Nice Morning

[J. Rentch]

Went to a local pond this morning to try my Cicada fly on the local bass. Was throwing my 5wt and very quickly landed several bass.
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I even hooked a small bluegill on the Cicada
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Guess the turtles have been feeding on the cicadas here because I had to keep them away from it several times-they were very aggressive.

There were a couple of guys with spin rods going after the bass, but not having too much luck. Felt good to outfish them.

[Mark]

Good for you John.

A flyrod and topwater is a great approach in a pond at this time of year.

I'm not surprised that turtles have acquired a taste for cicadas.

I had to pull a cicada fly away from a duck recently.

[DanMarino]

Cool report. I only made one fishing trip to Prettyboy Reservoir during the cicada hatch. Things stacked up and conspired against me to keep me off the water other times. We saw plenty of cicadas falling into the reservoir and some carp feeding on them. We had an unremarkable morning of fishing for some reason. No bass and only 4 or 5 sunfish were caught.

[Mark]

We saw plenty of cicadas falling into the reservoir and some carp feeding on them. We had an unremarkable morning of fishing for some reason. No bass and only 4 or 5 sunfish were caught.

Tom,

I think carp were beating the other fish to the cicadas. They were cruising in small schools looking for surface action. On one occasion, I hooked a carp that took off with the fly and two other carp chased after the fly in the carp's mouth. It appeared to me that carp took control of the dinner table chasing the other fish away.

I caught only one bass and few bluegills on my first reservoir outing when live cicadas were fluttering on the surface. But I hooked a dozen carp, boating 11 on cicada flies. When I returned a week later, the carp were no shows because the cicadas had largely disappeared. But more bass and bluegills were nipping at cicada flies. I caught a dozen of them and no carp. I could have caught more if I had downsized my flies. But I kept hoping for another carp.

Years ago, I saw smallmouth bass do a similar thing in the clear waters of Lake Champlain. They were feeding heavily over a grass bed and no other fish could get close. There was about 2 feet of water between the top of the grass and the surface. The bass would emerge from the grass to hit my paddletail. Then two or three bass would appear and try to take the lure from the mouth of the hooked bass. It was a real feeding frenzy.