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The locusts are all but gone now. (Yes, I know the proper name for the big bugs that emerged this year for the first time in 17 years is "cicada." However, the "old timers" of my youth called them locusts. So, to me, locusts they remain.)
Anyhow, the large emergence of Brood X locusts that occurred during June on several streams provided a nice change of pace from my normal early summer nymph-fishing, which is generally the most effective method of summer fly-fishing.
This year, I had anticipated the emergence of Brood X locusts and was ready for it. I had tied some locust dry flies and had bought a few more. I was determined that I was going to get trout to rise to my big artificials.
I knew experienced live-bait fishermen had often fished real locusts underwater. They secured locusts to size 8 or even 6 hooks, had attached some split shot to their leaders, and sank the bugs. It was, and still is, a deadly method of bait-fishing for trout. As a confirmed catch-and-release trout fisherman who has witnessed a significant improvement of trout populations as catch-and release fishing has become popular over many years, I hoped that skilled bait fishermen would release the majority of the wild trout that they landed.
I found that I did not have to crawl out of bed in the near dark to fish with my locust imitations as I do when I'm nymph-fishing during the summer. Instead, as the sun gradually heated things up, the locusts became more active. Some of my most productive outings occurred during the middle of June afternoons.
The fishing was not as I remembered it from the last time locusts were around. Rather than finding trout rising on their own for real locusts, I discovered that I had to toss my locust imitations to places in streams where I suspected that trout might be lurking. In addition, unlike live-bait fishing, I found that my best opportunities for attracting trout to flies came when I tossed them to relatively shallow spots along the edges of creeks. Live-bait fishermen like to sink their locusts into deeper pools.
Fly-fishing action during the early days of the locust emergence was slow. However, as the trout learned what locusts were, they found that the bugs provided meaty meals. My fishing action improved as this occurred, and I caught and released a number of lovely trout up to 19 inches.
At 71, 2021 is likely to have provided my final action with Brood X locusts.
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