ozark trout fisher Posted June 1, 2011 Posted June 1, 2011 I had been seeing cicadas all over the place for the last couple weeks, and I have been hearing some reports of pretty impressive dry fly fishing associated with them, but until today I had yet to experience the it. I got out today at about 1 o'clock to a lake less than a half mile from my house, and found countless cicadas buzzing the water, with a good number of them on the water itself. Even though it was hot, and the middle of the day, there were plenty of fish rising to keep me busy for a considerable time. Bass, bluegill, green sunfish, you name it. I do not have a pattern in my box that is really even close to imitative of a cicada, but I did have a few #10 Dave's Hoppers. That proved to be close enough. If I targeted rising fish, and twitched the fly in the same manner as the cicadas, I would get a strike on nearly every cast. The really fun part about it is that these were not restrained, dainty takes. The fish were really hammering the fly. I fished until about three o'clock, when at least for the moment I had enough. I decided to try it again this evening, from 7:30 till dark. There were still some cicadas on the water, but the numbers were significantly less. Since the fish had gorged themselves through the day, and there were few bugs on the water, I was concerned that the fishing would be pretty slow. Fortunately that was not the case. It wasn't a take on every cast, but the fish were still very much looking to the surface, and were still willing to eat. I didn't catch any monsters (the best fish of the day was a 14" largemouth, a real fighter) but the nearly constant surface action, even in the middle of the day, was just a real treat. I'm officially hooked on cicada fishing.
Ted Calcaterra Posted June 2, 2011 Posted June 2, 2011 I fished Westover yesterday and the cicada dry fly fishing was awesome! Today I fished the upper Meramec for smallmouth and it was a complete bust. If I had tomorrow off I would chase trout again. By the way some patterns out fished others 10 to 1. The best is a pattern with flat foam similar to a club sandwich.
ColdWaterFshr Posted June 2, 2011 Posted June 2, 2011 I'm experimenting right now at my tying bench. Using some black foam pipe insulation on one prototype. Another using black bucktail bunched up. Swiss straw for wings with some orange magic marker. Orange rubber legs. I got the wings down. Not crazy about the body.
Wayne SW/MO Posted June 2, 2011 Posted June 2, 2011 They weren't near as loud today and I suspect they're wrapping up. Today's release is tomorrows gift to another fisherman.
snagged in outlet 3 Posted June 2, 2011 Posted June 2, 2011 Had a couple beers and shot a dozen or so with the pellet gun. Great summer time fun in America. SIO3
Aaron J Scott Posted June 3, 2011 Posted June 3, 2011 I was driving back from Arkansas last weekend and around where 65 crosses the Little Red River, near Leslie, the cicadas were deafening. My car has gotten fairly noisy, plus the road noise, plus some fiddle music cranked up, and the ciadas were drowning all that out. That got me thinking about a cicada pattern, and I plan on working something up this weekend. I saw a pattern online that had an alternating orange and black thread underbody, and I thought that was a nice touch. I have some orange deer hair that I think I'll use for the wings. Save Scratch, Raise Cash. Fish Itch!
Al Agnew Posted June 3, 2011 Posted June 3, 2011 My fly fishing buddy fished one of the trout stream sections (he asked me not to say which one) for about three hours on Monday. He said the cicadas were pretty thick, and the fishing was nothing short of phenomenal. Lots of browns and rainbows up to 20 inches taking big dry flies with wild abandon, especially in the flats toward the tails of pools. As for the smallmouth, see my post on my float trip today...which I'll get written up shortly.
flytyer57 Posted June 3, 2011 Posted June 3, 2011 Had a couple beers and shot a dozen or so with the pellet gun. Great summer time fun in America. SIO3 Those weren't cicada's you was shootin' at you drunken fool. Them was pterodactyls!!! There's a fine line between fishing and sitting there looking stupid.
fishinwrench Posted June 3, 2011 Posted June 3, 2011 I think a Sneaky Pete morphs into a workable Cicada pattern for bass Uploaded with ImageShack.us And a Chernobyl would prolly do the trick for stocker trout Uploaded with ImageShack.us
eric1978 Posted June 3, 2011 Posted June 3, 2011 Had a couple beers and shot a dozen or so with the pellet gun. Great summer time fun in America. SIO3 LMAO You crack me up, Pete.
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