Do Your Homework NOW for CICADA MADNESS!!!

This post is from author Dave Zielinski, who is a boat builder, angler, fly tier, musician, and likely a long list of other titles.  A search on T.F.M. will reveal a list of fun previous posts to sort through.  He's also a nerd when it comes to bugs that crawl out of the ground every few years and CICADA MADNESS was released early this year as the the ultimate primer on everything cicada.  With his book being on significant Black Friday sale on Amazon , I figured it would be a good time to share a few tips to get you excited for next summer and you can likely sneak this book into the cart while you're online shopping over the holiday.

The year 2024 brought us the co-emergence of two periodical cicadas across 17 States in the lower 48.  Hopefully, you were able to experience "Cicada Madness" during May and June.  For those of you that planned accordingly, did the work and hit the water, I hope you had an epic experience.  Hopefully the words “Epic”, “Incredible”, “Ridiculous” and “Weird” fit in the vocabulary as words to describe the fishing.

Guess what?  YOU GET TO DO IT AGAIN NEXT YEAR!

And, for those of you that didn’t get to experience the 2024 emergence, here are a few tips to enable you success with the upcoming Brood XIV 17-year periodical cicadas.  This brood, known as the “Greater Eastern Brood” will emerge across parts of Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. 

So you wanna fish this coming summer Brood XIV periodical cicada emergence? Get to planning!

STEP 1 - THE BUG IS THE DRUG
You've got to learn the bug.  Build your understanding of the life cycle of the periodical cicada, when it emerges, the conditions it needs to emerge and its mating cycle.  The key to finding significant numbers of the terrestrial relies on the mating phase of the bug.  Males sing to attract suitable mates, and both males and females fly from tree to tree to commence the process.  When huge numbers of bugs begin to fly, a portion of them find their way accidentally in the water.  You know what happens next.

STEP 2 - FIGURE OUT THE WHEN AND WHERE
Cicadas will not come to you.  You have to go find them.  If you wait, and hope they will arrive to your favorite creek, you might be disappointed.  Get the distribution map out for Brood XIV.  Scientists have compiled these for a couple centuries at this point.  Some of the historic ranges are extinct and some modern maps have updated some areas but are absent of others.  This is always evolving.  Take the brood map and compare it to Google Earth.  Look for those areas with lots of trees near water. 

STEP 3 - SCOUT IT OUT
If you can, scout around before the predicted emergence.  In Southern states, this could be early to mid-May and in northern states, the end of May into the first week of June.  You are looking for signs that a few bugs have emerged.  Holes in the ground, cases on tree trunks, or a bug or two hanging around leaves.  I can guarantee you if you find a few bugs, come back in a week, and check again.  The numbers will build.  There are thousands under your feet.  Ask locals who were around seventeen years before.  Ask weird questions about bugs.

STEP 4 - ASSEMBLE THE CREW 
Once you’ve prepared your list of spots to check, put your crew together.  You are going to need a crew that can take the ups and downs.  Long drives, flying by night, hyped up on the chase that can deal with the defeat of showing up to a lake with no bugs.  No time to sulk, get rollin’ and hit the next one.  You are going to live with these folks for a couple weeks, so choose wisely.  Oh, and it is imperative if everyone can back up a trailer and row a boat.  “You don’t row, you don’t go.”  I'm laughing but it's true. 

STEP 5 - LET'S FRIGGIN GO!!!
A lot of the cicada chasing we do is on unknown lakes and rivers to us.  We do our planning and mapping ahead of the emergence and rank our spots.  When it is “Go-Time” we are often behind the windshield under the cover of darkness to show up at a boat ramp with the bass tournament anglers.  These guys typically fish a lot and see a lot.  We start asking questions about cicadas and…usually carp.  After the weird looks, we often get valuable intel.  (Like those giant grassers at Bird Island.) 

Bottom line:  Windshield time, being mobile and agile will lead you to success.  Hope ain’t a plan. If you aren’t willing to search it out, you will have limited success.



STEP 6 - BUGGIN' OUT
Take lots of rods.  I like to chase oversize carp- commons and grassers, and nothing fights those fish like modern fiberglass rods.  Nothing lifts like glass.  I have fished everything from Blue Halo Retroflex rods, Iconoglass, Fenwicks and Orvis Superfine Glass, but my recent favorite is the Steffen Brothers 8’8” 7-weight SWARM.

I collaborated with Steffen Brothers on this stick ahead of the 2024 Brood XIX and XIII emergence. Steffen Brothers and Shane Gray put several of these rods in our quiver to beat up.  Every person that fished it loved it.  Pair it with a 7-weight Scientific Anglers Mastery Bass Bug fly line, tie a three-section leader tapered to 15# Maxima and let’s go!

STEP 7 - FILL THE FLY BOX THIS WINTER
Tie some black and orange cicada patterns in sizes 8,6,4.  My obvious choice is my own “17-Year-Itch Cicada” which the recipe can be found in my book, “CICADA MADNESS” from Stackpole Books. 

This book is the single resource on the topic of cicadas and fly fishing.  Available right now as an Amazon.com Black Friday Deal!  Enjoy the adventure that is CICADA MADNESS!

Follow Dave on Instagram and be sure to check out his Down Home Boatworks website, too.