Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia prepare for Cicada Invasions!

Early summer 2019 should provide some excellent fishing in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Millions of 17 year cicadas will emerge...

Early summer 2019 should provide some excellent fishing in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Millions of 17 year cicadas will emerge from the ground and swarm the area, providing food for wildlife and of course, hungry trout and bass.

Photo courtesy of www.troutnut.com

Fish can become really dumb during a big bug hatch. While I have never fished a 17-year cicada hatch, I have seen plenty of big trout make bad decisions when the salmonflies come out in the west. Big fish just don't seem to care about potential danger when there is that much food floating by.

Cicada are like many large insects; they can be sorta awkward, and they tend fall into the rivers easily where they are quickly consumed by a huge portion of the local fish.

According to magicicada.org, this years' hatch, called the Brood VIII, is one of the smaller of the 17 year hatches. It occurs mostly in the West Virginia panhandle, but will extend into Ohio and Pennsylvania. While it is one of the smaller hatches, it will still number in the millions. Beyond annoying the locals and ending up on the windshields of passing cars, cicadas help fatten up the local trout.

Big foam flies work well for cicadas. Favorites include the Fat Albert, Chubby Chernobyl, and of course, the Cicada. Salmonfly patterns will work as well, as both are larger insects with black profiles and orange accents. Anything big and dark colored will have a shot at catching fish.

I like to shorten up my leader when fishing big dries. A shorter leader helps turn over a big foam dry more accurately than a longer leader. A 7.5' 3x leader should be just fine for the most part, although some streams with wary fish will warrant a 9' (or longer) leader.

This hatch should be a great opportunity to get onto the water this summer. The hatch can start anytime from late May into June and will last up to 6 weeks. Good luck to everyone that gets a chance to fish a big cicada hatch!