August 1, 2021 – Finally, a Small Taste of the Hot Cicada Bite – Northampton County Limestoner

Hot cicada, hot cicada...

The hype, you know?  I realize the cicada hatch was legit in places like Maryland, but it really hasn’t amounted to much around my usual haunts this summer.  Until today.  Jay gave me half a dozen cicada patterns a couple months ago, I bet, and I have carried them with me since then, even threw them once or twice, but I really never had cause until this morning.  It was good for the fly fishing industry and YouTube and, okay, just fly fishing to infuse a little excitement and high expectations, and for those lucky enough to experience anything resembling a hatch, my brief experience this morning confirms that it must be a blast.  Eric and I only saw one or two bugs get got by a big trout, and I only saw one live cicada in a streamside bush, but the way a handful of fish reacted to the big ugly fly I tossed—basically a souped-up chubby with some orange in it—I think the fish do not pass them up if they get a chance. 

My second of the morning, not bad.

Eric and I were nymphing by 6 AM this morning.  We were lucky enough to have the place to ourselves, perhaps because the weather was threatening to turn by mid-morning.  No offense, and I can say this because I identify as a fly fisherman, but the average fly fisherman is quite the mitch.  That works in my favor, as I don’t think I am a mitch, or at least I am not afraid to get up early or fish in the rain or cold or snow or drive far or you name it.  Whatever the reasons, some legit like low water or conditions not advantageous to a trico hatch this morning, we were able to fish for close to six hours in solitude and comfort.  Fishing was not on fire, and this creek is full of dick, especially in low water, but I probably landed a dozen if I add up the holdover bows and wild browns.  I even lost a pig bow on a jigged bugger and a monster brown on a cicada.  Sadly, my protégé did not have cause to wet a hand or a net this morning, and we tried, man, we tried!

Eric was there, but sadly the fish didn't get the memo?

I fish a few of these creeks like home water, sometimes twenty times a year, so I know every rock, stick, run, season, condition.  That is an advantage that I have been on the other end of several times.  It sucks, but Eric is a good sport and a good fisherman, and it was great to experience this cicada thing with another angler!  He saw me fight the big bow to the net, and then lose it.  He watched the big brown slurp the cicada, roll with a splash, and see me dumbfounded when the battle lasted all of three seconds.  Early on, I had success with a brown daub, Eric’s version of a brown hare’s ear that is killer here.  Fish that are pressured seem to prefer natural, nothing flies, and the smaller the better sometimes.  Besides some tricos, though not many today, the prevalent bug was a size 20 caddis, so small was the way to go.  That said, in deeper riffles, I landed fish on both a 14 caddis larva and a walts worm.  I don’t mess with a lot of rainbows in a given year on this creek, but they filled a void today, so I was happy to see them.  Without them, we are talking 6 fish in 6 hours…. 

On the board early.

My second brown of the day was a good 13-inch fish, and one cicada brown was a good 12, but the average fish was a summer-average fish.  Pretty and 8 to 10 inches long.  The bows were average and skinny for the most part, but two were plumpers and feisty like they’d been around a long while.  After working a favorite hole with no love, even after drifting a bobber slowly through a deep eddy, I did my jigged bugger last ditch effort and stuck a bow that was at least a fat 15 inches, maybe a hair more.  Apparently I chinned or finned him, so the net job failed twice—I guess what I thought was a straight line to the net (twice) was more of an angle while leading from off-center!  Eric was ready for the assist, so I should have let him.  We continued to work through pocket water and found more finicky browns, a few cooperative, along with a couple more willing bows.  At the end of the stretch, we both caught sight of a big bug struggling in the flat pool above us.  It was not long before a big fish took two swipes at it, and it did not take us long to decide to give that fish a shot at another big meal.

Some more pretty (and pretty average) fish.

Based on the surface disturbance, we assumed cicada, although I only saw and heard one on land, as I noted.  We saw another large live bug get eaten later, but both could have been hoppers.  The fish didn’t care, as I messed with five and landed three on the cicada.  I was fishing ugly, just throwing the big bug on my nymphing line, but it worked and after adding a dropper for weight, it worked reasonably well, even.  The first fish that noticed the bug was a brute brown.  I don’t know how long, but the body was wide!  Eric and I watched the eat, he from a high bank as my spotter, and I set the hook well, but I only felt him shake his head twice and he was gone.  Eric’s guess that I may have gotten him on the chin or fin as he rolled sounds better than I pulled a size 8 hook with a barb out of his mouth, but who knows.  My spotter saw me spook a couple pigs, even as I moved as gently as I could through the deep, quiet pool, but we rejoiced when a 10-incher ate the bug and came to the net! 

Cicada eaters!

I kept on working upstream, while Eric did the right thing and switched reels to a WF to do this dry fly thing.  Either the window closed too quickly or his mojo was just off today because even that effort did not net a fish.  Me, I worked through the remaining deep water and targeted risers with some success.  I landed a beauty holdover rainbow that was around 15 inches with white tipped fins and great colors, and then I landed another wild brown.  That fish choked the cicada!  From the pics, it looks like there was one more.  I do remember that I had a couple others miss because they were 8 inches long, I guess, and one other decent refuse after a follow.  Eric caught up to me by the second wild brown, and he led the charge from there.  A few fish continued to rise on caddis or tricos, and we saw another big eat, but we could not get Eric and his proper WF line and tapered leader on a damn trout!  I got one more nymphing on the way back, maybe two, before we decided to call it good.  Rain was just starting, and call me a mitch, but nymphing was not good enough to warrant standing in the rain after a fun morning.