Your one-stop website for fly fishing the White River, the Norfork Tailwater, and Lake Taneycomo
How To Tie Cicada
Cicada
Recipe:
Hook: TMC 2302
Thread: Danville 6/0 Black
Body: Bug Bodies #4 Ant Style
Underbody: Peacock Herl
Legs: Round rubber legs painted with prism color marker / Orange
Wing: Orange Deer Hair
Foam Post: Orange 2mm Foam
Step 1.
Start the thread close to the eye of the hook.
Step 2.
Tie in three stands of peacock herl where you started the thread and wind back to the bend.
Note: When selecting the herl make sure you cut the butt ends up about an inch or two so you are up in the good section of the stem.
Step 3.
Proportion the foam to hang more off the back of the hook, but leave a little to be off the front of the eye also. There are all types of foam bodies you can use and most tiers probably use 2mm sheets of foam and cut to shape for lots of foam body dries. I like these particular ones for several of my “foam” patterns because the are easy to use and make awesome bodies for lots of terrestrials.
When tying down make sure you tie each wrap on top of each other as your securing the thread on the hook shank. A little trick I learned along the way to keep the foam from spinning around the hook shank is to lift the foam up and tie in front of it as you making wraps to lock it in. I do this a few times so I know the foam will not shift. Once you tied it down you will want to keep the thread on top of the foam and not in front on the hook shank.
Note: Most of all the bug bodies I use for bigger flies are always the ant bodies in #4. They also come in white and I paint these in several colors to make other big foam hopper patterns.
Step 4.
Something Eric Schmuecker showed me a long time ago. Put a round rubber leg in the vise, clamp it down and pull it and twist it several times. Get a permanent marker on make a line down the whole strand as you are holding it tight. Let go of it and you should have segmented lines. How to get the tighter is to twist more and if you want them wider then only twist a few times. I usually prep the legs before I sit down to a dozen of them.
Step 5.
Tie the legs on each side. Make sure you have enough legs to go up the fly and form legs the same length you see on the back. The three strands of herl you have hanging off the bend of the hook go ahead and make one wrap in-between the legs to hide the thread wraps. Then lift up on the foam and wind forward almost all the way up the hook shank. Trim off the excess and posotion the thread where you see it in the picture.
Step 6.
Fold the foam over and tie down the next section. Repeat the same step as you did with the back, lift up the foam and tie in front of it to secure it. This will really lock in the entire piece of foam and it shouldn’t shift at all.
Step 7.
Tie down the legs in the front by folding them up along the side of the foam. Secure them with a few thread wraps on each side, but be careful on thread build up. You’ll be tying a lot of stuff in this one section with a lot of wraps stacking on top of the next one.
Step 8.
Cut a clump about a pencil width in size.
Note: In the picture I’m showing you to cut way down on the hide when cutting clumps of deer hair. That’s standard when working with elk or deer hair.
Step 9.
Stack the hair in a hair stacker and get the tips even, measure it to where the tips butt up with the tail end of the foam in the back, or maybe a little shorter. I trim the butt ends before tying down so there is no cutting excess when tying down the hair.
Note: You’ll know if you tied to much deer hair if you notice it pushing out the sides. The hair should all be on the top.
Step 10.
Cut a small square of 2mm foam and tie it in the middle of the foam. This will also help lay the deer hair flat and give it that “wing” look.
Step 11.
If you want to hide your thread wraps in the front then tie in one strand of peacock herl and make a few wraps. Tie it down, trim the excess and whip finish the fly. I usually do mine in front of the foam behind the eye of the hook (not on top of the foam).
