Transcript: Central VA Fishing Report with TaleTellers Fly Shop
Transcript
Marvin:
[0:04] Hey folks, it's Marvin Cash, the host of the Articulate Fly and we're back with another Central Virginia Fishing Report with Ethan Martin of Telltale's Fly Shop. How you doing, Ethan?
Ethan:
[0:13] I'm doing great today. How are you doing?
Marvin:
[0:15] Just trying to stay cool. I thought we were going to get a little bit of a longer break, but I guess not. Yep.
Ethan:
[0:21] It's officially July. Yeah.
Marvin:
[0:23] And it's dry. Yep.
Ethan:
[0:25] And humid here too. So it's, it's about that time of year where you walk outside and you just start sweating, even if you're walking to your car, 20 feet, you know?
Marvin:
[0:34] Yeah, for sure. And I guess, you know, the real trick, right, is that, um, there's really kind of, you know, not even like, you know, hatchery trout are available. I mean, trout fishing is kind of pretty much done until the heat breaks. Right. Yep.
Ethan:
[0:46] Yeah. Pretty much in this area, you know, central Virginia, if you want to fish, it becomes warm water, you know? So you're looking for small mouth and that's pretty much the bulk of what people around here are going to be fishing for.
And that's good news because I mean, it's been pretty good so far this year.
Topwater bite is kicking in.
And so, you know, they've been eating on bugs, they've been eating on still like retrieved bait fish patterns on the surface.
So you know, it's, it's toasty out there, but definitely it's a good time to get out and start fishing.
Marvin:
[1:21] Yeah, it's funny. We were talking before we started recording and we kind of know that, you know, you're getting ready to get into the groove on the top water action when you consistently hear cicadas, right? Yep.
Ethan:
[1:30] Yeah. That's what, uh, it's one of my favorite times of the year.
And now all of my kids, even my two year old, you know, when we go outside, see, they all notice anytime we're going around and hear cicadas out.
And, uh, you know, in our neck of the woods, it's just the annual cicadas.
It's not the one that everybody goes crazy about.
But I first started hearing them pretty good this week.
So it's only gonna increase. And so, you know, a good time, you can type some of the like Blaine's Foam Cicadas, that sort of stuff, or just, you know, a popper.
We'll get them. So it's definitely a great time to be out there and just be enjoying time out on the water, you know, taking out a newbie, because pretty much Bluegill or anything like that, they're gonna be smoking anything hits the surface of the water.
So super exciting time to get a kid or, you know, a crazy uncle or anything like that, uh, get them into fly fishing just because it is super visual this time of the year.
Um, and so, and everything's eaten. So if you got there just for blue kill and your little local pond in your area, um, you're going to catch fish.
So if they're around, you know.
Marvin:
[2:39] Yeah. And the great thing to, you know, fish in like top water is when we're trying to imitate cicadas and things like that is you don't, to your point, we don't have to be great on presentation, like they actually do want to smack it down and you don't really have to animate the fly a lot and you know the real trick is basically fishing from the shade end of the bank.
Ethan:
[2:59] And the other thing too, if you are going out and catching a bunch of like bluegill and stuff like that, and again, this is maybe the really experienced thing, there's going to be like, why are you talking about bluegill?
But you know, there's a lot of people that come into the shop that they just want to go out and catch bluegill.
And so one of the things you can do if you are fishing with kids is if you crimp down the barb on some of those poppers, it makes it a little bit easier if you catch a bluegill and they deep throw at the bug because that happens all the time and then you create this like awful scene for you know this little kid or whoever of you trying to just rip this popper out of this fish's mouth so that's something I do because also if you're fishing with a newbie you know sometimes they may cast a little closer to you or to themselves than than what you might like.
So it gives you just a little pad of insurance in case you do get hit or they get hit.
Because I've had that happen before and it's not so much fun.
Especially when it's like, you know, a little kid that you're taking out fishing and they rail you with a fly and then keep trying to wiggle the rod, figuring out what's going on.
So, you know, be mindful of that. And if you do take somebody out, it's a super easy thing to just whack the barb off real quick.
You know, I do that. Sometimes I don't do it all the time for small mouth, but they throw it a lot more and I don't like losing 20 inch small mouth, but that's just me.
Marvin:
[4:27] Yeah, and I would also say a good idea to wear a baseball cap and absolutely to wear glasses, right?
Ethan:
[4:34] Yeah, I have that problem every day though. I wish I could not wear glasses, but that's a whole nother.
Marvin:
[4:40] And you know, even if you have like little kids, I mean, you don't need to go get a pair of Costas for them.
You know, you can literally just go to Lowe's or Home Depot get a pair of clear safety glasses, um, cause that's, uh, you know, going to the emergency room from the fish and pond is not a fun thing to do. Yep.
Ethan:
[4:58] And the other thing too, on like a slightly other note, just cause I saw the photo today on Instagram is, um, Luke Martin, who, you know, probably stoked that I just said his name, but, um, he just posted a photo of a muskie.
He found a floating dead down the James cause he weighed fishes downtown all the time.
So just be mindful too, those musky this time of the year when the water temps be as hot as they're getting now, they can't really recover if you catch them and exhaust them.
So if you see them out there chilling at those creek mouths, just don't cast to them, just resist it, don't snag them or anything like that.
Because if you want to catch a musky, it's a lot easier to do when they actually exist in the river system in the fall.
So yeah, I mean, they've done warm water studies that do all that stuff, but most of the people that I know that say they have caught muskies this time of year, even accidentally, I mean, you have to either work forever to revive them or they die. So it's just.
I would completely avoid it if you do go out there and you see them.
I know it's super tempting when you see like a 45 inch muskie just cooped up or like three of them sitting there stacked up.
But you know just be mindful and be considerate of other anglers because if you go out there and you start whacking them and you kill all of them I mean it's kind of a sad day personally.
So yeah just be mindful of that too when you're out if you're fishing on the James.
Marvin:
[6:22] Yeah and I wish I I could say that's the only report that I've heard of that on the, uh, on the James river, uh, you know, my buddy Blaine was out, I think, uh, over the weekend with his family and found three.
Right. So, um, yeah, I mean, it's just, you know, this isn't, you know, we're not in Wisconsin and, uh, they just don't recover and, you know, a 40 pound fish takes a little while to grow, right.
Ethan:
[6:43] Yeah. Just a couple of years. Learn how to catch Gar. That's what you should do.
Marvin:
[6:48] Yeah.
Ethan:
[6:48] There you go. You want to catch a big toothy critter this time of the year.
Then learn how to catch some of those Gar and the James, because they can be pretty exciting.
You can catch them on game changers. I know guys that have done it, and they'll come up a whack at a fly all the time.
But, so I mean, that's another fun thing to do in the summer, especially if you've got like a raft.
It's not something I would spend like my whole day focusing on, but if you're floating down the James, you know, and you just have a six or seven or eight weight rigged up for catching Gar, you know, then that could be a fun thing when the opportunity presented stuff or carp.
I mean, there's all sorts of fun stuff around here.
So, um, you know, don't get just laser focused on one species this time of the year, uh, unless you want to get laser focused on small mouth, you know?
Marvin:
[7:33] Yeah, there you go. And you know, folks, we love questions on the articulate fly. You can email them to us. You can DM us on social media.
If we use your question, I will send you some articulate fly swag.
And we are drawing for something cool from the shop in the season.
And, uh, I noticed from your Instagram feed, you started doing some time events.
Do you want to let folks know upcoming events, any sales you got going on in shop hours and all that kind of good stuff, Ethan? Yeah.
Ethan:
[7:56] So shop hours have just been consistent. But we have started doing just social tying on Thursday nights through the summertime. So I know a lot of times what ends up happening in the summertime is people are out on vacation, that sort of stuff.
So rather than doing like a structured class, we're basically just meeting up to tie together and just kind of hang out. So if you watch our calendar, you'll see those dates pop up.
So yeah, it's been a fun time so far.
Marvin:
[8:23] Yeah, there you go. And of course, you're at your same location on Main Street, right?
Ethan:
[8:26] Oh yeah.
Marvin:
[8:28] Yep.
Ethan:
[8:28] And- For downtown Richburg, Virginia.
Marvin:
[8:31] Yeah, and you're still closed on Sundays and Mondays, right?
Ethan:
[8:34] We are, yep.
Marvin:
[8:36] Well, there you go. That's kind of, I think, everything you need to know.
You know, folks, it's hot, but if you change the game up and be sure to leave the muskie alone, you should go out there and catch a few.
Tight lines, everybody. Tight lines, Ethan. Tight lines.