by John Jefferson
I’ve been amused by happenings reported in our local newspaper.
It’s the invasion of the crickets. Some react like it’s a sign of the End Times.
While collecting a dry minnow bucket several inches deep in the little black insects for free fall fishbait, I noticed three young ladies stop suddenly in front of the gym we in-frequent.
One let out a mild scream. They huddled together by the curb, necks drawn into their shoulders, maybe trying to decide whether to call the cops, their mommies or just tweet all their friends about it. Then, they dashed through the gym door to safety inside away from the black pestilence.
None got bitten by the swarm. Good thing; from the way they reacted, one might presume that the bite or sting from a cricket injects venom that immediately paralyzes all ability to talk on a cell phone. My research, however, failed to turn up any CDC studies or statistics on how fast cricket venom works on the human body – assuming there is any. In fact, Google has no information about anyone EVER having been bitten by a cricket. It did acknowledge that crickets possibly could bite, and carry several diseases, but none seem fatal to humans. Just avoid contact and don’t ingest their feces. TPWD biologist Ross Winton agreed.
Conversely, crickets are frequently bitten and eaten whole by numerous predators including snakes, frogs, toads, lizards, other insects, songbirds, some hawks… and fish.
They make excellent bait for panfish, bass and catfish. I have even caught the geographically confined Rio Grande cichlids (often called “Rio Grande perch”) on crickets. Rio Grandes are restricted by Nature to an area from Austin to the Rio Grande. The newspaper didn’t include fish as predators, but I have written about the fall phenomenon for over 20 years in a monthly magazine fishing column. I expect every year for the editor to say, “That’s enough of this cricket crap!”, but so far, he’s indulged me. After all, how many magazines have their own “cricket columnist”?
This cricket swarm usually occurs in the fall when the first cool front drops the nighttime temperature into the 60s. It’s a mating thing. Some of you might understand. It might have skipped a few years, perhaps due to milder summers. I anticipated it this year and advised my son-in-law to watch for the temperature drop. I took him and my grandson “cricket fishing” last week. My other grandkids have also done it. Terrific fun!
The “swarm” also confirms that the waters are cooling and fishing for all species is improving. My friend, Allen Christenson, Jr., wrote about it in his column last week. Allen guides out of Lakeway Marina on Lake Travis. He didn’t mention crickets but did suggest white spinnerbaits that imitate fleeing shad – for bass. I out-fished two most-admired fishing buddies on different occasions using white spinners. Allen also suggested white buzzbaits and Whopper Ploppers.
October’s the time to experiment with different lures or baits. The fish are hungry!
JJ
