Transcript
Marvin:
[0:04] Hey folks, it's Marvin Cash, the host of the Articulate Fly and we're back with another East Tennessee fishing report with Ellis Ward. How you doing Ellis?
Ellis:
[0:12] I'm doing well this morning, how are you?
Marvin:
[0:14] I'm just trying to stay out of trouble and we were joking that you should probably not quit your day job and become a meteorologist because you've got some uncharacteristically chilly weather in your area that you didn't expect.
Ellis:
[0:29] Bad foresight a month and a half ago saying it wouldn't be below freezing.
Yeah, there was frost on the ground this morning.
Marvin:
[0:34] Yeah.
Ellis:
[0:36] And the night before, next couple nights are 30s.
Marvin:
[0:41] Yeah, which is going to kind of put things in a bit of a funk, right?
Ellis:
[0:48] Yeah, I think one, I'm not going to go too far on this metaphor, but one man's funk is In other words, it's going to do something bad to some fish and it's going to light up some sections of the river or lake or bait in other ways.
Marvin:
[1:08] Trenton Larkin Got it. And so, in terms of the turning on, turning off, what should folks expect to see?
Ellis:
[1:16] Yeah, so on the trout streams, and this is the time of year where my days and my brain and attention span are even more scattered than they are normally, but I do kind of break things down between the trout streams and other.
So the aquatic insect, we're looking at the tail end of the caddish hatch.
I think a lot of folks would qualify it as over maybe a week ago, but that's just not the case.
It can be tough, but you got to understand that these fish are not eating the duns.
They'll occasionally eat an elk hair caddis, but it's because you have a nice little leggy cylindrical profile that looks like a pupa hanging down into the water with your deer hair floating in it.
So I would encourage everyone who's able to fish this area in the next couple of days to start early, you know, go out late and get creative with how you're approaching your.
[2:39] Your drifts, I'll call them, or your presentations. So the caddis eat is violent and they're eating a moving bug.
It's something that is swimming almost at the speed of the current trying to get up and out of the water.
So if you're able to move whatever it is you have, I've got them on pheasant tails. I have a little caddis pupa that does well for me.
If you're seeing them eat like that and you can hit them kind of right on the head and move that fly, whatever it is.
[3:17] I would say that's your best opportunity to get a pretty good fish when otherwise they're not going to eat a dead drift.
The sulfurs are starting to go and PMDs, whatever you want to call them, the 16 to 18 yellow bugs, and as this is happening, there's just a fuzz of tiny bugs, the too small to tie, too small to fish type bugs, but that's just to point to the fact that there's so much food in the system right now that even when we get shocked for a few days, the lake above us is pretty insulated and it was hot.
It was 80s and high sun, and we haven't had any releases for a couple of weeks.
So the water was warming up relative to the tailwater, and it's not that we're begging for low 30s nights in late April, but it certainly doesn't hurt anything.
And it keeps that water at a comfortable temperature and kind of cools down the rocks that have been baking. So, the CATA stuff is, it's not really gonna...
[4:42] Accentuate the fizzle out, it was kind of already on the tail end.
And then the days are pretty warm. They're upper 60s, low 70s with full sun, so those sulfurs are going to get going midday to into the evening.
And non-trout streams. Couple cold snaps in lakes that are warming up to the point where striper are moving.
[5:17] As striper are moving, and there's a bunch of theories around this one, the bait is, the bait's moving too, the bait, the little shad, they don't like that lake warming up any more than the stripers do.
And so we'll see him up in the, I'll see him pretty far up into the Watauga.
Lower South Holston is, there's a couple zones where you might see him, but yeah, both ends, that bait's starting to get towards the mouths of the tailwaters.
And when that happens, and they get hit with a 30 degree night, a lot of them are going to get shocked.
So if you're able to get out early the next few days and poke around at some of those river mouths, you may see some dying shad getting eaten, but that goes for the entire area.
Those all the the reservoirs that have a giant population of shad and striper, they'll get shocked and sucked into generators and pushed through dams.
So that's I mean that's all of the TVA system. So there's a lot happening right now, a lot's been happening in the last couple weeks and yeah cold snap can do some fun things.
Marvin:
[6:43] Yeah and that sort of answered Logan's question which was the water to target for the big white bass as they're moving up.
Is there I guess anything you can add to what you just said.
We kind of understand that the bait's moving up out of the lakes, so that's where the fish are going to be. But any kind of targeting suggestions to maybe target some of the bigger stripers, or you you just have to get out there and fish them.
Ellis:
[7:05] Yeah, I would say you need to go fish.
There's publicly available information on certain areas where you're more likely to find them, but the mouths of rivers into the reservoirs and then below dams of reservoirs or pieces of water that are known to hold stripers, are the best options.
Then of course, if you can get out early or late and look for bait getting blown apart on the surface, put your fly there.
Marvin:
[7:45] Yeah, got it. And you know, we're doing a two for today.
So we've got a really interesting, you and I were talking before we started recording, a really interesting fishing from a driftboat question from Bruce and kind of to unpack his question, it's really about Bruce doesn't fish out of a drift boat a lot, and is having, I think, sounds like issues with accuracy and distance and basically, I guess, pace in terms of, you know, hitting the spots fast enough before he floats past them.
And so, there's a lot of stuff there to talk about. You know, you can kick it off and I can chime in.
Ellis:
[8:19] Sure. So I start off every trip mostly with new anglers, with folks I fish with once or twice.
I'll give them some reminders and regulars.
We're kind of going at speed.
[8:41] I go through a bunch of stuff, and I get feedback from them, and then we go.
So that's just a point to the fact that when you're out fishing, when you're out fishing streamers, when you're out working water, it is not done in isolation.
I'm not rowing the boat in a way that I would just always row it.
And you're not fishing based on just the water. There's boat speed, there's distance to the bank.
[9:13] So, assuming he's being either rode by a guide, rode by a friend, I'm not sure.
Um, I would encourage a, either a, a strong conversation about how that relationship works and expectations around it, because if he's concerned about missing or accuracy or all this other stuff, um, I mean, this is just a part that's so near and dear to my heart.
Um, part of the guides job description and responsibility and why you call yourself a guide is, is to do certain things, maybe throw a little closer to the bank, all that other stuff.
Um, they, they can start to get someone closer to confidence.
And then you, then you start getting accuracy and then you start getting line speed and distance and all that. So the first thing I would say is, is have a conversation with whoever's rowing your boat about expectations.
And if you're missing shots, um, you know, recognize that the next shot's going to be pretty good too.
[10:24] Um, as far as accuracy, again, there's just, there's so much here that I don't know, but if it's 50, 60 foot casts, um, you You know, maybe it's getting things down closer to 20 or 30 and skipping over water, you know, rowing through water that might require bigger casts.
But, um, yeah, the, the, the big thing here is not being.
So hard on yourself for missing shots or not having the accuracy down, because it's a team sport out there.
Marvin:
[11:02] Yeah, and I mean, it's an interesting, I mean, it's what I would say is, particularly if you're fishing with someone new, on the guide front, and this applies, you know, you said streamer, but it's really true for indicator, dry fly, whatever you're doing.
You know, one thing that helps is, you know, and this happens more, I think, probably on salt than freshwater, but guides will say, you know, show me 40 feet, right?
And then they know what you think 40 feet is, right? And then they adjust throughout the day because they know that's what you think 40 feet means, right?
So, you might say, give it a little bit more or take it a little bit back.
And then I would say, you know, fishing in a river as opposed to on salt, the clock face is not as important.
Important, but, you know, to your point, you know, there's a fair amount, usually a fair amount of communication, right.
Cause you're fishing and you're watching your drift and usually, uh, whoever's on the sticks is going to say, okay, you've got X, you know, downstream and 10 feet, and I want you to be able to, um, you know, hit that spot next, right. Yeah.
Ellis:
[12:02] And hit it at Y, you know, five feet upstream and yeah.
And let's Lynn and let's go over that right now. Uh, but Marv, your example right there is, was perfect.
And it's something that Bruce could probably take to whoever he's fishing with of, you know, let's, let's go, let's go through a little simulation of what does 40 feet look like.
Marvin:
[12:23] Yeah. And I would say too, you know, uh, on the distance thing, I mean, you know, there's so many things that, uh, you know, a good oarsman can do for you in terms of holding the boat, right.
Slowing down the drift, um, to your point, you know, if you.
Need to chop 10 feet off a streamer cast. You know, what that really means is you're just got 10 feet of less water you're presenting your flies to, but it doesn't mean you're out of the game, right?
Ellis:
[12:49] That's right.
Marvin:
[12:50] And then you and I were talking about kind of how to hit the spots. And I think the...
I would say the goal would be to probably, I don't know, starting out, Bruce, I would say if you can cast 30 feet without false casting or maybe one false cast, because I think part of, you know, what you really need to do, let's kind of put sinking lines and all that craziness to the side for a second and wait and how that makes life difficult.
But, you know, if you can pick your cast up and basically put it right back down, that's going to work a whole lot better for you. Right.
And, you know, one of the great things about fishing out of a drift boat is you can you have a little bit of space to be a little bit sloppier because you're not blowing a spot by, you know, lifting your your fly off the water the wrong way. So you have a little bit more room for error.
And then, you know, LSU and I were talking before in terms of accuracy.
I mean, practicing is great, but I think the biggest thing out of a boat is, you know, look where you want your flies to go.
And that's about the best kind of hack I know, know, because it's going to get your shoulders turned in the right way.
And your body is, you know, built, whether you're, you're, you're hammering nails or throwing a baseball for that type of, uh, you know, heuristic.
Basically. Yeah.
Ellis:
[14:12] Um, look at your spot, keep your eye on the ball.
And when you find a place where you want your fly to go, make sure it gets there.
So put, put some steam on it, a splat right where you want your fly to be is a, in my experience, not just an okay thing that's ideal.
So the, the, there's a whole, you know, casting philosophy around this, but line speed, when you develop line speed and you're able to get a cast that rolls out with no wiggle in it. There's no S, it's a straight line.
Dry flies, whatever it is. Once you're there, you can start to incorporate other stuff because your fly is going exactly where you want it to go.
So finding out where it is that you're going to go and you're not, you're not lobbying it in there and having your line, you know, land with a bunch of asses in it, you're putting that thing down.
So yes, I, I am the ball. And I told you, Marv, I'm going to steal that one.
Um, where should I, where should I be looking, you know, where should I cast?
Pick a place where it looks like you should put a fly.
Marvin:
[15:29] Yeah. And to your point, once you kind of iron the cast out to basically get it straight, you know, that allows you to reach, reach men upstream.
I mean, it allows you to do a lot of things that, uh, it opens up so much.
Yeah, because it allows you Bruce then to, you know, the, the advantage of being in the drift boat and particularly being in the front is you can get really long drifts and you can present the fly, uh, well ahead of the fish.
And once you can do that, it allows you to basically get all the benefits you have of waiting in a stream where you can basically get your fly and your line in the lane so that there's no drag, right.
Particularly if you're, and it makes it easier, your oars mineral appreciate it because he doesn't have to back row all day. Right.
So, uh, yeah, I guess that's, uh, anything else you want to add Ellis before we, uh, we move on.
Ellis:
[16:20] Uh, yeah, like a couple hours or days worth of conversation around this.
This, this is a really important one. So, uh, I'm sure we'll touch on more.
Marvin:
[16:31] Yeah, absolutely. And you know, folks, we love questions on the articulate fly.
You can email them to us and we thank everyone that hit us up on Instagram.
You seem to like the stories. You can send them to us on social media.
And if we use your question, I will send you some articulate fly swag.
And we were entering a drawing for two days of fishing with Ellis and a night at the Watauga River Lodge. And Ellis, before I let you go out and do some recon and chase some carp, you wanna let folks know where they can find you so they can book in fish with you?
Ellis:
[16:57] Yes, sir. Instagram is a good place at elliswardguides.
My website is elliswardfishing.com. And the best way to get more information, have a conversation about casting, book a trip, is just reaching out directly on my cell phone at 513-543-0019.
Marvin:
[17:27] Well, there you go. Well, listen, folks, you owe it to yourself to get out there and catch a few. Tight lines, everybody.
Tight lines, Ellis. Appreciate it, Marv.