Cheating

Like most fly fishermen on the east coast, I eagerly awaited Brood II of the magicicadas. I dreamed of trout and carp feasting upon hapless cicadas floating in rivers and ponds. As we all know, they ended up being a major disappointment and not many people ventured out to find trout or carp to catch on size 4 dry flies.  I was lucky enough to find some phenomenal trout fishing but was left disheartened with the lack of carp action. I decided to take matters into my own hands and thus, have a confession to make.

I totally cheated.

At a local pond, the mulberry hatch coincided with the magicicadas. Carp were actively devouring semi-ripe and ripe mulberries falling into the water. When I arrived, I found a dead cicada next to the water and thought, what the heck? Let's give it a go. My size 4, black magicicada was devoured on cast after cast. The problem was, that the carp were too small to properly suck it off the surface. I fully took advantage of their gluttony and utter lack of selective feeding to catch one on a cicada. I apologize for my wrong doing. Seventeen years from now, maybe I can make up for my injustice. I fully and sincerely apologize.