Jake's Brood X Cicada

Jake’s Brood X Cicada:

The Brood X Cicada is a 17-year fly angler’s dream. Every 17 years these noisy protein packed meals crawl out of the ground and make a mess for the real world, but for a trout, smallmouth, or carp, it is an endless buffet. Fish all sizes lose their minds for about 2 months, eating every one that hits the water until they can’t fit any more in their bellies. I’m convinced that they have the same internal conversation humans do when we are reaching that moment of total discomfort from eating but can’t stop. “Should I eat this last bite and feel like crap for a while, or do I just stop while I’m ahead?” I don’t know about you, but I always fall for that and take the last bite. These Cicadas pop up around the country in different locations yearly, but without tracking them and doing a little traveling, they only come around locally every 17 years and this year the Cumberland Valley is in the bullseye. 

When I found out it was our year, I sat down and trolled the internet looking for cool patterns to tie, even purchased a few from other tiers, but I still wanted to tie a couple of my own design. After about 6 semi decent attempts I landed on this design as my favorite and I wanted to share it with everyone. I don’t have a fancy name for it yet so we I just kept it basic and to the point. 

Enjoy the video and get tying they will be here before we know it. 

Snowbirding :-)

Sometimes it’s hard for me to sit down and write, especially when the sun is out and there are snook lurking in my mind. I have been obsessed with redfish and snook for some time now. I have boxes of flies tied, hours of YouTube videos watched, books purchased and read, trips booked and canceled because of weather, and well for a while I thought I might just have an awesome supply of flies that are never going to be fished. But it did happen, many of saltwater trips have happened, tarpon, bonefish, redfish, but still until this week no snook.  

As I sit here in Florida and write you this short story, my mind is at peace (for the moment). 

I have finally held my first snook, caught a redfish on a Roamer, and went tight to a couple nice trout. We came down to relax and get away from the snow, but that was far from what happened. I spent hours in the truck, hours on google earth, hours tying flies, waking up hours before sunrise, and as I write this list, I realize, ha, yup that is relaxing to me. 

There were no trophies caught, but definitely some hero shots taken!

I met up with a good friend who spends his winters down here and he showed me around with a lot of success for less than ideal conditions. When the schedule allowed for it, and I couldn’t meet up with my buddy, I was in a kayak exploring new water. Hoping with each cast to have something besides an oyster shell pull back. 

There is a solid possibility, after my amazing time down here, and my ever-growing urge to explore, that a couple boat companies have been emailed about getting a price quote. (Wide Eyed emoji placed here)

Is relentless fly fishing going to do some wintertime expanding to Florida? Who knows, but I’m already planning my next trip down here.

Double Squirrel Nymph

Double Squirrel Nymph

The double squirrel nymph has become a staple in my trout and steelhead boxes over the past few years. This little nymph is simple, and not groundbreaking by any means, but it works and its fun to tie. I started off tying this fly about 5 years ago because I was tired of my hare’s ear nymphs not being as buggy as I wanted them to be. So, I switched over to using SLF Squirrel dubbing instead of the traditional hare’s ear dubbing. After I reached the bugginess I wanted I decided to make it simpler and tie it without a wing case and change the collar color to dark brown to give it some contrast. This tying style is also referred to as “tying in the round”, no wing cases or legs, just a simple nymph profile. The I got a little wild and added two hot spots, yup TWO, and that is ultimately how this bug got its name. Double Hot spots and tied out of squirrel dubbing, the “Double Squirrel”. 

It is a great prospecting nymph if there isn’t much going on, it’s simple design and profile can mimic most mayfly nymphs just by changing the hook size. 

The main sizes that I fish are 14s and 16s, but if the water is higher or off color, I will jump up to a size 12, I hopes that it will show up better and get a trout’s attention. On the other side of that, if the water is low and clear, I will drop down to a size 18 if needed.

Last year I started fishing them for great lakes and south east Alaskan steelhead, they definitely didn’t stick their noses up at them. For steelhead the pink hot spot variation has seemed to get the most interest. I will tie them up to a size 10 for steelhead and typically not go much smaller than a 14. 

It is a great year-round fly and has caught fish from Maine to South America.

Double Squirrel:

Hook: TMC C200BL 12-16

Thread: Veevus 8/0 – Fl. Fire Orange 

Bead: Tungsten – Black Nickle 

Tail: CDL Fibers – Black Speckled Corzuno

Rib: Tinsel sz. Small – Opal 

Body: SLF Squirrel Dubbing – Natural Fox 

Collar: SLF Squirrel Dubbing – Dark Brown 

Hook Variations:

Hook: TMC C450BL 12-16

Hook: Partridge SLJ 12-18

Hook: Ahrex FW551 14-10

Bead: Slotted Tungsten Bead – Black Nickel

 Color Variations:

Thread Color: Fl. Chartreuse, Fl. Orange, Fl. Pink