The Summer cicada symphony, was being played out in the bush and the orchestra was into the second movement, by the time I stirred myself to go and perform with them. My part was to be the solo, because my usual fishing mates were unavailable, as they were still fully immersed in their workaday week. A scratch around in the fly boxes turned up some appropriate patterns and with lunch packed and the bung in, I headed out with my instrument of choice. But enough of the musical references.
The first question was, which lake should I pick to launch Silver Frog on, so as I drove up the valley I pondered possibilities. There’d need to be trees along the water’s edge and paddocks behind them, from where the cicada larvae would have emerged.
The life cycle of these creatures is somewhat complex and while most of us hear and can see these insects as they reach maturity, there are several other stages in their existence.
In brief, the female deposits eggs in the cracks and crevices of trees or on plant stalks, then after hatching, the nymphs drop down and get themselves underground, where they’ll feed on root sap for the next 3 years. In America they can live underground for up to 17 years before emerging. At around the 3 year mark our New Zealand variety will emerge and climb to an elevated spot such as a tree branch. There they shuck off their skin from the nymphal stage and after their wings have expanded and hardened, they can fly away to begin a brief adult life of 2-4 weeks. This is the time both the angler and the trout are interested in, as for the trout it’s a good lump of protein in one bite and of course the fly fisher can readily fool the fish into taking an artificial cicada.
So where should I head to? I decided Poerua was the best one and when I got out of the car, the penetrating buzzing and clicks were most evident.
Excellent thinks I, this will be easy, cicadas everywhere and by now the fish will be aware of them. Another good thing is that not a lot of finesse is needed in the casting department either, as the naturals plop down onto the water, so a similar approach is useful – cast and splat! Fits well with the at times, errant way I get a fly out. So down the ramp I backed Silver Frog, slid it off the trailer and parked up the AWD. So pleased I bought the Suby XV as it allows access to this ramp, which could be better described as a rock embeded, gravel slope. Got caught here once some years back – my Datsun 180B at the time, had a slightly flexible front skirt or valance, but while I scrapped over a protruding boulder on the way down, the vehicle got caught behind it on the way out. The only solution was to force the issue and luckily it didn’t split, as I revved back up the incline, in fact there was hardly a scratch. Phew! Another time, another car and the wheels spun on this ramp, making it impossible to haul the boat out, so a call to the AA brought timely assistance. Phew again!
Once on the water I made a deliberate move to row quietly along in front of the parking area, as often people launch, then go hither and yon across and up the lake, ignoring water that is close at hand. I had hardly made more than a couple of oar strokes, when a fish appeared, so I dropped an artificial cicada ahead of it and waited for the take. Along came the fish, it deviated slightly from its path and moved in, moved out again, but turned and had another look, then sneered and stealthed away. At least it had a look I said to myself and that was enough encouragement to continue with the pattern. Blow me down, the same thing happened, further along about 5 minutes later. Thinks I, a change to a different cicada pattern was required and as it happened, that was the one that did the damage and opened the account for the day. I’d wafted slowly along the margins, sighting a nice fish a little ahead and going away, so plopped the fly to one side in it’s field of vision and voila, it raced over and snaffled it. It was somewhat put out by being fooled with the artificial and tore about the lake in quite a rage, until it was controlled, netted and released. The fish took off in quite a hurry. The cicada symphony was still being performed, so sticking with the same pattern, I spent a very enjoyable time in the sunshine, picking off several more, while working around the lake edges.
Being a weekday and after the main Christmas/New Year holiday period, I only saw 1 other boat out there and that had headed off up the lake in the other direction, so I thoroughly enjoyed the solitude and peace of Poerua. Being in the audience for the cicada symphony, plenty of sunshine, some compliant trout and all on a week day, this retirement business is pretty good.
