I know many had tied special cicada flies for the event, but I  hadn’t seen any reports of fish being caught on them. The water in my local streams was too high to try during the hatch, though I did get out a couple weeks after they had all died out. I had no luck with smallies but I found the grass carp to be very aggressive. They would actually race to the fly to get it before another fish did. I can usually coax a few grassies into taking a topwater fly, but they are usually very cautious and very picky. Caution was nonexistent. I had fished a total of about six hours over my first three outings landing 17 grassies all in the  27”-33” range. What a blast on the five wt rod.

Anyone else out there that gave it a try?

 

 

[Kev-mo]

I've read some reports and talked to some people that said they found a "cicada" bite. However I personally did not partake in the cicada fishing frenzy. 

[Paul Trybul]

I gave it a try on the kish and did OK. The entire thing started and ended over about a 3 week period.  There were certain section overrun with the insects. Other area completely devoid of the creatures. I found I did better in the area devoid of the cicadas.   In the peak zones, there were times so many dead and dying bugs were floating downstream, I felt like "how can I complete with this" unlimited food supply.  Any of the fish I caught were fat and happy and made we wonder why they were still feeding.  Overall I think it was good for the food chain to have this 3 week influx of unlimited high protein food which came during that post spawn period. It did no enhance my fishing success and I was not able to experience any feeding frenzy.