Penns Creek Angler
Bruce Fisher
Article July 2008
The Cicada turned out to be the best hatch so far this year on Penns Creek! So many anglers came in to tell me about their catches of bigger than normal size trout. I’ve only seen this hatch once before 17 years ago and I only fished it for a few days. I had no idea that this hatch lasts more than a month. A few things I learned this year about the Cicada were that the hatch is best fish at first light when the wings of the Cicadas are wet with the morning dew and they crash to the water because they are very poor fliers when their wings are wet. Some other notables are the best spots to find Cicadas are areas that have loose sandy soil, the kind you find around farm fields. The rocky areas seem to hold lesser concentrations. An angler could walk the creek and find thousands in one spot and walk a few hundred yards and find only a few. They seem to be grouped up in certain areas that were usually associated with the type of soil I mentioned earlier. Some anglers tried to use their regular trout leaders and were broken off by the big fish that suck down these Cicadas with a crushing hit. The trick is to use a very stout leader with a heavy tippet of 3x or stronger. The thicker leader and stronger tippet help cast the fly in the direction the angler wants it to go. Some of the tricks the fishermen used were to tie two Cicada flies together and fish them in tandem. Doing this made each fly pull on the other and they looked more alive and they got more hits. After the hatch was progressing the trout became more selective and another trick was to tie a small dropper fly like a Blue Winged Olive nymph off the bend of the hook and some fish would come up and look at the Cicada and then take the dropper fly. It seemed the best way to locate the groups of Cicadas was to drive the creek in the evening and listen for them and then go back in the morning and fish that area. Other industrious anglers went in the woods and picked the Cicadas off the trees and used the live Cicadas with a hook and water bobber and really did a job on the fish. This is kind of like Green Drake Bouquet fishing except all the fishing is done in day light hours. Some of the elder statesmen of Penns Creek still practice the art of bouquet fishing during the famous Green Drake hatch. They simply collect the Drakes from the trees and put a few on a hook and then dap the flies on the water with a short line and a long fly rod. You see them after dark walking the stream bank listening for rising fish. Then they flip the live duns out and wait for the slurp and set the hook, it’s a great way to fish. Now we are into July and the Blue Winged Olives are everywhere. They range in size from size 22-16 and it can be challenging fishing for even the most gifted anglers. The fish seem to prefer the smaller flies and when your eyes start to fail you it makes matters worse. The Slate Drake (Isonychia velma) came off just as expected. This particular fly hatches off the water unlike the Slate Drake of Fall (Isonychia bicolor) that usually hatches on the mid-stream rocks and stream bank. The Slate Drakes of June hatched in the morning and in the evening and also provided great spinner falls for the anglers that took advantage of the excellent water condition during the month of June. Somewhere along the line the wonderful Sulphur hatches seemed to be missing. It could have been I just missed them because I only get to fish after work or on my day off. But something tells me the hatch was very sparse this year. I’m looking forward to another two weeks of good morning and evening fishing. Then I’ll start my night fishing that I do from 9pm to 1am. This fishing will only last a few weeks and then the creek will start to become too hot to fish even at night. So far we have been lucky with great water temperatures and willing trout. Lets hope the creek remain in good shape through the summer so we can all enjoy the solitude and beauty of the fall fishing season.
Ps: The Cicada hatch will last until mid July
Catch you Later, Bruce Fisher
© 2008 Bruce Fisher