Smallmouth Episodes

Episode Overview In the final Pennsylvania Smallmouth Report of the season on The Articulate Fly, Captain Brian Shumaker of Susquehanna River Guides explains how to keep putting smallmouth bass in the boat as Central Pennsylvania's rivers drop to low, crystal-clear fall levels. It's a timely fly fishing podcast segment for anyone chasing smallmouth late in the season, when the fish get stingy and every presentation mistake gets punished. Two weeks after a healthy shot of rain, a nor'easter...

Episode Overview On this Pennsylvania Smallmouth Report from The Articulate Fly fly fishing podcast, host Marvin Cash checks in with Captain Brian Shumaker of Susquehanna River Guides for an early fall conditions update as the smallmouth bite makes its seasonal shift from bugs to streamers. With surface temperatures dropping into the 60s ahead of an incoming rainy, cooler pattern, Shumaker explains why the region's smallmouth bass are moving off the shallow flats and staging in deeper pockets...

Episode Overview On this Southwest Virginia Fishing Report from The Articulate Fly fly fishing podcast, host Marvin Cash checks in with guide Matt Reilly of Matt Reilly Fly Fishing for a late summer update on the New River system. After weeks of stable weather, low water and daytime highs in the mid-80s to 90s have kept conditions consistent, though Reilly notes this year's annual cicada hatch has behaved differently than usual, peaking early and sporadically rather than settling into the typ...

Episode Overview Captain Brian Shumaker of Susquehanna River Guides returns to The Articulate Fly fly fishing podcast for another Pennsylvania Smallmouth Report, breaking down how a fresh round of heavy late summer rain has muddied the Susquehanna and Juniata rivers and reshaped smallmouth positioning heading into Labor Day. Shumaker explains how localized thunderstorm tracks determine which branch of the Susquehanna blows out and which stays clean, meaning anglers who understand the West Bra...

Episode Overview What happens to a Southwest Virginia smallmouth fishery when storm after storm rolls through a watershed for weeks on end? On this Southwest Virginia Fishing Report from The Articulate Fly fly fishing podcast, host Marvin Cash checks in with guide and writer Matt Reilly of Matt Reilly Fly Fishing for a late-summer update on a region caught in a relentless rain pattern, with flash floods dumping 6 to 7 inches of rain in an hour on parts of the watershed while the New River hol...

Episode Overview On this episode of The Butcher Shop fly fishing podcast, host Marvin Cash welcomes back Kirk Klingensmith for Part Two of their Science of Streamers conversation, this time digging into the physics behind swim flies and the Game Changer platform. Klingensmith brings an engineer's eye to the vise, breaking down why doubling a fly's length doesn't mean doubling its diameter and why that distinction matters more than most tiers realize. The conversation opens with the geometr...

Episode Overview On this Pennsylvania Smallmouth Report from The Articulate Fly fly fishing podcast, host Marvin Cash checks in with Captain Brian Shumaker of Susquehanna River Guides for a mid-August conditions update on the Susquehanna River system in Central Pennsylvania. After a heavy rain event pushed the river up, Shumaker reports flows are now falling and clarity is returning, with roughly two feet of visibility on the edges and more color still out in the main current. That in-between...

Episode Overview On this episode of The Butcher Shop fly fishing podcast, host Marvin Cash sits down with Kirk Klingensmith, a retired Corning engineer and lifelong angler, for a physics-driven breakdown of why streamers move the way they do. Klingensmith, who wrote the "physics of fly motion" chapter for Blane Chocklett's Game Changer book, brings a scientist's eye to the vise, translating drag, momentum and weight placement into practical tying and fishing decisions. In Part One of this two...

Episode Overview On this Pennsylvania Smallmouth Report from The Articulate Fly fly fishing podcast, host Marvin Cash checks in with Captain Brian Shumaker of Susquehanna River Guides for a peak-summer conditions update on the Susquehanna and Juniata rivers in Central Pennsylvania. Flows are running skinny with a stretch of cool mornings and low humidity, with rain in the forecast to bump levels back up. Shumaker breaks down a topwater program built around a heavy blue damsel bite, the arriva...

Episode Overview What happens to smallmouth bass fishing in Southwest Virginia when a big summer rain event hits after weeks of low, clear water? On this Southwest Virginia Fishing Report from The Articulate Fly fly fishing podcast, host Marvin Cash checks in with guide and writer Matt Reilly of Matt Reilly Fly Fishing for a real-time look at a region caught mid-storm, with rain hammering areas south of Radford and across northeast Tennessee while the New River itself stays comparatively unaf...

Episode Overview In this Pennsylvania Smallmouth Report on The Articulate Fly fly fishing podcast, host Marvin Cash checks in with Captain Brian Shumaker of Susquehanna River Guides for a midsummer conditions update on the Susquehanna and Juniata rivers in Central Pennsylvania. Recorded following a stretch of triple-digit heat punctuated by heavy rain, the report finds Shumaker firmly in prime topwater season, with blue damselflies coming off heavy from late morning into the evenings and the ...

Episode Overview A scorching Fourth of July heat wave is bearing down on Central Pennsylvania, and the Susquehanna and Juniata rivers are about to test every smallmouth angler's heat tolerance. On this Pennsylvania Smallmouth Report from The Articulate Fly fly fishing podcast, host Marvin Cash checks in with Captain Brian Shumaker of Susquehanna River Guides for a candid, safety-first conversation about fishing smallmouth bass through triple-digit conditions. With water temperatures pushin...

Episode Overview In this Southwest Virginia Fishing Report from The Articulate Fly fly fishing podcast, host Marvin Cash checks in with guide and writer Matt Reilly for a late-June conditions update covering the bug bite, streamer strategy and musky gear. With water running very low and clear across most drainages — and a near-94°F heat spike bearing down on the region for the Fourth of July — Matt explains why the current conditions are still worth fishing hard. Damselflies, dragonflies and ...

Episode Overview In this Pennsylvania Smallmouth Report on The Articulate Fly fly fishing podcast, host Marvin Cash checks in with Captain Brian Shumaker of Susquehanna River Guides for an early summer conditions update on the Susquehanna River system in central Pennsylvania. With late spawners still working through a post-spawn funk and a stretch of volatile weather keeping temperatures yo-yoing between the 70s and the low 90s, Shumaker explains why the region hasn't fully transitioned to to...

Episode Overview In this episode of The Articulate Fly fly fishing podcast, host Marvin Cash sits down with Josh Trammell, Head Guide at Mad River Outfitters in Columbus, Ohio, for a candid look at what it takes to build and sustain a full-time, four-season guide career. Josh covers the Ohio multi-species fishing calendar — smallmouth bass, northern pike, steelhead and carp — along with seasonal guiding in Alaska and destination schools targeting musky and trophy trout. Josh traces his pat...

Episode Overview In this Pennsylvania Smallmouth Report on The Articulate Fly fly fishing podcast, host Marvin Cash reconnects with Captain Brian Shumaker of Susquehanna River Guides for an early-June conditions check on the Susquehanna and Juniata rivers in Central Pennsylvania. Recent heavy rainfall pushed both systems well above normal — the Susquehanna approaching 12 feet, the Juniata topping 10 — and Brian breaks down how he's fishing the receding flows and what anglers can expect as the...

Episode Overview In this Southwest Virginia Fishing Report on The Articulate Fly fly fishing podcast, host Marvin Cash checks in with guide Matt Reilly of Matt Reilly Fly Fishing for a candid late-spring conditions update covering the post-spawn transition, dirty water tactics and the seasonal arc ahead. Recorded amid rising, stained flows on the New River and surrounding drainages — following months of below-average flows — the episode captures a moment when Southwest Virginia smallmouth fis...

Episode Overview In this Pennsylvania Smallmouth Report on The Articulate Fly fly fishing podcast, host Marvin Cash reconnects with Captain Brian Shumaker of Susquehanna River Guides for a timely late-spring conditions check on the Susquehanna River system. The frog bite has been exceptional — two solid weeks of deer hair bug action — and Brian breaks down exactly how to rig, dress and present deer hair frogs for surface-eating smallmouth before the post-spawn funk sets in. Beyond the fishing...

Episode Overview The Articulate Fly's Pennsylvania Smallmouth Report returns with Captain Brian Shumaker of Susquehanna River Guides, delivering a timely mid-spring conditions update for the Susquehanna River system in Central Pennsylvania. This episode cuts straight to the practical challenge facing every Mid-Atlantic smallmouth angler right now: how to fish effectively when an extreme pattern of temperature swings — 80°F one day, back to the 50s by mid-week — is compressing and disrupting t...

Episode Overview The Articulate Fly returns to Southwest Virginia with guide Matt Reilly of Matt Reilly Fly Fishing for a candid late-spring conditions update covering the 2026 striper run, the smallmouth spawn transition and the tactical realities of fishing during one of the most compressed and drought-affected springs on record. Marvin Cash and Matt dissect a season that accelerated and stalled simultaneously — an extended cold February followed by an abrupt heat spike of 85–95°F days in l...

Episode Overview This fly fishing podcast episode launches the inaugural Pennsylvania Smallmouth Report on The Articulate Fly, featuring host Marvin Cash and Captain Brian Shumaker of Susquehanna River Guides. The episode arrives at a pivotal moment in the Pennsylvania smallmouth spawn cycle, with an unseasonably volatile spring — swings from the upper 50s to the 70s in water temperature within days — compressing what is normally a methodical, staggered spawn into a chaotic quest to pattern p...

Episode Overview In this Southwest Virginia Fishing Report on The Articulate Fly fly fishing podcast, host Marvin Cash checks in with guide Matt Reilly for a timely spring conditions update. With pre-spawn smallmouth season winding down under extreme drought pressure — flows running at roughly a fifth to a quarter of seasonal averages — Matt breaks down how he's adapting tactics on the water in real time. Rising water temperatures, driven by a stretch of days pushing into the upper 70s and ne...

Episode Overview This fly fishing podcast episode delivers a timely late-winter transition report from Southwest Virginia, covering the critical window when musky season winds down and pre-spawn smallmouth bass fishing kicks into gear. Host Marvin Cash reconnects with guide Matt Reilly of Matt Reilly Fly Fishing — a USCG-licensed captain and specialist in smallmouth, musky and other predatory game fish in the New River system — for a frank assessment of where conditions stand and what anglers...

Episode Overview In this Southwest Virginia Fishing Report from The Articulate Fly podcast, guide Matt Reilly discusses late January/early February winter conditions on the New River and tactical considerations for musky anglers navigating frozen water and seasonal transitions. Reilly details how 6 to 9 inches of snowfall combined with sub-freezing temperatures have kept the New River frozen for nearly two weeks, creating challenging access conditions while fish hold in predictable winter lie...