Brood X has been a big deal to me ever since I was a little kid growing up in Maryland.
I was born when they emerged in 1970 .
Heard the Epic stories from all the bass and panfish anglers my pops was friends with describing how crazy it would get.
I was a teenager and fished it in 1987 Live lining cicadas for giant bluegills on a few farm ponds I had access to at the time.
Fished it 2004 as a new father with rebel cricket hoppers on my ultralight on tree lined tidal creeks For Bass .
This time around I’m fishing it as a middle aged Dude “On The Fly”
To mark this very special occasion in my life I had a Heddon Mk4 rod rebuilt and customized to fish the Brood X season with.
Startled Life as a well preserved lightly fished Heddon Pal Mk4 Model #8455
8ft 7wt with “controlled flex action”
These are the Later/crisper actioned rods but still are Somewhat full flexing.
After an extensive phone/email consult with Matt @ Proof fly fishing To sort out the hardware
I went with snake brand 10mm and 12mm Stripper Guides
Also Replacing the Og snake guides with upsized snake brand guides with the ECOting for better shootability . Matt’s insight and advice are an invaluable resource and I’m thankful he’s a member here on FFr
Since I’m a child of the 70s/80s I love gaudy Disco wraps.
Give me some underwraps, some Mylar and a bunch of spirals And I’m a happy camper ..
Decided on some thread colors that represents an eastern cicada so went with a Copper/brown underwrap that represents the cicada’s old skin/shell/exoskeleton
Then the dark taupe/greenish/black wraps are the cicada’s body As they start green then go to black After molting and drying out.
Then the red spirals represents their eyes.
When they molt some specimens eyes will be red before they turn orange. And since red is my favorite color red it is..
The blank and cork were in great shape and need just a lil cleaning up. The Allen reel seat is super bright and shiny which matches perfectly to the Daiwa 732 reel I’m using.
Had a custom American Walnut butt cap Machined and installed to replace the plastic Heddon cap.
This rod will cast any 6/7/8 wt line you line it with.
I’m currently using some Wright&Mcgill
WF8 floating line With an 8ft 12lb Test Orvis fluorocarbon leader to throw these big bushy Rainey’s super-cicada flies
Rod is performing even better than I expected
The accuracy I’m able to achieve even with the bushy fly on 8wt line is amazing.
I’ve put the cicada into some tight windows with this rod.
The brood has been peaking in the last week and the sound is just gargantuan in some areas.
Fish are finally starting to key on them since they are now falling from the trees on some waters.
Our lil dog Harley Has been keying on them for a few weeks now. Lol
Going to concentrate on fishing waters where the sound was most deafening .
May take a trip to some bigger lakes/reservoirs in search of some BIgUNNS.
May the Brood be with you
Ottobahn