cornmuse

QUOTE (lanvaettir @ Jun 10 2004, 12:01 PM) >>Snip<<What kind of cicada pattern are you using?... On the Green river the cicadas have orange between their segments... Magicicada septendecim has broad bands of orange, M. Cassini is the smaller, all black bodied cicada you will see as part of Brood X. The Rush Run pond has a larger population of M. septendecim than cassini, though both are present. The former is also a noticeably larger than the later. I believe the carp are keying in to some degree on the M. septendecim. That said, I guess I am surprised at how picky these carp are. The refusals are very last second - the fish is just about to take the fly and turns away quickly. I know I am not spooking them; tough as it is I am holding completely still and watching this take place. I also wear very muted colors. My experience with most warm water fish is that they are much more foregiving of minor "mismatches" than heavily fished spring creek trout; which in my mind are a more visual feeder. I find it hard to believe that the carp can even see a fly when it is that close, kind of like a pike where they lose the bait when they are right on it because they don't have stereo vision directly in front of the nose. A natural blind spot, so to speak... I am tying a new batch of cicada imitations. The fly I have had the most success with is my own "Joe's Cicada" pattern. It is pictured in the attached. I have also done very well with a deer hair bug tied with long, orange speckled sili-legs and a black cigar shaped body on a size 4 mustad 3366. I'll report on further results as my research developes. I'm looking forward to Saturday to see if they behave differently again. Joe C.

I've got a question that I hope the board can help me out with. I went out yesterday to try my hand at some carp on topwater cicada imitations. Unlike my adventure one week ago, yesterday was light breezes and high humidity, making for a much smaller number of bugs on the water. The soft winds also made stealth a real requirement for a successful approach. I started fishing a cicada imitation which was productive for me last week. The first fish I cast to I led it a bit and splatted the fly down about three feet in front and slightly to the side of her cruising path. She whirled and came towards the fly, rising in the water column. As her nose broke the surface she turned and bolted as though my fly said something! Left a giant boil and was gone. A bit later the same presentation resulted in a positive take from a fish. Then further on, another refusal at the very last second. One fish was rising away from me and, I believe, came in contact with the tippet before the fly and bolted. Many came up and just stopped about 2" from the fly and turned away quickly. End result - 9 top water rises from BIG carp, three takes, one hook-up which snapped my tippet after a run into some underwater brush. Now I used about half a dozen different patterns and I noticed the carp responded better to a pattern that was just a bit larger than the live cicadas. It is important to note that I took largemouth bass on ALL the patterns I tossed. Fish between 12" and 17" were "tough" to keep off the hook. But the carp were maddeningly difficult with these last second refusals! What do you think is the source of the refusal? Scent (some of the flies had caught multiple bass and were slimed - no correlation to refusal rate)? I also crushed a cicada and rubbed it onto the fly and didn't see any particular improvement in take rate. Visual cues? Can a carp even see something right in front of its nose? Does it have stereo vision? Can it focus that close? This is on a small lake (35 acres) - maybe some kind of "micro-drag" on the fly? I tried fishing a taught line and also throughing some pile casts and feeding slack to keep any minor currents caused by the wind from inducing noticeable drag. Suggestions are quite encouraged, there is about two more weeks left of this amazing top water fishery and I'd like to puzzle this one out. Joe C.

McManus wrote;"I think the true value of your book is in it's enjoyment. To find out it's worth you would need to go to Anglers Bookcase, or someone who knows the value of the books." While I wasn't looking for a value assesment per se, I did take your advice to check out Angler's Bookcase. This is what I found "Nemes, Sylvester: "Six Months in Scotland", 1998 Self-Published, 1st Edition 1st Printing, Fine in Fine DJ, Signed by the Author w/fly tied by author tipped in." It seems my book is autographed and does have a fly tied by Syl Nemes himself. This is the second such luck I have had. I purchased "Tying and Fishing the Thunder Creek Series" by Fulsher from an Ebay auction for $5 and that copy was a first pressing that was autographed by the author. This Nemes book (BTW, I have the soft hackles collection and really enjoy Nemes' writing) I got for $6 at Half Priced Books. I didn't see the autograph or fly till I got home. Yesterday was a good day! Thanks for the tip about AB. JC

This may sound a strange question, but I just returned from the local used book store with a copy of the book "Six Months in Scotland" and subtitled "An American View of its Salmon Fishing". The book is hardcover and, like Sylvester Nemes' other books is a slim volume. I didn't see this when I purchased the book, but when I got home and started reading it I noticed what appears to be an autograph by Syl Nemes in a black rollerball script with the words "Salar's Nemesis above". It appears to be hand written, but such is the state of current printing that this could easily be a printed script, too. Here's the interesting kicker; above the title is the Salar's Nemesis fly tied as described in the text. It is glued to the page. Is this a "special edition" I have found of this interesting little book or were all the hard cover volumes so embellished? Any chance this is a real autograph? I only paid $6, so I am pretty pleased with my purchase regardless, but it would be all the sweeter if I had a signed first edition with a fly tied by Nemes himself! Thanks for any information. Joe C.

Twin is a fabulous fishery. Difficult stream to get the full measure of. I was fortunate that I spent a LOT of time on it last year. In fact, I fished Twin about once a week from April through November last year. It has a surprising population of smallies. The Mad is also a good smallie creek - especially near Wright Patt. That is also the section to fish if you are truly looking for better than 2 feet of brown trout. The fishing is tough but the rewards can be huge... I'll try to get a pic of the big amur on the board here soon. JC

Hello all; New to this board, not new to FF, though. I have to chime in on this cicada discussion as I live in one of the high concentration areas. The rivers have been pretty much blown out since the emergence started, but the ponds and lakes are fishing fine. In fact, I had a hell of a day with carp on Wednesday. Big snouts breaking the surface everywhere and hoovering up screaming cicadas. It was like something out of a Steven King movie! I had on carp on for 45 minutes or so. I rigged up for bluegill with a 5wt and 6lb tippet and nailed a pig of 30+ lbs. shortly after I started fishing. Ended up hooking six fish and landing one - a 30" grass carp. Amazing top water fishing experience for a fish that is rarely so careless about topwater feeding. Some of the streams in sw Ohio and eastern Indiana have a bizarre trait - smallies tend to not look up till well into the summer. I fish Twin Creek a lot and find that, even in crystal clear water that is at best 4' deep, I need to use a sink tip and present a johnny darter, sculpin or crayfish imitation right on the bottom to interest them. Around August I have found they start reacting very aggressively to a fast worked top water bug or big streamer. Of course, YMMV. That said, the bass and carp fishing on still waters has been phenomenal for the last two weeks. When the creeks come down a bit and stabilize (mid next week) I'll see if the smallies are interested in the orange-eyed bugs. Don't know about your feelings, but I love Brood X! BTW, I have some excellent macro shots of teneral adults emerging and mature adults if anyone wants to see what these fellows look like up close and personal. Joe C.