The Brood X Cicadas have started to emerge across the country. In my home state of New Jersey, they have not shown up in the woods around my home, but they are occurring within a fifteen-minute drive from my front door. The local emergence seems to be centered around Princeton, NJ, where the Orvis store I work for is located. The bugs started showing up around the 20th of May while I was away fishing in Maine. As soon as I returned home, I headed out that way to see if this emergence was the real deal or just hype. It turns out it IS the real deal, but the bugs seem to be limited to isolated areas. If you live within one of these locations, it is a sight to be seen. Everywhere you look, you are likely to see hundreds of giant insects flying in the air and crawling or clinging to every available surface. As the hatch progresses, the bugs start dying, and their corpses begin to litter the ground.
A typical Brood X Cicada showing off its black and orange color scheme.
The one thing that caught me off guard was the sound. Cicadas emerge every year, and their raucous song is part of the soundtrack of summer. The Brood X call is different in tone and pitch, and millions of insects singing vibrating their hearts out can create A LOT of noise!
This Great Blue Heron has temporarily switched off of its diet of fish and amphibians. I found it strolling along a bike path picking off scores of the helpless insects.
Right now, the feeding frenzy is in full swing. I have seen birds, squirrels, chipmunks, snakes, frogs, turtles, lizards (the first lizard I ever saw in NJ), and of course, fish gorging themselves on the big bugs. At first, it seemed the fish did not know what to make of the large insects. Early on, I observed many cicadas that had crashed into the water (they crash into everything!) floating on the surface unmolested after a few days that started to change. During this past week, when one of the clumsy insects finds itself wet, it is immediately grabbed by the first fish that sees it. Small bluegills will work them over like piranha, nipping off wings and legs, then working on the body until nothing is left. Large panfish will grab the insect whole and take it below the surface: bass and other larger predators take them down with a big gulp.
These big bugs bring large panfish like this red breast sunfish to the surface to feed.
The Salmon flies of Montana are a big bug that adopt the same strategy as the Brood X Cicada. They emerge in great numbers and overwhelm their predators to ensure their survival.
Fishing the Big Bugs
Having made an annual pilgrimage to Montana's Madison River for the epic Salmon Fly hatch for many years, I am no stranger to fishing big bugs. Large bugs call for large flies to imitate them, and casting these flies can create problems. Fortunately, there are several things you can do to correct these problems and make fishing these flies an enjoyable experience.
This 7’ 6” four weight is as light a rod that I would fish using these large flies. If long casting was needed, or windy conditions were present a five or six eight would be a much better choice.
Take Out The Big Guns
First off, leave the two and three weights at home. The big cicada imitations are going to require a heavier rod to cast them. I have been getting by throwing them on a four-weight, but a five-weight would be a better choice in many situations. If you are dealing with any wind, a six-weight may be the way to go. While fishing a six weight for panfish may feel excessive, keep in mind a lot of larger fish are participating in this smorgasbord as well. Bass seem to relish these big black and orange morsels. If you hook one of these larger fish, you will appreciate the heavier rod. When fishing in the kayak, I keep a light rod on hand for more traditional panfish offerings and a five-weight rigged with a Brood X Cicada pattern.
Panfish are not particularly leader shy, so don’t hesitate to use heavy tippet on these big flies.
Fish Heavier Tippet
When fishing big bugs, a common mistake many anglers make is fishing too light a tippet. Your tippet size should relate to the fish you are targeting and the size of the flies you are throwing. I use 2x or 3x tippets when throwing big flies like cicada patterns. The heavier tippet will help eliminate some line twisting that often occurs when casting big, bulky, more air-resistant flies. The heavier tippet will also seat knots better on the eyes of the large hooks used for these flies.
Micro swivels tied into your leader where you attach your tippet section will help eliminate line twist caused by big, bulky flies.
Another Method to Eliminate Line Twist
Whenever I rig up to cast big flies like salmon flies or these brood x cicadas, I add a micro swivel to my leader. These minuscule swivels will not adversely affect your cast, and they will eliminate any line twists caused by these big flies. Once you start using them, you will probably use them when fishing poppers, hair bugs, and foam patterns that often cause the same line twisting issues.
Fly Lines and Leader Design
You will see advantages using a fly line with a Big Bug or Nymph taper. Fly lines designed to throw large flies, indicator rigs, and many lines labeled "Warmwater" have tapers explicitly designed for casting these types of flies. If you own one, use it, you will thank me later.
Look for a leader that will turn over big flies.
I tie many of my leaders, and I have developed a leader that I use for large, air-resistant flies like poppers and foam bugs. I find these leaders work well for casting cicada patterns. If you tie your own leaders, drop me a line, and I will be happy to share my formula with you.
This big bluegill has a size 4 cicada fly in that mouth! I am always amazed the large items these fish cam cram into those tiny mouths.
How Big Is Too Big?
There is no question that a fish like bass can easily consume an insect the size of a cicada, but what about bluegill or other sunfish? Some sunfish family members such as bass, crappie, rock bass, warmouth, and green sunfish have larger mouths that can deal with this size prey easily. But what about bluegills? This topic had come up numerous times in chats and messages with Panfish On The Fly followers when I started talking and writing about this cicada emergence. Many folks considered these insects too large and tying panfish flies to imitate them a waste of time. I am here to say that is not the case. While small bluegills have difficulty eating a cicada, larger specimens can do it with ease. I have some cicada patterns tied on hooks as large as a size four that I spun up for bass fishing. Not only have I caught bluegills on these flies, but some of them have managed to swallow the fly entirely, requiring careful maneuvering of a pair of forceps to free them of the hook. I do notice a lot of fish being hooked outside of the mouth on the side of their head. This is due to how they feed on these big bugs. Often they just grab them and pull them under, sometimes multiple times before they position it correctly for swallowing. One thing is for sure if you are interested in big numbers (in regards to panfish) these flies are not the way to go, but if quality is what you seek give them a try. They will bring the biggest panfish in the lake to the surface!
The cicada is a big insect, so are the flies that imitate them. You will get a lot of missed hits from panfish using these big flies.
Fishing the Cicada
When one of these giant insects crashes into the water (the word crash accurately describes it), they go in with a splash. Often a take follows this crash landing very quickly. If the bug survives its first few seconds in the water, it begins to flutter about, sending out concentric rings over the water's surface. This behavior is pretty easy to duplicate with a fly rod. Rather than stripping the fly, I animate it with what I can only describe as vibrating the fly line. Your goal is to move the fly with vibrations from the fly line instead of stripping it in. I realize I am doing a horrible job trying to explain this technique, but the goal is to animate the fly without moving it too much across the water's surface. However, I have also observed these insects using their wings almost like a set of oars (I'm sure it is not intentional), and in that situation, they do move across the water's surface, but that is not the norm. Most of the time, they seem to struggle in place. I let the fly remain still for what seems like an eternity between twitches. I have found that most of the strikes come while the fly is at rest. The movement is used to attract fish to the area if the large splat did not initially attract them on touchdown.
Even rock bass, a fish that typically does not feed on the surface during the middle if the day are getting in on this action.
So far, fishing imitations of these large flies has been a mixture of epic topwater action and the maddening absence of any activity whatsoever. In the latter case, I believe this is caused by predator satiation. Predator satiation is a key adaptation that the Brood X Cicada uses to ensure its survival. In a nutshell, the sheer numbers of these insects overwhelm the predator’s ability to consume them. In other words, the fish (and other animals) have eaten their fill of them and are unable to consume more, thereby allowing the remaining insects to conduct their cicada affairs unmolested.
Nothing Good Lasts Forever
The big black and orange insects only spend a few weeks above ground, and they have been active in my neck of the woods for about two weeks now. I hear they can live for four to six weeks so there is still some good fishing to be had. I don't know if there will be additional hatches yet to come in other areas, or if this is it. Regardless, I am going to enjoy it while it lasts!
Soon the world will go quiet again and all that will remain will be the memories. Hopefully I am still around to see them again in 17 years.
I have covered tying flies to imitate these big bugs in previous posts. Click the buttons below to learn how to tie a few excellent cicada patterns.