Cicadas on the Gunpowder

On Fri, 18 Jun 2004 08:01:03 -0400, Frank Reid wrote:

Sam, Allen and I met at the Gunpowder yesterday at 3. Thunderboomer to
the north and dropping south. Purple green sky... hmmm... In Nebraska,
I would say this was tornado weather. We decided discretion is the
better part of valor and hightailed it to the Backwater Angler fly shop.
Needed more cicada patterns. Yeh, thats it.
While in the shop, biblical rain. The same storm measured 4" an hour a
ways south of us. Tornado warning sirens and flood warning. Bought the
last of the cicadas the store had and headed back to the river.
Short story: Big fat cicadas, slashing strikes, fly too big for the fish
to bite. I must have had 50 or so strikes. Switched to a smaller fly,
less strikes, but more hookups. Nothing large, probably 13" at the
largest. I had 6 fish brought to hand.
Highlights:
1. I'm fishing about 100 yards upstream from Sam and Allen when a very
large tree falls about 30 yards ahead of me. Branches drop 40 feet to
my left. I can definately say that when a tree falls in the woods, you
can hear it quite well. Build a large, brown brick wing dam on the spot
with bricks of ****.
2. Standing on a seam of granite in fast current, casting to deep water
behind the seam. Floating log nails me in the ankles and I find out
that there is a hole in my waders, right at the top where the shoulder
straps attach. I'm up to my neck floating down stream in about 6-8 feet
of water. After about twenty yards, I paddle to shore, empty the waders
and wring out my socks.
3. Casting over a rising fish, BFB (big ****ing beaver) decides I'm in
his territory, floats down, stops right above the fish, slaps his tail
and dives. I think it was a PITA Beaver.

Every fish caught was on a cicada pattern. The cicadas are dying off
now, but I did get to fish this hatch and can say its a blast. The
super picky Gunpowder browns were hitting a size 6 fly on 2X tippet with
a 6 foot leader. 9' to 12' leaders of 6X or 7X are the norm for these
fish. A great time was had by all.

Another classic, Frank.

/daytripper (Another "Classic Frank", too ;-)