[ECU Daniel 14]

I slept in pretty late this past Saturday.....when I woke up I heard them outside....that loud and distinct hissing sound. Its fairly annoying....

I took the dogs out in the back yard to handle buisiness and I saw at least 100 of these fat bugs buzzing around. They were literally everywhere.....

I decided to take a break from monotony of tying up the same fly and make something up that looks somthing like the cicadas...

Now I know there are several patterns on the inter-webs for them, but I havent really seen one that looks like eastern NC cicadas....we dont have those pretty black and red ones (ive ever seen?) we only have guacamole green and brown. Unless I am color blind.....

Anyway, here is what I came up with...overall im pretty happy with it. It floats perfectly, with the little legs in the water and the wings resting on top. I thought id share the recipe for those interested. I need to taper the body a bit more and make a bigger head, but you get the idea.

Hook: Partridge Attitude Streamer size 2, with a slight bend behind the head (use pliers)

Body material: Tie in "Stretch Magic" from Hobby Lobby, and very thin olive ribbing, Then tie in thin foam palmered around shank to create a taper while providing floatation. Cover the foam with Uni-Stretch yellow. Color the Uni-Stretch with chartreuse and olive copic markers. Palmer the Stretch Magic around, then the ribbing for segmentation....then cover the whole thing with some UV Resin.

Wings: Zip-Lok bag cut with scissors and colored with sharpies.

Head: Tan foam cut in an oval....tied in on top, folded over eye of hook, and tied in on bottom. Bring thread back behind foam and tie in "Thin Skin"....super glue the skin to the foam and cut the head to shape.

Legs: Stretch Magic knotted and colored with sharpie. Tied in on bottom of head.

Eyes: 30# cheap mono, melted with UV Resin over top, colored with sharpie. Poke a hole with your scissors on the head and use a gel super glue to keep them secure, then cover the face with UV resin.

Use SLF dubbing for a little collar while whip finishing the fly (it covers the thread nicely)

Its pretty simple and looks pretty sweet. Hope this works for someone out there.

 

[jonathan creason]

That thing looks like it could crawl away at any second. Great work!

 

[captgordon]

Did you fish it?

 

[ECU Daniel 14]

Did you fish it?

Nope, I was pretty busy this weekend. I am taking it down the Tar this coming Saturday...hopefully a bass or two want it. Im going to tie up a half dozen in case they love it

 

[captgordon]

It's been my experience that a dark popper will work pretty well on basses when there are cicadas about as well.

 

[ECU Daniel 14]

Good to know. I have never really been one to "match the hatch"....I never fish for trout, and bass will eat almost anything. I wonder if I put some time into matching the hatch if I will be more successful when fishing for bass lol? I am probably right...just always been too lazy.

 

[grandpaa]

I have fished match the hatch it mostly works good.But in summer time for bass I never do'Because there are so many things bass hit.Bugs,bees ,minnows,frogs and so forth.Something other than bass I do Good luck

 

[ECU Daniel 14]

Yea I really have no reason to match something......bass here will hit an old dirty sock on a hook if they are eating.

 

[The Mad Duck]

About 8-10 years ago, the 17 year variety were out in east Tennessee. We caught a ton of BIG trout on a cicada pattern. Cast it out and slap it on the water. The big trout couldn't resist it. Love catching fish on large topwater flies

 

[Kev2380]

That fly is great but I wonder if it's too realistic looking. When I've caught fish looking for cicadas I just used a big stimulator, kind of like a huge caddis or a salmon fly imitation. Don't get me wrong though that tie is amazing.

 

[ECU Daniel 14]

No you are right. Most of the time the ugliest flies work best. I was just bored tying up what seems like a thousand flies for people.....sometimes you have to change it up to keep it interesting. For the amount of time it takes to tie this, you can tie at least 6 stealth bombers or something gnarly looking out of foam and it will probably work better. Experimenting is always fun

 

[Greenmonster]

ECU - any luck on that thing? BTW, are you still in G'ville??

 

[ECU Daniel 14]

ECU - any luck on that thing? BTW, are you still in G'ville??

Have not been out yet. I tied another one for a better step-by-step on another forum............but I forgot to upload the pics and accidentally deleted them haha.

Im in Rocky Mount now cause of work. I fish near Gville every now and again with my buddy who still lives there.