Are any tiers in the northeast preparing for the forcast seventeen year cycle of the Cicada?
Are there any patterns developed during the last cycle?
I don’t think we’ll see this in the midwest but this pattern struck me as pretty cool.
http://hatchesmagazine.com/blogs/Hatches/2011/05/18/periodical-cicada-by-loren-williams/
The only problem with a cicada pattern is they are not very effective. A cicada is not an aquatic insect. A few may end up in the river as a terrestrial however they are not recognized by the trout as a food source. When the wind blows terrestrials into the water ants, bees, inchworms and beetles are a far more effective patterns.
Greetings Ray, yes, we certainly are preparing. I’ve been tying cicadas for the past two weeks. New Jersey has started and a couple have emerged in Gaithersburg,Md. about 11 miles NW of DC. The Potomac River is expected to boil with fish activity as soon as the emergence gets into full swing. We have had some cold snaps and heavy rains here which is probably responsible for the delay as ground temps need to be in the high 60’s. As far as patterns go, I tied and posted (on this board…fotw) a cicada pattern back in 2004 which has been very effective for bass and I am trying it out on trout this year in a smaller version…sz 8. My current pattern is in sz 4 and 6. I am also trying this out on the huge snakeheads which are now occupying the Potomac. Those monsters are fighters but have a mouth that is practically lethal for hands or fingers! there is a snakehead tournament each year since these awful fish have invaded. Will post more later when thing get going. My pattern instructions somehow got a little jumbled with the pics but I think you will be able to figure it out. I am thinking about doing a revision. Regards, Gerri
Thank you Steven for the referenced SBS on the Cicada.
We will be doing that at our club meeting this week. 
Some black crystal flash wings and yellow underbody and you got a pretty good bumble bee.
The one thing I would note is that a 2XL #10 hook, strikes me as short. 17 years ago I saw the emergence at a friend’s house in New Jersey. I remember the bugs as being HUGE!
And pretty scary looking too, to be frank. My friend’s dog kept on eating them and got pretty sick.
I took these pictures of a Cicada emerging in 2011. Was very interesting to watch and thought the pics would come handy tying a fly to match the colors. That year we had a large hatch and on the lakes the fish would gouge on the cicadas when they would fall into the lake.
Here is a picture of one after the wing had dried and the brown colors once the cicada had died.
This color phase usually hatch every summer it is known as the periodical Cicada the 17 yr is almost black with orange Blane Chocklet of New Angle FlyFishing tyes the most realistic pattern ck it out on YouTube .
I’m not quite sure what’s a good pattern for this hatch but I’m not sure you’d want to cast it with a small 1 or 2 weight, lol.
By the way, it just seems like a few years ago that this ‘hatch’ was discussed (maybe here maybe somewhere else) as coming into the 17 year cycle. When did that 17 year cycle come into being and what is it based on? I mean, do these bugs go into a sleep pattern or incubation for 17 years? Or, is it just an ‘ole wives tale’?
It’s absolutely true. Not an old wife’s tale.
From NC up north they have a 17 year hatch, seen a show on tv last night where they were talking about here in SC and south we have a 13 year hatch? It gets so loud while the hatch is happening you hear it in your sleep.
Those are serious looking bugs, hope you go out well armed, and armoured, when they are about! We don’t get anything like that here. Saw some amazing bugs in my time in Saudi. That’s one I’ve never come across. Here its the smallest of insects that are the worst pest to deal with.
Cheers,
C.
Cicadas look big and bad, but they’re harmless. Noisy, but harmless. Plus, they only live for a day or two once they emerge.
This NY Times story answers a lot of questions that have been asked here. Cicadas are seriously odd critters, and they do indeed have 13- or 17-year cycles. Check this out: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/02/opinion/here-comes-the-cicadas-buzz.html?_r=0
From National Geographic RE: Cicadas.
“Cicadas are also famous for their penchant for disappearing entirely for many years, only to reappear in force at a regular interval. There are some 3,000 cicada species, but only some share this behavior (the 17-year cicada is an example). Others are called annuals because, although individuals have multi-year lifecycles, some adults appear every year. The dog day cicada, for example, emerges each year in mid-summer.”
So, of the 3,000 or so insects within this family, ‘only some’ go through the 17 year cycle. The vast majority of these insects appear every year.
From The Home Depot site:
“Cicadas emerge every year. There are well over 100 species of cicadas in North America, many of which emerge every 2 to 8 years. Because their life cycles are staggered, there are different cicadas emerging every year. 7 of these species emerge in cycles of 13 and 17 years.The big news this year is the reemergence of Brood II, which last appeared in 1996 in North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. They will not appear everywhere in these states, but where they do show up, they will do so in massive numbers.”
This thread is about the NE 17 year cicada hatch.
I grew up in SE Missouri and we listened to the cicada nearly every summer evening, but, again, this thread is about the massive 17 yr cycle this year in the Northeast.
So I guess you need to have different fly patterns for the 75 or so species, including the Magicicad (the 17 one that cycles every 17 years) that hatch in the northeast. Regardless, I think I’ll pass when it comes to casting a bug that’s up to 2 inches long with a wingspan that compares to a hummingbird.
You should see the Catalpa Sphinx Moth. Most die-hard catfish fans are well acquainted with the caterpillars of this moth, but most folks wouldn’t recognize the adult. They’re about the same size as the Cicada. Last year I was wondering if I could come up with a pattern that would imitate it, but haven’t found one.
I’m wondering a few things in regard to, let’s say tying and using a dry fly imitation of this insect:
- What type or model hook would you use?
- What size?
- How wide would be the wingspan?
- What size tippet do you think would be required to cast the imitation reasonably well?
- What would be the minimum weight rod you would use?
- Would you use a favorite rod when fishing this imitation?
Lastly - Would you just say the heck with it and just use something else?
Allan