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They’ve been gone for weeks. Do any of you miss them? Probably not if they made a crunchy coating on your sidewalks or made your dogs sick from eating them. Evidence of their visit is still seen in dead leaves at the tops of trees marking branches where they laid their eggs. But I have seen none for a long time. I will be 84 when they return, if I am here at all. That’s sobering…
I was surprised at how regionalized they were. I thought Brood X encompassed all of mid-Maryland. That was not the case. Annapolis had one of the heaviest outbreaks locally. I saw thousands of them on the water in the Severn and its creeks. I took many of them for rides in my kayak:
P1050515 (3).jpg P1050521 (2).jpg P1050518.jpg
But I saw no fish eating them in the Severn. They would flutter helplessly on the water. Perch or minnows would nip at them. But I saw none swallowed outright.
My area of Pasadena near Downs Park was lightly impacted. There were some in the upper Magothy but not as many as in the Severn. I saw some around Cockey Creek and along the shoreline of Camp Whippoorwill. But again, I saw no fish eating them. There is some tree damage in those areas now but not as much as there is along the Severn. Trees in my yard show no evidence of cicada damage.
I saw none on a late May visit to Centennial Lake in Columbia but I believe I heard them in the surrounding trees. I caught my first fish of the year on a cicada fly there, this LM bass:
A.jpg
Triadelphia Reservoir was a cicada hotspot. Fish feasted on them there. I caught carp, bluegills, LM and SM bass on cicada flies. Carp were the most fun because they were so aggressive and so big. It was not unusual for 2 or 3 carp to chase one fly. The carp that won the battle would then be chased by its competitors after I hooked it. A true feeding frenzy:
P1050538 (3).jpg P1050545 (3).jpg
The other interesting thing is that carp could definitely distinguish a live cicada from an imitation. When the opportunity allowed, I would cast my fly close to a struggling live cicada. Without exception, carp would hit the live cicada first. Then my fly would disappear only after the real insect was consumed. But even though my imitation fly was a second choice, it yielded a lot of fish.
Bass and bluegills had to be opportunistic cicada feeders. Carp would beat them to the dinner table and outmuscle them for a meal. But a few found my flies:
P1050550 (2).jpg P1050556 (2).jpg
The year 2038 is a long way off. But for those of you fortunate enough to be fishing then, don’t let the opportunity pass. Cicadas will provide you with some great topwater fishing memories.
I was surprised at how regionalized they were. I thought Brood X encompassed all of mid-Maryland. That was not the case. Annapolis had one of the heaviest outbreaks locally. I saw thousands of them on the water in the Severn and its creeks. I took many of them for rides in my kayak:
P1050515 (3).jpg P1050521 (2).jpg P1050518.jpg
But I saw no fish eating them in the Severn. They would flutter helplessly on the water. Perch or minnows would nip at them. But I saw none swallowed outright.
My area of Pasadena near Downs Park was lightly impacted. There were some in the upper Magothy but not as many as in the Severn. I saw some around Cockey Creek and along the shoreline of Camp Whippoorwill. But again, I saw no fish eating them. There is some tree damage in those areas now but not as much as there is along the Severn. Trees in my yard show no evidence of cicada damage.
I saw none on a late May visit to Centennial Lake in Columbia but I believe I heard them in the surrounding trees. I caught my first fish of the year on a cicada fly there, this LM bass:
A.jpg
Triadelphia Reservoir was a cicada hotspot. Fish feasted on them there. I caught carp, bluegills, LM and SM bass on cicada flies. Carp were the most fun because they were so aggressive and so big. It was not unusual for 2 or 3 carp to chase one fly. The carp that won the battle would then be chased by its competitors after I hooked it. A true feeding frenzy:
P1050538 (3).jpg P1050545 (3).jpg
The other interesting thing is that carp could definitely distinguish a live cicada from an imitation. When the opportunity allowed, I would cast my fly close to a struggling live cicada. Without exception, carp would hit the live cicada first. Then my fly would disappear only after the real insect was consumed. But even though my imitation fly was a second choice, it yielded a lot of fish.
Bass and bluegills had to be opportunistic cicada feeders. Carp would beat them to the dinner table and outmuscle them for a meal. But a few found my flies:
P1050550 (2).jpg P1050556 (2).jpg
The year 2038 is a long way off. But for those of you fortunate enough to be fishing then, don’t let the opportunity pass. Cicadas will provide you with some great topwater fishing memories.
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