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Foam Cicada
A terrestrial, tied #6–12, a summer pattern. It is tied against 2 named insects in this book — May–August.
- #6–12Hook size
- terrestrialType
- SummerSeason
- 2Hatches matched
What it looks like
A drawing, not a photograph, and not traced from one. Its proportions were read off 5 independent reference photographs of the pattern and written down as 5 measured characteristics — wing angle, tail length against the shank, how far a hackle fibre reaches — every one of which had to hold across more than one of them before it could be drawn. What survives across many photographs of a fly is the fly.
What it imitates
Each of these is the same hatch record the app's own panel reads, so a pattern recommended on a river card in the app is recommended for one of the insects below.
- Annual Cicada Neotibicen spp. · July–August · 60–78°F · #6–10
- Periodical Cicada Magicicada spp. · May–June · 55–78°F · #4–8
Tying recipe
In tying order. This dressing is the standard one — these patterns have been in the publicrecord for decades — and materials substitute freely: the proportions and the silhouette are the pattern, not the brand of dubbing.
| Hook | Heavy dry-fly hook, sizes 6–12 |
|---|---|
| Thread | Black 3/0 |
| Body | Black foam, layered |
| Wing | Grey or pearl synthetic, flat over the body |
| Legs | Orange round rubber |
| Indicator | Orange or chartreuse foam post |
When to fish it
Cast it hard enough to land with a noise. In a periodical emergence year this is the only fly needed; in any other year it is an August afternoon fly on wooded banks.
A summer pattern. The insects it matches are active may–august, in water from 55°F to 78°F.
Target species
- Trout
- Smallmouth bass
Rivers it fishes well
Rivers with a page here that sit in the regions where the insects this pattern imitates are recorded. It is a claim about coverage, not a report of a fish caught.
- Au Sable River northern lower Michigan · July mean 72.1°F
- Catawba River the North Carolina mountains · July mean 76.7°F
- Jackson River the Virginia mountains · July mean 66.3°F
- Muskegon River northern lower Michigan · July mean 71.0°F
- Escanaba River the Upper Peninsula · July mean 68.3°F
- Saint Croix River northern Wisconsin · July mean 77.2°F
- Smith River the Virginia mountains · July mean 51.9°F
- Tygart Valley River the Virginia mountains · July mean 74.6°F
- Kalamazoo River southern lower Michigan · July mean 71.3°F
- Aaron Creek the North Carolina mountains · July mean 76.7°F
- Aaron Run the Virginia mountains · July mean 77.1°F
- Aarons Run the Virginia mountains · July mean 74.2°F
Related patterns
Same type of fly, or tied for the same insects.
- Dave's Hopper terrestrial · #8–12 — Deer hair and legs. The classic, and it lands with the right kind of thud.
- Morrish Hopper terrestrial · #8–12 — Foam, indestructible, and floats a heavy dropper all day.
- Black Cricket terrestrial · #10–14 — Late summer into October, after the hoppers thin out.
- Foam Beetle terrestrial · #12–18 — Black foam, a bit of flash on top. The most reliable summer dry on wooded streams.
- Foam Inchworm terrestrial · #12–16 — A length of bright green foam and nothing else. Cast tight to overhanging hardwood; the natural arrives from above, not from upstream.