Thread: The Kihikihi
View Single Post
  #3  
Old March 8th, 2005, 09:53 PM
Clark Reid
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

The information on the page in question isn't completely accurate...

Cicada's (You're the first person I have met in 35 years trout fishing here
that even knew the Maori name ) hatch all summer long starting in November
and continuing right through summer until the autumn temperatures kill them
off. The main hatching of the insect sometimes may not start until December
and is dependant on when the real hot summer temperatures arrive. This year
they never really got going until late December. The noise they make can be
deafening and is a good temperature indicator as they usually become noisy
at 17 degrees Celcius.

Trout do not key specifically on the cicada as a match the hatch situation
and as it is a terrestrial may only get to eat a few a day, but they don't
let one go past. Our fish are seldom selective anywhere in NZ (Except
perhaps the Matuara near Gore) and are more wary than selective. The most
popular Cicada pattern in NZ is one of my own design
http://www.umpqua.co.nz/flies/nz%20patterns/Dries/pages/nz%20flies%20108%20(Small)_jpg.htm
however, fish that have taken this pattern do remember it and while a nymph
suspended off the back will often catch those fish, fishing another large
attractor terrestrial like a Carty's GT, Turk's tarantula or RCH Rubberlegs
will usually illicit a strike.

Trout hit Cicada's all summer long and there is no "hatch window" where they
feed on them a week either side or the like.

They are one of the most important food sources though simply due to their
size.

Regards

Clark Reid


wrote in message
oups.com...
http://www.montana-riverboats.com/pa...-kihikihi.html

...is the Maori name for the cicada in New Zealand. I just got back
from 3 weeks there.
The Cicada was a main fly while I was there. There were some evenings
near
Gore when a simple mayfly pattern worked best. But for sight spotted
fish during the
daytime, the Cicada was a real killer.