June 12, 2024

S6, Ep 62: Casting Angles with Mac Brown: Warm Water Options and Cicadas

Join host Marvin Cash on The Articulate Fly for another engaging episode of Casting Angles with Mac Brown. Mac shares the excitement of his son's high school graduation and the family celebrations in Bryson City. Transitioning into summer, they discuss the end of the delayed harvest season in North Carolina and explore alternative fishing options. Mac offers valuable tips on targeting bream, smallmouth and catfish in farm ponds and rivers, highlighting the fun of catching catfish on dry flies.

Mac also delves into the potential of cicada hatches and their impact on fishing, sharing anecdotes from his experiences and insights on using cicada patterns. The conversation shifts to practical advice on fishing poppers and streamers, emphasizing the effectiveness of smaller poppers and simple streamer patterns like woolly buggers and finesse changers.

Whether you're planning your next fishing adventure or looking for expert advice, this episode is packed with valuable information and a few laughs. Tight lines!

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Transcript

Speaker:

Marvin: Hey folks, it's Marvin Cash, the host of the Articulate Fly,

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: and we're back with another Casting Angles with Mack Brown. How are you, Mack?

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: I'm doing great. How are you doing, Marvin?

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: As always, trying to stay out of trouble. You know, it's interesting.

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: You had a great weekend. Your oldest son graduated from high school this past weekend.

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: Yeah, that was a big, that was a fun time. I think that's the first time probably

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: since Jennifer and I've been married with all the

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: family on her side and my side was all up here in the great town of Bryson City

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: and we had a big cookout on the deck and celebrating that so that was a lot of fun.

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: Yeah it's interesting you know so that's a you know transition to summer I know

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: you were telling me Duncan is working on Deep Creek with the tubers and Connor's

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: down in Alabama at a camp but you know the other thing that's happened is you

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: know kind of that traditional kind of fall winter spring delayed harvest is over in North Carolina.

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: And so it's maybe a time to think about maybe some other options.

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: Oh yeah, there's a lot of other good options. You know, this time of year,

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: I like going like the Little Tennessee or the Pigeon. There's a lot of other

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: great places with like Brim and Smallmouth and farm ponds.

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: We don't have that many ponds here, but like where I grew up in East Tennessee,

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: there was literally probably a hundred in Greene County.

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: I mean, great farm ponds, some of them two and three acres big.

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: And of course, that was a big part of fly fishing growing up and would get into

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: summer, would be going to the farm ponds a lot and chasing bass and brim and

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: catfish and all kinds of stuff on the farm ponds.

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: And, you know, catfish are a lot of fun this time of year too,

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: because a lot of people think catfish, you know, throwing bait and fishing down deep.

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: But catfish until they're about 17, 18 inches are insectivores,

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: just like a trout. So they're beautiful, smooth, same size as a trout.

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: And they eat in, you know, you go down to Little Tennessee and throw a single

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: dry fly and catch all kinds of catfish that come up and eat it just like a trout.

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: So there's a lot of other things to go after for sure now that the D.H. is gone.

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: Kind of opened up and then of course we still got a lot of high elevation streams

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: if they want to chase blue line and deep trout but i think i don't know it's

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: a lot of fun still the water the water temp still in great condition here but

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: i've been on deep creek a lot this last week and,

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: and we're over at nolan creek and those creeks are still plenty cold.

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: Yeah it's interesting i mean i guess i would say you know if you were kind of

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: trying to figure it out i would say try to you know fish up on the blue lines

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: until maybe there's a water problem later in the summer.

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: And then the great thing about fishing farm ponds and lakes for bass and brim

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: and catfish is you can kind of beat the heat because you either get up really

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: early in the morning and you're done about 11 o'clock or you go fish that last like hour and a half,

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: two hours of sunlight at the day.

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: And, you know, it makes it a little bit easier to kind of fit in with all the

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: other stuff we do in the summertime.

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: That's right. Now I'm hoping we're going to get, I've been crossing my fingers,

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: we're going to get these epic cicada hatches that they're

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: having all over the country but we still have yet

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: to see a one like on where i live in

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: the valley at deep creek i haven't heard one or seen

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: a shock or anything but they're definitely happening in a lot of places and

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: uh my aunt sent a photo from where i grew up in the ozarks and they're literally

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: the husker like hundreds of thousands sitting around the bases of trees so i

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: mean certain places are getting them and if you happen to have that you know

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: if you're having a big cicada activity,

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: there's some really good stuff you can do with that i mean we're just not getting

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: it here but throwing cicada patterns on those same warm water cold water rivers

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: whatever you got whatever kind of water you got that's going to be definitely

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: preyed upon from a lot of different species yeah.

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: It's interesting because you know down here the periodics uh have pretty much

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: run their course and we're probably i would guess about a month away probably

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: from getting our you know normal annuals which is you know kind of what will

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: be the game kind of where i grew up in central virginia too but uh but yeah

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: it's interesting to see fish move to uh to crush those cicadas if they have a chance.

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: Oh, yeah. I keep thinking maybe we're going to get them. I keep waiting at night.

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: We sit on the patio every night on the back deck and sit around the caveman

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: television with the big bonfire pit.

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: I mean, if they're here, you'd hear them, but we're just not hearing them.

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: I don't think we have them here where I live, but maybe they're where some of the listeners live.

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: That'd be a fun thing to have. I've got boxes and boxes of cicadas just stuck

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: in here. I'm going to have to go somewhere where they're happening because I

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: don't think they're going to happen here.

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: I might go up to, I think they're probably happening up there in southern Virginia.

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: I've heard reports of some friends

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: up there that talked about having some pretty good cicada activity.

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: And I know up by Lake, by Hickory.

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: What's the name of the lake that's on 40 as you're driving to Hickory? Is that Lake James?

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: I don't know if they're having them.

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: Yeah, it might be.

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: Yeah, I'd have to think about that because it's not far enough east to be in the Pee Dee River chain.

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: But, yeah, I mean, they pretty much run their course here and around Greensboro

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: and kind of up into southwest Virginia because they've been out for,

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: you know, four to six weeks. And I think they only live about a month.

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: So, you know, if you figure they come out kind of over two weeks,

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: they pretty much kind of run their course. One thing I thought might be helpful

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: on the warm water front for folks, a lot of those bugs are pretty wind-resistant poppers.

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: Maybe talk to people a little bit about terminal tackle and technique.

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: I know one thing I do when I'm fishing poppers is I generally fish a pretty

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: short leader because it doesn't matter.

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: It helps those big bugs turn over a whole lot better. Sure.

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: Oh, yeah. Yeah. And then the small poppers too, like you don't have to go to

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: these massive big poppers.

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: Like on the little Tennessee, we throw poppers a lot of the time that are half

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: the length of your thumb, you know, just little small poppers with some rubber,

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: like Matamex rubber on the sides, you know, make an X pattern and then have

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: a little bit of marabou on the tail.

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: And those are quick to tie and they're real durable. we throw a lot of those for,

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: red eye bass and there's a lot of brim and there's a lot of catfish and smallmouth

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: that'll eat those small poppers and that's really the better pattern size to

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: throw as far as to see a lot of variety and different numbers of what's in there

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: and when you start going to the really big stuff,

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: in hopes of you know kind of like a lot of the big flies in the,

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: streamer game then you're going to be a little more lonely throwing a lot more

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: cast and if you catch one yeah it'll probably be a good fish but

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: But as far as on trips and things, if you're taking people down,

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: we try to stay on the smaller size stuff because they can see a lot more numbers

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: of a wider variety of fish, carp included, like glass carp.

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: And of course, those are a lot of fun on a popper.

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: Yeah. And I would say on the streamer front, I would keep it simple,

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: folks. I would say woolly boogers. I would say small finesse changers.

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: I'm a big fan of fish and CK bait fish. I think they're easy to tie and they're absolutely killer.

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: Yeah that'd be that'd be a good choice up here that'd be

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: a good choice all over and uh it's a lot

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: of fun i mean it's just kind of a different season a different time to time

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: to chase different you know i remember uh one of the trips marvin since we're

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: talking about going after different you know seasonal time change i remember

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: several years ago it's probably five or six years ago the kids we went out did

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: two and a half weeks on the buffalo river in Arkansas.

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: It's a wild, it's like a national wild scenic river.

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: And it was, it was amazing. I mean, we had the kids and the cousins there from

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: Colorado and it was just so, so much diversity.

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: I mean, Whitlock, you know, when he lived up there in Mountain Home,

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: that was, that was where he'd go the most to try a lot of his different patterns and things.

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: But it's an amazing fishing on the Buffalo. I'd like to go back out and do that.

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: I'd do that again in a second if I had the time to do it right now.

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: It's definitely your busy time of year, and I know you know that you're guiding,

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: and although there's a little bit of a transition there, but you also have the schools.

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: You want to let folks know about kind of the upcoming schools and kind of how

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: to get on your guide calendar?

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: Yeah, the best way is probably on the URL at backgroundflyfish.com.

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: And the next big thing probably is September.

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: As far as the casting school, there's a couple of spots left open for that,

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: and then it will be full, and we'll cap it off.

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: And there's a couple of specialized things still going on right now with –,

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: And different specialized type schools of, you know, dry fly,

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: wet fly type schools that are weekend courses. And those have been a lot of fun.

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: It's kind of fun to have, you know, eight, ten people a weekend to teach that

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: too instead of just like one person at a time.

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: It's just a little bit easier efficiency use of time, you know,

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: because you're going to cover all the same thing, whether it's one or ten.

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: So it might as well be ten.

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: Yeah. And so just to help folks, you know, if they want to do one of those,

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: I know, have you had your wet fly one yet? I know that was one that we've been

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: talking about the last couple of times we've been together.

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: Yeah, yeah, we did that. And that went over real good. And it was a good time

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: of year, still really cold, cold water.

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: And yeah, I have to look, actually. I don't even, I've been so busy with like

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: casting clinics and trips this last week before the graduation that it's bad

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: when you have to look at your calendar yourself to find out when stuff is.

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: But that's kind of where I'm at right now, Marvin. and I'm a little bit,

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: just from the last week of all the festivities, I'm a little bit behind.

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: Yeah, it's all good. You either need to hire somebody to keep you straight or

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: maybe just have a monkey paw and get reset.

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: Yeah, that'd probably be a good thing.

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: Well, listen, you know, folks, we have lots of opportunities kind of in the

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: southeast mid-Atlantic, you know, still time to chase trout,

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: lots of cool warm water stuff, smallmouth bites just going to keep getting better,

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: or particularly if you like fish in topwater.

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: So as I always say, you owe it to yourself to get out there and catch a few.

 

 


Speaker:

Marvin: Tight lines, everybody. Tight lines, Mac.

 

 


Speaker:

Mac: Tight lines, Marvin.

 

 

 

 

 

Mac Brown Profile Photo

Mac Brown

Guide | Casting Instructor | Author

Mac Brown is the owner of Mac Brown Fly Fish and Fly Fishing Guide School in Western NC. Mac created the first full-time fly fishing guide service in Western North Carolina. The first Delayed Harvest on the Upper Nantahala River in early 1993 was also a result of his efforts.

Mac Brown is the author of “Casting Angles” which is a fly casting handbook for those on the journey of understanding the mechanics of the cast. The ACA, FFI, and others have endorsed this text as a reference for instructors as well. Mac is a Master Casting Instructor through the Fly Fishers International.