S6, Ep 142: Winter Musky Adventures and Streamer Tactics with Ellis Ward

Hey folks, it's Marvin Cash, the host of the Articulate Flower, back with another East Tennessee fishing report with Ellis Ward.

Ellis, how are you?

I am doing pretty good, Marv.

How are you?

I'm just trying to stay out of trouble.

You're looking forward to Santa Claus?

Yeah.

Is he coming?

It's December.

I guess so I'm not ready yet, but sure, I am looking forward to that.

Yeah, it's going to be here before you know it since we have kind of one week less than we normally have.

But, you know, interesting for you, right?

I mean, if you like to fish for muskie in the cold, you got what the doctor ordered.

Yeah, we've been out.

I was out the last two days with clients shout out BART fishing in pretty cold weather, but thankfully the wind held out one of the days.

And first time musk angler saw a bunch of muskies, which is always nice.

Didn't get one in the boat.

But that's the part of muskie fishing that, you know, Instagram and most podcast interviews don't talk about.

But it's, it's nice to see him active and you know, getting, getting a guy who's never seen one before to, to see multiple following his fly and it is, you know, there because there's never any guarantees and you can do everything that, that is right and it doesn't happen and occasionally you can do some wrong stuff and you're, you're gonna have to do everything to stop a muskie from eating your flies.

So trick is getting out there.

One of the cliches, and I've said this before, but one of the very few cliches that I 100% support and it makes sense is that you can't catch them from the couch.

So you can do as much, you know, mental working out, if you will and tie.

And I've gotten myself in trouble before, just tying too much and thinking of this, that and the other.

And is this hook strong enough?

And how about this articulation warrant?

I'm not saying go break 25 pound articulation wire catching a muskie.

But yeah, find a way to get out there.

You can make time to tie and do other things when it's dark out.

So got some good dates available through December and January, February starting sort of little pockets starting to fill up.

But muskie is going to, that train is going to keep rocking and to allay any fears after Helene, it's, you know, I'm seeing the homes.

I'm sure I said this last time, but the Muskie homes are still there.

The logs that were there through all of the high water events in my five years of fishing these areas, they're all there and everything remains intact.

Just like it was a normal little two day bump and flows from a non biblical rain.

So yeah, it's, it's been good and I'm getting geared up for, for a little bit of bucktail trout here and there and as much musky as my body will handle.

Yeah.

And I know this isn't where you fish for muskie but I imagine people want to know is the Wataga starting to clear up yet?

Nope.

I, I had.

Yeah.

Bart went trout, mosky muskie and that was Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

On Thursday I went out and I had been out on the Watauga the week before and I, I went out with my buddy Jack and he got a nice fish two handing and a nice brown and a giant rainbow in a pocket eating a changer.

And this was in 500 cfs so it's like it was a weird little push of non 240cfs like real low waters.

So it was like it was low but there was enough.

There was a bit of a cushion there.

They probably just knew Jack and I were going out there and I mean it's chocolate milk, you know, game changers, swim bugs, drunken disorderlies that can dovetail nicely into water column discussion.

But we're two handed stuff and fish and hairbugs and more or less not seeing the fly.

And so I'm actually going to steal this from Jack.

But it was like you know, six or seven parts per million per day was the.

You know and if it's wrong it's his fault.

But it's clearing.

That's the turbidity variance per day.

So it's clearing up very, very slowly.

Yeah.

And I think that's all there is to it.

I gotta, I got to imagine that the, that rate will continue just because the South Holston actually has this sort of tinge.

It's.

It almost reminds me of a limestone creek.

Some of the, you know, the little J and pens and fishing up in Pennsylvania.

It just got this little bit of, you know, when it's like more than a foot deep you start to get a little bit of a tinge and.

And you're really not seeing the bottom clearly.

And it still seems very clear relative to most other rivers but you know relative to the South Holston which is like you're counting blades of grass when you're in 8ft of water and that's still hanging on.

So.

Yeah, I mean they're.

I saw spawning activity on the Wataga when we were there.

We could see, you know, backs of fish kicking around and had a couple.

I moved a couple really big fish, probably, you know, super pre spawn, but moving them off of the, the deep slack cuts so not, not off reds and.

And then the ones we are seeing doing the, you know, doing their thing, that's very much red territory.

So is it fishable?

I'm not sure.

Does, you know, if, if I had a conversation with someone and they were up to the task, like we moved some big fish and I missed an E and Jack caught two nice ones.

So yeah, it's.

You can fish it.

It just depends on what you want to do.

Got it.

Got an interesting question for you too from Jared and he wrote in and he wants to get your thoughts kind of on the best fly line for streamer fishing.

And I think he's really looking for you to not only tell us that, but also kind of break it down based on where you want to fish that streamer in the water column.

Yeah.

Oh dear.

I need a whiteboard.

I need three whiteboards, different colored markers.

This is one that we can go super deep on.

And I don't know it's worth doing that at some point, but not in a couple minute answer.

So I've, I've said this a bunch, but I'm a big fan of the Rio Outbound Short.

A lot of that has to do with, well, a lot of it has to do with.

With a lot of the components of the Rio Outbound Short.

So I'll kind of get into what those are.

One is the durability.

So for me, durability, like I, I can't fish and I can't guide with broken lines.

And when we, when we are fishing, when I'm fishing and when you are fishing on my boat, man, we, you know, we fish in inclement weather, in mud, you know, musky fishing in a sandy river.

Just thinking about like relative to other fly line use, which is, you know, dry fly line.

You know, if you're casting two rising fish, you know, you're casting it out and probably being pretty ginger with it.

Nymphing line is that, man, that's out of the boat and hopefully your tips up and half of it's off the water.

Streamer line is.

How many different casts are you putting out there?

Hundreds, thousands.

And every single time you're ripping it back in the boat, you see the inside of my boat, Marv, you've been in it.

There's.

There's nothing because we're, you know, I've taken seats out and put rod tube holders that don't interfere with your stripping.

And you're, you're stripping back into the boat every single time.

And you know, you're walking on the lines getting tangled up in your feet.

We're putting them in trees.

I fish.

I try to do 15 pound minimum fluoro.

And that's mostly so we can get out of trees.

12 pound, we end up donating too much.

And so that durability becomes really significant.

And that's all kind of start talking about the water column a little more.

But that's, that's a big part of why the real outbound short is.

Has been such a mainstay because that's just, that's the deal breaker.

The other is because I can get it in multiple different configurations in the triple density, you know, that, that seamless gradient.

So it doesn't feel like you're casting something with a hinge on it, like what you get with sync tips.

And so I'm partial to the intermediate sync 3 sync 5.

So it transitions from intermediate, which is like 1 inch per second, to sink 3, which is 3 inches per second, to sync 5, 5 inches per second.

And you know, that's when you compare to the airflow.

You know, the shovel head, I think terminates in six or seven inches per second.

It.

It could be, it could be more.

And then some of the other, like scientific anglers, triple density sinks very quickly.

And I don't like the diameter of the line.

It doesn't feel good to fish personally to me.

So that, that sink three, sink five, combined with the diameter of the line, you put on a slightly shorter leader and a slightly sinkier fly and like a peanut envy, something with weight on it.

And you can get, you can find depth very, very quickly.

You extend that leader say four or five feet.

Really that's on the outside.

And scientifically speaking, the, you know, terminal end of that would be floppy something like 15 pound.

So there's not as tight of a connection to the fly.

And you're fishing a hair bug.

With the sync 3 sync 5, you can fish a swim bug.

Drunken disorderly, some of the other unweighted swim flies.

G.

Game changers.

You can keep that pretty darn near the surface, which, you know, obviously if the water skinny, you want to do that.

And then sometimes that's.

That's what is going to get them to go.

I like to do that in muddy water.

I've talked about that and you're, you're not, you're not starting from that.

Sync5 sync7 or if you're going with the shovel head or if you're going with the, you know, the ridgeline or the streamer max long, you're not starting with this place that you have to fight against which would be really, really dragging your fly down.

If you want to, you know, plummet stuff then, and, and, and sort of that's your starting point.

Then the shovel head or the streamer max long, man, those things get down.

And it's why I shy away from that is because sometimes I don't want that.

I want to be able to have flies hang for a second.

If I am fishing something with a little bit of weight.

So not as sinky like the, the peanut envy type thing, but maybe something with deer hair like a dungeon.

I still want to be able to work it and give it kills during that retrieve.

Keep in kill zones, let it fall over weed lines and you can, you know, that combination of line leader length and fly buoyancy is, is really where you explore the water column.

And for me it feels like the Rio outbound short intermediate sync 3 sync 5.

You have room to both, you know, go low and also stay up top.

And some of the other streamer lines, you don't have as much room.

You can get lower, but you don't have as much room on the upside.

So I'm going to stop there before it's tomorrow.

Yeah, dude, I launched two more drones to come and get you.

Please do it.

Yeah, just in time for the holidays.

Well, you know folks, we love questions on the articulate fly.

You can email me or DM me on social media, whatever's easiest for you.

And if we use your question, I will send you some articulate fly swag when you're drawing for some cool stuff from Ellis at the end of the season.

And for the end of this season, we're going to actually draw in two weeks on the next fishing report because I generally try to stay off the airwaves and in theory not work as much as I normally do the last couple weeks of the year.

But get your questions in and you know, Ellis, before I let you go this evening, a couple things.

You know, one, apparently you're stacking big time bucktails.

You ought to let folks know about that but also know about kind of, you know, a little bit more detail around your calendar and how to get on the boat and all that kind of good stuff.

Yeah.

So to the extent Anyone wants to fish?

I, I've, I've had regular clients.

Actually this is something I've been meaning to bring up.

If, if it's, you know, two days out, give me a shout.

If I'm booked, I'm booked.

If not, I couldn't be happier to take last minute trips.

I, I, I love those.

Um, so I have availability, a good amount of availability in December actually with a couple cancellations.

And January, February are the, you know, those are prime post spawn brown trout streamer months where the ceiling is, is quite high.

And I would encourage you to, you know, I'm starting to get weekends and the good moon days booked up.

So either for muskie or for trout, give me a shout so we can work out a time that is convenient both for the conditions that we might be able to control like the moon and for you to get here and hopefully fish for a day or two.

What else?

Bucktail.

Yeah, I have three, four different processors in the works and in the freezer here with some fresh tails hanging out that I haven't gotten to quite yet, but that'll start.

That train is going to pull out from the station here in the next day or two.

I'm not going to say tonight, but it might be.

And that'll be available on Ellis wardflies.com It will also be sold in Tailwater, the Tailwater Fly company shop owned by my buddy John at the bottom of the South Holston River.

And you can find out more by following along at Ellis Ward guides on Instagram and best way to reach me he talk about trips or whatever else.

So my cell phone at 513-543-0019.

Well there you go.

And remember folks too, we've got two great opportunities in our community hosted on Patreon.

If you have bucktail fever, there's one level that will get you a discount on Ellis's bucktails and then there's another level actually get you a annual $100 guide credit.

So you know, if you want to buy yourself an early Christmas present, you should definitely do that.

And you know, even though it's chilly, you know it's going to probably be more miserable in February.

So I would encourage you to get out there and catch a few.

Tight lines everybody.

Tight line.

Zealous.

Appreciate it, Marvin.