A Bug's Life (and death)
Posted by Pete Robbins on Jun 6th 2021
Have you ever bought a fishing lure, not for a particular lake or a particular situation, but rather for a particular date?
My Megabass Grand Siglett has been sitting in its package, hanging on the pegboard, since I bought it perhaps five years ago. When I saw it, I knew that I’d want to have one when the cicadas emerged in Virginia, as they do every 17 years.
It happened when I was a junior in high school, and then again when I first bought my house. During that latter hatch, my roommate Kim had a beagle named Sunny who loved to eat the little boogers, so she’d drive him to another neighborhood with fewer of them for his morning walks. I don’t recall if the fishing got much better that time. I was fishing locally a lot more then and probably had about my usual success – nothing cicada-specific.
This time I was ready to turbocharge that success with a lifelike replica, and when I hit the water on Friday I had it tied on. It did not produce immediately, but after getting a few buzzbait strikes I leaned on it a little more until a chunky 2 ½ pounder grabbed my bug. After that, nada, until I went back to the buzzbait, at which point I started getting bit again. Then the sun came out and a Chatterbait produced better.
So was the Grand Siglett a success? I’d say it was, if nothing else because I can now say it lived up to its intended purpose. Perhaps more importantly, it’s a pretty badass little wobbling lure. Cicadas or not, I can think of some lakes near here and some situations where I think it’ll be better than a popper or a walking bait. It’s not going back in the package for another 17 years.
