# The return of Brood X



## kingofamberley (Jul 11, 2012)

I posted about this in the fly forum but figured it’s probably more relevant here.

2021 will see the return of Brood X, the infamous 17 year cicadas in SW Ohio. Last time they were here, I was wrapping up high school, and wasn’t the angler that I am now. For those of you who fished then, what was it like? What did you use? I have been messing with some foam fly patterns. Maybe small poppers? I have heard that even bottom feeders like carp would come to the surface to take freshly fallen cicadas, which sounds like a golden opportunity. I can only imagine that in years to come, there will be a boom in fish populations.

My wife is from Cleveland and has never experienced the Cicadapocalypse. I try to explain it to her but she has no idea what she’s in for (she hates bugs).


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## M.Magis (Apr 5, 2004)

Cicada hatches aren't specific to SW Ohio, they happen all over the place, including Cleveland. I'm not sure how your wife hasn't experienced them unless she's too young to remember.
Anything fluttering on top of the water will get eaten, by just about any species. Really has no affect on fish populations, it just makes them fat for the summer.


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## garhtr (Jan 12, 2009)

It's a blast ! Everything will come to the top including catfish and carp.
Don't worry about tying exact imitations a black and yellow, red or orange popper with some rubber legs is all it takes.
Normally fishing can be slow early a.m. but as the cicadas start to fly late morning things heat up and it's especially good on the smaller to mid size streams with a lot of over hangs ----- I can't wait !
Good luck and good fishing


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## kingofamberley (Jul 11, 2012)

M.Magis said:


> Cicada hatches aren't specific to SW Ohio, they happen all over the place, including Cleveland. I'm not sure how your wife hasn't experienced them unless she's too young to remember.
> Anything fluttering on top of the water will get eaten, by just about any species. Really has no affect on fish populations, it just makes them fat for the summer.


Yes you are right there are cicadas all over that hatch every summer, but the 17 year brood X is unlike anything they have in Cleveland. The sheer number of them (“billions” as per the article I linked) and noise level is surreal. She knows what a cicada is but can’t imagine the swarm. I’m sure there has to be a trickle down effect in the subsequent year or two from the massive influx of free calories in to the ecosystem. 









Billions of cicadas expected in spring of 2021


Brood X, a group of periodical cicadas that emerge every 17 years, will tunnel out of their long dormancy and take over the Cincinnati area.




www.wlwt.com





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## MuskyFan (Sep 21, 2016)

2004 was bad in SW Ohio. I remember driving the dealership's race rig thru Cincy and it was like running thru a hail of rocks. They were all over I75 and I71. Newer developments don't see that many because they've all been dug up but older communities had them by the thousands. I wasn't fishing at the time so I have no idea what the lakes were like but riding motorcycles sucked. Those lil' armored bugs hurt like hell...


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## Southernsaug (May 23, 2019)

Another bonus is turkey brood survival is usually higher in cicada years


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## Lewzer (Apr 5, 2004)

The brood V in Cleveland in 2016 was huge. Where I work borders the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. That land is undisturbed by developers so they were everywhere as in 1999 when they came out before then. I have them preserved so I’ll post a pic of the 1999 and 2016 bugs when I get to work. 
We supposedly had brood VIII in 2019 but I don’t recall any that year.


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## Lewzer (Apr 5, 2004)

When you would go outside in the national park in 1999 and 2016 the noise was so loud it reminded me of the Tommyknockers.


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## kingofamberley (Jul 11, 2012)

Lewzer said:


> When you would go outside in the national park in 1999 and 2016 the noise was so loud it reminded me of the Tommyknockers.


The sound blends together in to something that doesn’t even sound like cicadas anymore. I can’t describe it other than to say it’s almost like a wavering ambient drone sound.

I still maintain that the 2004 cicada wave in these parts was totally unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before or since. We shall see if this year is similar. Every critter from the squirrels to the birds were eating them. I remember even some people eating them and then having allergic reactions due to shellfish allergy lol. A couple small trees in my parents’ yard got beat up pretty bad from the cicadas making cuts to lay their eggs in. The base of every tree in the neighborhood was covered in dead or deformed cicadas that had fallen from the foliage. In gym class when playing tennis you’d hit them on accident with a racket when flying by and dice them in to pieces. My friend didn’t like bugs so we would throw them at him and they would fly in a straight line the direction you threw lol (dick move I know but we were teenagers, what can ya do).


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## UFM82 (Apr 6, 2004)

2004 was unbelievable here in SW Ohio around me. The developer did not doze all the trees on my lot when they built the house so the larva from the '87 crop were there. The ground behind my house looked like swiss cheese and the half exposed basement wall was covered with shells. I did a sample count. All the shells in a 1 square foot area totaled 119. About 320 square feet of space across the back of my house meant about 38,000 shells. That's an immense number. My daughter, who was 4 at the time, had a 5 gallon Home Depot bucket half full of adults. She thought it was the funniest thing in the world to "stir" the bucket and hear the deafening buzz when they all went off. Good memories! 

You know it.


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## buckeyebowman (Feb 24, 2012)

kingofamberley said:


> Yes you are right there are cicadas all over that hatch every summer, but the 17 year brood X is unlike anything they have in Cleveland. The sheer number of them (“billions” as per the article I linked) and noise level is surreal. She knows what a cicada is but can’t imagine the swarm. I’m sure there has to be a trickle down effect in the subsequent year or two from the massive influx of free calories in to the ecosystem.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


We had a big emergence 2-3 years ago in the Youngstown area. We played a golf course that borders Beaver Creek State Park. I don't know what brood it was, but they were just everywhere. The noise was deafening! You couldn't hear yourself think, and had to yell to make yourself understood from 10' away. Plus, the doggone things were smacking into us left and right. There were snow drift-like piles of shells at the base of every tree! 

And I have heard that the wildlife, including fish, will take full advantage of the opportunity.


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## M.Magis (Apr 5, 2004)

kingofamberley said:


> Yes you are right there are cicadas all over that hatch every summer, but the 17 year brood X is unlike anything they have in Cleveland. The sheer number of them (“billions” as per the article I linked) and noise level is surreal. She knows what a cicada is but can’t imagine the swarm. I’m sure there has to be a trickle down effect in the subsequent year or two from the massive influx of free calories in to the ecosystem.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Cleveland has the 17 year hatch too, I think their last one was 2016. It happens all over Ohio and the Midwest.


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## kingofamberley (Jul 11, 2012)

M.Magis said:


> Cleveland has the 17 year hatch too, I think their last one was 2016. It happens all over Ohio and the Midwest.


Cleveland probably has cicadas but not Brood X:










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## crappiedude (Mar 12, 2006)

One of my favorite baits to use during the big cicada years is a small Pop-R. We would use them to catch carp in lakes and creeks. It was a hoot.
A trip through those older neighborhoods in the Cincinnati area would be deafening.


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## Lewzer (Apr 5, 2004)

Here are my brood V specimens. 
1999 on the left, 2016 on the right.
I will be at full retirement age the next time they re-emerge. I’ll be retired long before that I hope.
My 1999 sample yellowed as I was young and not as knowledgeable and used a secondary amine. Used a tertiary amine for the 2016 sample. Should stay clear with no yellowing over the long term.


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## Saugeye Tom (Oct 6, 2010)

Lewzer said:


> When you would go outside in the national park in 1999 and 2016 the noise was so loud it reminded me of the Tommyknockers.


LATE LAST NIGHT AND THE NIGHT BEFORE....TOMMYKNOCKERS TOMMTKNOCKERS KNOCKIN AT MY DOOR

WANNA GO OUT, DONT KNOW IF I CAN...CAUSE IM SO AFRAID OF THE TOMMYKNOCKER MAN


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## buckeyebowman (Feb 24, 2012)

kingofamberley said:


> Cleveland probably has cicadas but not Brood X:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


You never know. That map is from 101 years ago! Seeing the eastern part of Oklahoma labeled "Indian territory" kind of gave it away!

Just checked a newer map from the US Forest Service. Cleveland area is Brood 5, and my area seems to be Brood 5 and 8, with some overlap!


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