Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, June 12, 1995 TAG: 9506120014
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN/OUTDOOR EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
``I just don't want many of my bass partners, and the guys I compete against, to know I am fishing for carp,'' he said. ``But there are more of them out there doing it than you'd think.''
Blame this diversion on the invasion of cicadas, which frequently are called 17-year locusts.
Most anywhere you can find these big bugs chanting along the shoreline of an impoundment the fishing will be turned upside down. Bottom-feeding species, particularly carp and frequently catfish, suddenly take on trout- and bass-like traits and become surface-feeders.
On a good day, an angler can cruise the shoreline with a fly rod or lightweight spinning outfit and locate carp swirling on the surface. A well-placed cast that puts a fly or lure near the orange-colored, bugle-shaped mouth of a surface-sucking carp can result in a hookup with a burly fish that weighs 5 to 10 pounds or more.
When that happens, expect to get your line stretched and the drag on your reel tested. Carp fight with brute strength in a flat-footed, back-alley brawler's style that can pull hooks out of lures, pop lines and make your arm ache to the bone.
``I hooked one that went running up the bank,'' said Ralph Key of Roanoke. ``I said, `That can't be a carp.' My reel was just burning. It was like fighting a 20-pound striper.''
The warrior was a carp that weighed about 5 pounds.
``The fishing is a ball,'' said Tuck, who lives on Smith Mountain Lake and has been savoring the cicada-hatch action for about two weeks. He and some of his bass-tournament buddies are tossing aside widely held prejudices that carp are beneath the dignity of real fishermen and thinking about - what else - organizing carp-fishing tournaments.
The bulk of the cicada-carp action appears to be on the upper, Roanoke River side of Smith Mountain Lake. Carvins Cove also has a hatch. Less activity is reported on Claytor Lake and Philpott Reservoir.
``We have just a little bit, nothing like down your way,'' Sam Phillips, of Lakeside Marine Supply on Claytor, told a Smith Mountain angler.
Bill Maydian, of the Corps of Engineers staff at Philpott, said he hasn't seen or heard any cicadas. Neither Phillips nor Maydian can say for certain if the insects are late getting started in their area, or won't appear for another year or so, if at all.
The last major flurry of carp fishing under cicada flies at Smith Mountain Lake occurred in 1979, when the action was brisk on the lower end of the impoundment.
Some anglers expect to see the insects show up on that portion of the lake and the Blackwater side next year, if not later this year, said Tuck.
All you have to do to find cicadas is to follow your ears. The male insects often assemble in large groups and produce a loud, whining chorus to attract females.
The nymphs live in the ground for years, then, full-grown, come out, climb trees and shed their skin to emerge as adults. Where the adults grow weak and fall into the water, the carp gather to enjoy the banquet table that suddenly is spread before them. Even then, these fish seldom become a pushover. You'd best stalk them as you would a skittish bonefish.
``The same presentation that will take a 20-inch brown trout will spook a carp,'' said Paul Calhoun, a fly fishermen who lives in Salem. And a 20-inch carp will outfight a 20-inch brown every time, he added.
Fells Lam, one of Smith Mountain's top striped bass fishermen, believes carp activity is best on a calm, quiet morning. When it is windy or there are boat wakes, the carp can be tough to spot.
``They will make a wake,'' he said. ``They will go right along the top and you can see their mouths sticking out of the water. All you have to do is just lay the bug in front of the carp and you've got him.''
Tuck isn't certain how much longer the fishing will last.
``Some anglers already have been into it maybe a month,'' he said. ``So we may have another 30 days. I know they [cicadas] are dying very quickly right now. I hope there is another 30 days left for us to enjoy it.''
The hatch has sent anglers scampering after lures and flies that will match the size and color of the cicadas, which have dark, brown-to-black bodies, red eyes and reddish-orange wings.
Tuck has had his best success on Teeny Torpedoes, which he paints black. Other small surface lures work well, and so do floating-sinking lures such as the ultralight Rebel Crawfish. Key has been catching carp on jigs with plastic tube-type tails.
Fly fishermen can entice carp with sponge-rubber bugs, popping or skipping bugs, deer-hair bugs and flies such as the brown woolly worm.
Some bait fishermen will collect live cicadas and fish them with a small hook under a float.
While the carp won't discriminate over angling techniques, at times they can be maddeningly selective, moving in on your offering, maybe even slurping at it, then swimming away at the last second.
That only increases the thrill and challenge of a sport that comes along all too infrequently.
``I just hope I'll be around and able to fish when they show up next time,'' Key said. ``I will be 73 then.''
by CNB