20 May 2024
Howdy Friends! The time we have all been waiting for is finally here! This year there will be a co- emergence of the 13 year and the 17-year cicada broods. To start this off we should talk about what exactly a cicada is. A cicada is a terrestrial insect that is in the family of “true bugs”. A cicadas life history is categorized into what is called periodical and annual cicadas. Annual meaning they emerge every year while the periodical cicadas do not emerge for either 13 or 17 years depending on their life cycle.
Cicadas will crawl out of the ground, climb the nearest tree where the females will “call” a mate. Then they will lay the cicada larvae in the tree branch. After some time, the larvae will fall to the ground only to make their way into the ground and restart the entire process. For this year’s emergence we are specifically talking about the periodical cicada. This co-emergence only happens every 221 years. One of the main factors we are looking for with the emergence is a soil temp of 64 degrees Fahrenheit at least 8 inches below the surface.
I am sure by now you are wondering; how do I even know when a brood will emerge or even where it is going to be? For that we utilize a couple different online resources.
https://cicadas.uconn.edu/general_information/
The last cicada brood I experienced, these two flies provided the best results:
When you are planning a trip to fish for cicadas timing is everything. After the initial emergence you want to wait about a week to get out there and fish for them.
Cicadas basically provide an all you can eat buffet for anything that swims, yes, I said EVERYTHING! But for that to happen the fish need to get key into the free food.