S6, Ep 56: Road Warrior: Matt Reilly on Cicadas, Smallmouth and Fishing the Rain
Join host Marvin Cash on The Articulate Fly for another engaging "Southwest Virginia Fishing Report" with Matt Reilly. In this episode, Matt shares his latest adventures, from chasing cicadas in East Tennessee and North Carolina to navigating the unpredictable waters of Southwest Virginia. Despite the hectic schedule, Matt remains upbeat, offering valuable insights into the current fishing conditions and what anglers can expect in the coming weeks.
Matt delves into the periodic cicada emergence, explaining the patchy distribution and the challenges of finding the best fishing spots. He emphasizes the importance of understanding the bugs' specific ranges and how to adapt when certain areas don't yield the expected results. As the conversation shifts to fishing tactics, Matt discusses the nuances of keeping fish interested as they become satiated with cicadas, offering tips on how to adjust your approach to maintain successful catches.
The discussion also covers the impact of recent heavy rains on local rivers, with Matt noting the high water levels and the need for patience as conditions improve. He provides advice for targeting smallmouth bass, highlighting the transition from spawning to more aggressive feeding behaviors and the continued viability of streamer fishing through the early summer months.
Matt's practical tips and firsthand experiences make this episode a must-listen for any angler looking to navigate the complexities of seasonal fishing in Southwest Virginia. Whether you're dealing with cicadas, high water or transitioning fish, this episode is packed with actionable advice to enhance your fishing adventures.
To learn more about Matt, check out our full length interview.
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Speaker:
Marvin: Hey folks, it's Marvin Cash, the host of the Articulate Fly,
Speaker:
Marvin: and we're back with another Southwest Virginia Fishing Report with Matt Riley. How are you, Matt?
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Matt: Man, I am tired, but I'm doing great. How are you?
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Marvin: I'm getting there. Yeah, I guess you've become like the Jiffy Lube man,
Speaker:
Marvin: getting your oil changed every week.
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Matt: Uh yeah yeah exactly i really don't want to know um how many times i've launched
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Matt: my boat or uh how many miles i've driven in the last months or so.
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Marvin: Yeah it's almost like southwest virginia is almost slightly ironic right because
Speaker:
Marvin: you've been down relatively close to me fishing cicadas you're telling me you're
Speaker:
Marvin: you know burning up the road heading back from east tennessee so you kind of
Speaker:
Marvin: haven't even really been home right yeah.
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Matt: Not a whole lot um i have a very understanding family well.
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Marvin: There you go it's important well it's okay you know periodic cicadas only happen
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Marvin: every 13 or 17 years so you got to like have your priorities right yeah.
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Matt: I mean or like every two or three or four depending on how far you're willing to drive.
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Marvin: Which sounds like you're willing to drive quite far so you know we were kind
Speaker:
Marvin: of talking before we started recording you know it's It's kind of been a little
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Marvin: bit patchy, kind of, you know, let's just say Southern Virginia,
Speaker:
Marvin: North Carolina, East Tennessee on the cicada front.
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Marvin: Some people have a ton of them and some people don't really have very many at all.
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Matt: Yeah, I mean, that's to be expected to a large degree.
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Matt: That's just the nature of the bugs. They have a very specific,
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Matt: each brood has a very specific range.
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Matt: Range and for the most part it's
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Matt: pretty well understood um but there
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Matt: there are still places and we've seen a couple um in
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Matt: fact some of the heavier you know areas with
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Matt: heavier distributions for for brood 19 that
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Matt: have uh you know not been
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Matt: you know very much on
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Matt: the radar there's there's that
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Matt: um but yeah some of the some of the areas i had expected to find some heavier
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Matt: concentrations were kind of patchy and um did really seem to be maturing into
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Matt: much so we kind of hung around for a little bit and then hit the road again
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Matt: and found some other stuff so,
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Matt: that's kind of what you have to do if if you want to find the best mission that you can end.
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Matt: But thankfully, I'm exceptionally lucky in the sense that I have clients that'll do,
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Matt: a lot of things that I ask of them and, and trust me on that stuff.
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Matt: And, and, uh, I don't get a whole lot of opportunities these days to just hop
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Matt: in a car, drive off to someplace I've never been before for a week.
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Matt: So it's, uh, it's welcome for sure.
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Marvin: Yeah. And so it's interesting, right? It kind of makes me think about like fish
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Marvin: in the salmon fly hatch out West that, you know, as this periodic cicada thing kind of keeps going,
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Marvin: you know, the fish are going to get pretty satiated on them i mean kind of what
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Marvin: do you have to do kind of as the season wears on you know you got you know they're
Speaker:
Marvin: looking up they're looking for the bugs but you know how do you get you know
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Marvin: fish that are you know getting kind of fat and super happy uh to eat it.
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Matt: It does happen and kind of i think it depends on i i would say well i mean the
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Matt: two primary motivators for that are are the the the volume of bugs and the volume of fish,
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Matt: you know, if there's fish in a big body water, that's just got a stupid number
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Matt: of fish and a stupid number of bugs, they can spread that wealth out pretty well.
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Matt: Um, and it takes quite a while.
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Matt: I mean, most, most, most fish will just continue to eat, um,
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Matt: while the biomass is there.
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Matt: Um, but there, you know, I have, I have run into places in the past couple of weeks, um,
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Matt: where there were a lot of bugs and frankly
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Matt: not that many fish eating them and which
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Matt: which is you know to be clear it's common early on
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Matt: in a periodical scana emergence um but
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Matt: it usually matures to a point where you
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Matt: do have a lot of fish eating these bugs and
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Matt: um it sounds some places where just
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Matt: you know there were you know some big grass
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Matt: carp or catfish or something eating them
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Matt: and not much else and uh yeah you'd
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Matt: hit some big blocks of time where there's just not a
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Matt: whole lot going on even though there's still lots of bugs on the water um some
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Matt: of the best periodical state edge and edge fishing i've had has been in places
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Matt: where you get out and you can you know there's a obvious presence of bugs but
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Matt: there's you know it's not super crazy heavy on the water Because,
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Matt: you know, if there's a ton of them on the water,
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Matt: part of the reason is because they're not getting eaten up, you know.
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Matt: So seeing fewer bugs on the water and fish cruising around and eating them is
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Matt: really kind of the sweet spot.
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Marvin: Yeah. And, you know, I guess we're saying we're expecting to kind of see this
Speaker:
Marvin: kind of be heavy for maybe the next two to three weeks or so.
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Matt: I would say three weeks is certainly a stretch, and it kind of depends on where you are.
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Matt: It tends to last for four to six weeks as a general rule.
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Matt: The lifespan of an adult periodical span is closer to four weeks,
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Matt: but they don't all come out at once.
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Matt: There's a bell curve there. there so you know in a lot of places in the south
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Matt: the first couple bugs started popping kind of,
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Matt: late april um and if you have bugs hatching for a week or two growing and not that that puts you
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Matt: know early first week of may or so and then you know four weeks after that puts
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Matt: you to early to mid-june so that's that's kind of what i would expect um and
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Matt: you know again it depends Depends on where you are.
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Matt: Emergence timing has everything to do with weather, specifically ground temperature,
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Matt: and microclimates are a thing, and, you know, latitudinal gradients and weather
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Matt: and temperature are a thing.
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Matt: So it's not a homogenous thing across the country.
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Marvin: Got it. And of course, the other story in our part of the world is we've had
Speaker:
Marvin: a fair amount of rain, right?
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Matt: That's right. The rivers in my neck of the woods have been full to high to blown
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Matt: out for the last couple of weeks.
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Matt: Almost no matter where you look, short of some tailwaters. And even like before
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Matt: we hopped on the phone, I was looking at the gauges and some of our trout streams in the mountains.
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Matt: And they're up to kind of marginally waitable right now because we've had pretty
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Matt: heavy rain about every three to four days for the last couple of weeks.
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Matt: And it does look like it's drying up here in the coming week or so.
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Matt: So that's a good thing. But yeah, I'm glad to not necessarily be home right now.
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Marvin: Yeah. It's interesting too, right? Because where you are in Southwest Virginia,
Speaker:
Marvin: you know, so much, you know, varies just based on which side of the mountain the rain falls on.
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Marvin: But sometimes you can get some of that stuff that's in the Smokies and it can
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Marvin: really mess you up a little bit.
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Matt: Yeah. You know, I mean, well, for one, you know, the New River watershed,
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Matt: the head of it's in Western North Carolina. So that's certainly relevant. of it.
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Matt: Um, and then, yeah, I mean, it's, it, uh, really not, not too far from the Smokies.
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Matt: So if we get, if we get those big systems that are kind of moving West to East
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Matt: and they hang on the mountains right there, they can very easily impact our area too.
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Marvin: Yeah. So I guess, you know, whether you're fishing for trout or small mouth,
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Marvin: um, you know, I guess the clue is, uh, maybe, you know, fish on structure until
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Marvin: the water kind of drops out a little bit, but, uh, what do you think folks should
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Marvin: expect to see on the small mouth front once the, you know, give it another two
Speaker:
Marvin: or three days and things kind of start to come back into kind of more seasonable shape.
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Matt: Yeah, the, um, I have been smallmouth fishing a couple of times in the last couple of weeks.
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Matt: And, you know, as, as I would expect, we're kind of progressively seeing, uh,
Speaker:
Matt: spunkier and spunkier, um, big females post-pawn fish that are just recovering
Speaker:
Matt: fully and, and chasing food around and, um, and then fewer and fewer males sitting on nests.
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Matt: So, uh, that's a, that's a good thing because one it's, it's,
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Matt: it makes fishing a little easier cause you don't have to dodge,
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Matt: um, big nesting areas and stuff like that.
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Matt: And two, um, you just have, just have more happy, aggressive fish in the system
Speaker:
Matt: and water temps aren't crazy hot yet.
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Matt: Um, we're still, still in what I call the spring.
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Matt: We've still got a fair bit of a, of a streamer bait fish bite ahead of us.
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Matt: So, um, yeah, it's good fishing,
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Matt: um, the next couple of weeks and, uh, you know, if, if, uh, nothing else,
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Matt: hopefully this bit of rain kind of sets us up for not dreadfully low flows through,
Speaker:
Matt: you know, August and September.
Speaker:
Marvin: I'll remind you that when you tell me you've been dragging your raft over rocks, but at any rate.
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Matt: Well, I don't have to tell you that you can just assume that's the case.
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Marvin: But I know that's good news for you because, you know, even though people love
Speaker:
Marvin: to fish topwater, I know you really, you know, it's like so many guys that guide
Speaker:
Marvin: for smallmouth, they really just can't let go of that streamer bite.
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Matt: Yeah, it's, uh, I mean, I would, I would say it's almost the opposite.
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Matt: Sometimes people, as soon as it starts getting warm, people want to hop on the
Speaker:
Matt: top waterfront and, and we've, we've talked about it before.
Speaker:
Matt: Um, you can, there, there's usually a window early to mid to late,
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Matt: you know, kind of, kind of depends on the timing of the spawn,
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Matt: but it's usually, you know, early through late late may where you know topwater
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Matt: bug fishing popper fishing can become pretty effective and,
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Matt: um i think really what it
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Matt: is a lot of times is is just people tossing bugs
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Matt: on top of nests along the bank and you know nothing else seems to be working
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Matt: that well because they're streamer fishing and they throw the fly at the bank
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Matt: and the fish kind of follows out doesn't eat you know it's not not eating and
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Matt: a lot of times that that can just be a male that's just kind of escorting your.
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Matt: Your threatening bait fish away from its nest but if
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Matt: you splat a bug on top of it and don't move it they'll come up and eat it or
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Matt: suck it in or grab it or whatever and uh you know it kind of kind of creates
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Matt: this little bit of a like you know oh bug season's happening early kind of thing
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Matt: and And like I said, while that can be viable,
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Matt: it also don't necessarily think it's the greatest idea.
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Matt: And then there will be basically until mid-July, there's going to be some foraging
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Matt: events that distract the fish from topwater flies.
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Matt: And that's not to say that you can't have some fantastic topwater fishing through,
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Matt: you know, May, June, early July.
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Matt: But non-game bait fish, spawning activity.
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Matt: Post-spawn feeding activity on the smallmouths front, and crayfish molts kind
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Matt: of late, late June, early July will all be things to consider.
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Matt: So, I mean, streamer fishing is definitely not in the rear view.
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Matt: And I would say to anybody fishing between now and what I would call the real
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Matt: start of bug season sometime in mid to late July.
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Matt: If things aren't going on top, there may be a reason and you may see a switch
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Matt: to some flavor, a streamer do you a lot of good.
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Matt: So kind of just pay attention to what you're seeing and what's going on around you.
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Matt: Don't be too hardheaded on that front.
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Marvin: There you go. Good life advice, too. And we know that, you know,
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Marvin: folks, we love questions on the Articulate Fly.
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Marvin: You can email them to us or DM us on social media, whatever is easiest for you.
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Marvin: And if we use your question, I will send you some articulate fly swag.
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Marvin: And we're going to draw in for some cool stuff from Matt at the end of the season.
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Marvin: And, you know, Matt, I would imagine at this point, you know,
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Marvin: barring cancellations, you're probably pretty well taken care of until October.
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Marvin: But you want to let folks know kind of what you have available and where they
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Marvin: can find you and all that kind of good stuff?
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Matt: Yeah. Yeah, all my small updates are spoken for at this point.
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Matt: Um but you know
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Matt: i'd say that the next major thing is is musky season
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Matt: and um and that
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Matt: i'm probably gonna get in the swing of that probably the last week of october
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Matt: um maybe the first week of november and uh and we'll roll on through early march
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Matt: but the my website is matt rileyflyfishing.com and my phone number's on there,
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Matt: my email's on there, and however you want to reach out, I look forward to hearing from you.
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Marvin: Yeah, and don't wait until they put the pumpkin spice latte in Starbucks to
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Marvin: book your dates or you'll be fishing next year.
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Matt: Right? No, yeah, that's the truth, man.
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Marvin: Yeah, so we'll listen, folks. As I always say, you owe it to yourself to get
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Marvin: out there and catch a few.
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Marvin: Tight lines, everybody. Tight lines, Matt.
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Matt: Thanks, Marv.
Matt Reilly
Guide | Fly Tier | Outdoor Writer
Matt grew up stomping around the warm water creeks and rivers of his native central Virginia, just a stone's throw from the James River. He's been blessed with a great many mentors, including his father, who introduced him to fishing before the age of two.
In his teenage years, Matt took his first professional venture into the outdoor industry as a freelance writer and photographer, and soon secured a weekly outdoor column in The Daily Progress' Rural Virginian.
After heading south for college and falling in love with the fisheries of southwest Virginia, Matt established his guide service in 2018. Today, he is a father, husband, USCG-licensed captain, and a leading fishing guide specializing in smallmouth bass, musky, and other predatory game fish. He speaks regularly on a range of topics. His writing has appeared in several national and regional publications like Eastern Fly Fishing, American Angler, Fly Tyer, Southern Trout, Hatch Magazine, and Virginia Wildlife. He is also an ambassador for Reilly Rod Crafters, a producer of premium fly rods based in Virginia.
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