One of our favorite styles of lures to use when chasing estuary and river species like Bream, Estuary Perch and Bass is a Cicada style topwater lure.
Summer and the warmer months gives us that unmistakable sound of the Australian bush where the cicadas are calling. At times it can be deafening, and the abundance of these creatures can be hard to comprehend. But to us fisherfolk it gets us fairly excited at the prospect of our target fish smashing our Cicada lures off the surface with gusto, creating some of the most enjoyable fishing going around.
When to use
Like all top water lures, cicadas are best fished around periods of low light, think dawn and dusk. However with that said they can still prove effective on bright sunny days when pitched up into deep shady pockets or under overhanging vegetation.
Retrieves
With the action built in to all of these lures, they really are as simple as casting and retrieving, however, adapting your technique to suit the fishes mood can drastically affect your results. Understanding how your cicada swims, and how to get it to swim at its optimum as quickly as possible, can also help your strike rate. Think of fishing your cicada like driving a boat. Drive it too slowly and it will plough through the water, to quickly and it will become uncontrollable. Cicadas are a great lure for targeting snag dwelling fish like bass and estuary perch, but if your lure dragging through the water for the first meter or two it will look un-natural and could possibly spook any fish that may be there. Once you are ready to commence your retrieve, its best to either give the reel a quick crank or a pop of the rod tip to break the lure free from the surface tension, and commence your retrieve. adjust your retrieve speed while watching the lure and you will quickly find its optimum swim speed.
