Cicadas have been good for fishermen

By JOEL WILSON
For the Daily Times

GLASGOW June 12, 2008 12:55 pm

— The cicada frenzy is just about at the end but boy has it been good for fishermen.
Huge catches of channel cats, Kentucky bass and carp have been coming in using the creepy looking creatures that have been abundant around Barren Lake this year.
I’ve heard several stories about fishermen who run out of crickets and start using cicadas only to find out that catfish love them.
But the hatch is just about over. It was sure fantastic while it lasted.
Local educator Danny Hardin was baited up with a cicada when a big Kentucky, almost three pounds, loaded on the other day up Skaggs Creek. He had already put several channels and nice bluegill in the livewell.
These insects, which resemble oversized houseflies but are commonly confused with locusts, are the 17-year cicada. Although they are a slight nuisance to humans, fish scarf them up like people do peanuts.
“My Dad and I fished a rock wall that I love for spawning bluegill on Nolin Lake last weekend,” said Chad Miles, director of development for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources and hopelessly addicted angler. “I had a tube of crickets and an empty tube. I walked down to the dock and put about 35 cicadas in the empty tube on my way. I could have gotten a thousand.”
Miles and his father caught about 40 nice bluegill before they ran out of crickets and decided to experiment. “I put on a cicada to see if something would hit it,” he said. “I threw it up against that rock wall and within three minutes, I caught a nice catfish. The bluegill hit it during the wait. I hooked another cicada on and three to five minutes later, I had another catfish. I threw another cicada against the rock wall and three minutes later, I had another catfish. We caught three catfish within 10 minutes or so. They were all 2 to 4 pounds.”
Fish of all stripes take advantage of this overly abundant food source. These cicadas occur over most of the state, but may be spotty in some areas. Other cicada species emerge every 13 years and the common green-colored cicadas emerge every year, but this cicada hatch is the heaviest of all the others.
“My grandmother told me 17 years ago — during the last cicada hatch — that people were catching catfish on topwater lures on Nolin,” Miles said. “The catfish thought they were cicadas on the water.”
“They are a new food source, plus the way they react when they hit the water brings attention,” said Jeff Ross, assistant director of fisheries for Kentucky Fish and Wildlife. “They buzz and flop around and this draws strikes from bass and other fish.”
Several companies make topwater and sinking lures that resemble cicadas. A topwater cicada lure worked along a weedbed, rock wall, over a drop-off or across a flat will draw strikes from bass.
Bluegill will also eat a real cicada that’s suspended under a bobber. Hook the cicada much as you would a cricket. Take a size 6 to 8 Aberdeen hook and start the point between the insect’s eyes. Thread the hook just underneath the cicada’s back, leaving the point exposed at the rear.
A cicada threaded onto a 3/0 to 5/0 hook and fished against bluff walls, mud flats or along old creek or river channel drop-offs in lakes will entice catfish during the early morning, dusk or at night.
“During the last hatch, fish were sucking them off the top all over Lake Cumberland,” said Gerry Buynak, assistant director of fisheries for Kentucky Fish and Wildlife. “They were in the jumps all over the place. I heard big carp were slurping them as well.”
The fishing report this week finds bass still hitting well on Barren according to Todd Logsdon. “You’ll need a deep diving crankbait, something like a DD22,” Todd reported. Nice catches of crappie have been seen at 10 to 12 feet and night fishing has picked up also. Hybrid are really scattered and most of the catches of all the smaller ones. Bluegills and cats are still good on live bait (including cicadas) along rock walls and rocky banks.”
A half dozen of the oldtimers ventured to the Cumberland River on Tuesday looking for sauger, walleye and the stray trout.
I partnered with one of the best river fishermen in these parts, Lewis Carter of Tompkinsville. We didn’t go out until the afternoon and darkness was approaching before we got into them. I was lucky enough to land an 18-inch sauger which they tell me is a trophy fish.
Lewis also scored some nice sauger.
A big rain up stream the night before had left the river trashy and we had trouble keeping our baits clean but any day on the river is a great day.
At one point I believed I was hung up on the bottom but when we got over the bait, it started moving. I never managed to turn it and it finally broke my 10-pound line. Lewis figured it was one of the big ole strippers that live in the river there. Whatever it was, I couldn’t handle it.

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