by Dan Blanton
From the February 2021 Newsletter
Direct link to Louie’s NX Cicada
Wrap hook with thread glue, wrap Glo bug yarn to mid-point. Carve bodies from foam with scissors to boat shape.
Soak yarn with super glue, press body down and X-tie down. Using indelible markers, color body to match the varieties of Cicada where you are fishing.
Next add the clear tape wing. Take a piece of tape 4 inches long, add 3 or 4 single deer hairs to the sticky side of the tape at the bottom, press that side along the back side of the body, then fold the tape over to line up with the front side and squeeze together. You can also make this fly without a clear wing by going to the next step and adding long deer hair along each side of the body. Trim wing to shape as shown.
Spin deer hair to form the front legs and Head.
The completed fly with clear tape wing. Cicadas have a square-shaped head. It is important to trim and shape the head to have the shape of a Cicada
Presentation
The tape wings on my cicada may come apart after a few fish have eaten it. This causes the fly to spin when cast, twisting up the tippet. But when it hits the water the tippet unwinds and causes the fly to flip over and over – just like a struggling cicada. Whack! The best presentation is to plop the bug down loudly, then dead drift it. Don’t set the hook too quickly when a fish rises. Let it take it down and then tighten up. It’s a lot like dry fly fishing for steelhead. Set too soon and you’ll miss it.