S6, Ep 83: Hot Days and Clear Waters: Matt Reilly's Southwest Virginia Fishing Report

Marvin: Hey folks it's marvin cash the host of the articulate fly we're back with another

Marvin: southwest virginia fishing report with matt riley matt how are you i'm.

Matt: Good man same old same old hot and tired.

Marvin: And uh despite that we were talking it's like uh you're in the in the land of

Marvin: hit or miss rainstorms in the afternoon you're in the land of miss right guy.

Matt: That is that is true yeah we We we've had some kind of, I guess you say sort

Matt: of regional soakers a couple of times here in the last week,

Matt: but not really not enough. I mean, it's been so dry.

Matt: We we we get bumps and then we're right back down to, you know,

Matt: below the seasonal average in a day or two.

Matt: Um just you know we're we're not uh we're not set up for a uh viable uh late

Matt: summer at this point because things keep getting drier you know there's not

Matt: gonna be a whole lot of water anywhere yeah.

Marvin: Which gets us to to drag in the raft over rocks right.

Matt: That's right or or uh you know I've run in the jet boat in the big water, one or the other. Yeah.

Marvin: And so, you know, if it's, it's, I imagine then it's clear, it's kind of warm.

Marvin: So, I mean, I would imagine it's probably, you know, getting as technical as

Marvin: it gets when you fish for smallmouth.

Matt: Yep. Um, real low and clear and, you know, things, things seem to get more,

Matt: you know, they can get more technical when things get,

Matt: as I say, stale, you know, where we just prior to last week,

Matt: we'd just been in the 90s and dry for,

Matt: you know, weeks.

Matt: It seemed like, you know, just not ever having a reset or a flush of water or anything.

Matt: Recently, with a couple little rainstorms popping up with these,

Matt: you know, dog-based fronts, it's helped a little bit.

Matt: But, you know, still just not very much water in the river.

Matt: We're actually on the big river, on the new right now. We're sitting pretty good.

Matt: Dealt with some stain here recently but uh

Matt: it's it's it's uh

Matt: it's it's definitely been new they're calling

Matt: for some rain you know next week and um with a big one hopefully having it early

Matt: in the week but you know again like we were talking about before we started

Matt: recording we've been hoping for rain all summer because it's been so dry and

Matt: and you get excited when and you start seeing it forecast,

Matt: but it, uh, this is the time of year where it's always in the forecast and,

Matt: you know, sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't. So we're just have to wait and see.

Marvin: And so I would imagine, I know you're flexible, but you know,

Marvin: we are in the thick of bug season. So I imagine the, the bug bites probably pretty good though.

Matt: Yeah. Um, when you can, when you can get it, I mean, I, I tend to ride it pretty

Matt: hard when I feel like I can get away with it just because, um,

Matt: myself and most of my clients tend to want to fish that way.

Matt: Cause now is the time, um, kind of starting right about now through early to

Matt: mid mid-October is when things are usually pretty hot and heavy.

Matt: And, you know, the things that kind of get in the way of that are rain and heavy clouds.

Matt: If, you know, you're fishing kind of a finesse-y, passive topwater presentation.

Matt: I do a lot of sight fishing certain places, and that certainly kills that.

Matt: And when the water's really low, there's not a lot of current.

Matt: Not a lot of sunlight or bright bright light

Matt: out and about um this fish can really

Matt: spread out and it's kind of hard to to uh

Matt: calculate exactly where they're going to be and

Matt: you know when when you add

Matt: that really technical aspect of low clear water in there too it's just that

Matt: much easier to spook fish so you just have to end up working really slow and

Matt: really methodically through some good areas and and uh so that can complicate

Matt: things but when the sun's out and you have the shade,

Matt: uh concentrating factors working for you um it's it's been pretty good and.

Marvin: I've got an optimistic question i guess it kind of depends on where you are

Marvin: uh in the great commonwealth of virginia but brenner wanted to get your thoughts

Marvin: on your favorite patterns for when you do get the great opportunity to fish

Marvin: high and or stained water.

Matt: Um see that's a there's a couple interesting little elements there i'll say one thing that um,

Matt: One thing that is true almost across the board is that, you know,

Matt: in the springtime, you know, when you have slower water tables and trees that are not necessarily,

Matt: you know, supporting leaf respiration and all that, you tend to have higher,

Matt: you tend to have clearer water and higher water levels.

Matt: So, you know, in April on a given river, if you're fishing 1,000 cubic feet,

Matt: 3,000 cubic feet, it's going to be significantly clearer than if you're fishing

Matt: that same level in August.

Matt: Just because, you know, water tends to drop out faster. It tends to muddy up.

Matt: And, you know, that's just the way it tends to be.

Matt: So, this, and especially as little rain as we've had, as low as the water table is,

Matt: if we get a lot of rain, likely what'll happen is you'll have high water for

Matt: a day or maybe two, but it's going to drop out pretty quick and you're going

Matt: to end up with kind of low, dirty water.

Matt: Water um so you

Matt: know if we're just talking high you know clear

Matt: to you know relatively clear water

Matt: um my my answer is usually i mean across the board with heavier heavier and

Matt: dirty dirtier water i'm gonna fish bigger and usually usually darker um you

Matt: know blacks and purples and blues and,

Matt: Um, I, I, jury's kind of out on, on chartreuse. I'm really not sure.

Matt: You know, I, it's anecdotally, I like to think I do better with those kind of

Matt: fluorescent colors and dirtier water.

Matt: Um, but I've also done well with white. So I, I really think potentially it

Matt: has more to do with where you're fishing the fly in the water column relative to flow, um.

Matt: In, in higher water naturally, you're going to seek out

Matt: some current breaks you know closer to the bank

Matt: on average um and kind

Matt: of a point that smallmouth bass specific is

Matt: just the fact that they're they're very visual

Matt: feeders in general um so when

Matt: you are dealing with stain um there

Matt: it it can be tough at times particularly

Matt: in smaller watersheds where

Matt: that condition tends to change pretty quickly you can notice some really uh

Matt: pretty dramatic just shutoffs i think where where those fish kind of know that

Matt: okay we can weather this storm things are going to change in a day so they can they can kind of just,

Matt: you know, hole up for a bit and then get back to feeding, you know,

Matt: when the clarity improves a little bit.

Matt: But there've also been some studies done and, and I can say I've,

Matt: I've, you know, again, anecdotally kind of been able to qualify it.

Matt: They show that when, when you have increases in flow and decreases in clarity,

Matt: small amounts tend to focus on the bottom

Matt: as kind of a point of reference for feeding as opposed to trying to make you

Matt: know a visual feeding fish trying to make a living in the middle of the column

Matt: when there's very little visibility it's just not you know how it generally

Matt: goes so they're going to hunt the edges and they're going to hunt the bottom so,

Matt: crayfish flies you know with some weight anything that's going to fish on the bottom or close to it,

Matt: in those dark contrasty colors or things that go to you know think like a like

Matt: a black and blue clawed at um they that that would be a a fly that i would think

Matt: really hard about those kinds of conditions got.

Marvin: It and you have any kind of preferences on rattles.

Matt: Um jerry's really out on rattles i really don't think i believe in them at all gotcha.

Marvin: Uh and we won't go down the rat tail and talk about like propeller spinners

Marvin: and corkscrew tails and all that kind of good stuff.

Matt: Right. Right. So, I mean, that's another that's another point.

Matt: I mean, flies really do, I think, a pretty poor job of making a lot of noise.

Matt: Even a big fly rattle is basically nothing compared to, you know, a big, you know, three,

Matt: four big BBs in a jerk bait or a lipless crank bait or something like that.

Matt: Or a spinner bait with big Colorado blades.

Matt: Fly anglers best bet at making a lot of noise is on the surface.

Matt: So um you know absolutely play around with big you know like uh,

Matt: Oh, shoot. Like, you know, big, big poppers, big deer hair bugs,

Matt: kind of blockhead popper kind of stuff that's worth messing around with if you

Matt: want to stay on top water, which we do a lot in the summer.

Matt: Summer and uh yeah you know that might be a situation where i do lean on making

Matt: a lot more noise than i would and say low and clear water just because you know

Matt: the visual aspect is not quite as quite as present the best fish need to be

Matt: able to find which you're which you're going.

Marvin: Well there you go and you know folks we love questions on the articulate fly

Marvin: you can email them to us or dm us on social media and if we use your question

Marvin: i will send you some articulate fly swag, and we learned a drawing for some

Marvin: cool stuff from Matt at the end of the season.

Marvin: And I know, you know, every time we talk, you are booking deeper and deeper into musky season.

Marvin: And then occasionally I'll see a little blurb, like a canceled day,

Marvin: canceled day here or there.

Marvin: You want to let folks know kind of like what you're booking and how to reach

Marvin: out and all that kind of good stuff?

Matt: Yeah. Yeah. Had quite a few schedule change-ups this summer,

Matt: but thankfully, I have to be super thankful for all the folks I fish with.

Matt: I'm usually able to fill those pretty quickly, so that's a big thank you there to everybody.

Matt: Buddy um but for the most part

Matt: we are looking at musky season which is

Matt: kind of you know starting like early november

Matt: through the end of february early march and uh still plenty of dates there but

Matt: you know a lot of my regular folks are starting to or have for a bit now had

Matt: dates taken off and everybody's always looking for those you know quote unquote

Matt: prime moon dates dates, um,

Matt: those tend to go quickest.

Matt: So, um, there's a, there's a benefit to booking musky dates in the middle of

Matt: the summer, but, uh, yeah, that's, that's what we're looking at right now.

Matt: So if you're interested in that or any of our, you know, winter smallmouth fishing,

Matt: that's, uh, that's another program that we run through the winter time.

Matt: Um, which is, it's kind Kind of a unique, special deal, but it's an opportunity

Matt: to catch a lot of big smallmouth in the depth of winter fishing streamers pretty actively.

Matt: We're booking all that stuff right now. So, feel free to reach out if you have

Matt: any questions about any of that.

Matt: If you've never musky fished and you're curious about it, have questions,

Matt: or you're hesitant to book something because you don't really know what you're

Matt: getting into, just shoot me some questions. I'm happy to answer all that stuff.

Matt: Um, and as you know, my contact information is on the website,

Matt: which is mattreillyflyfishing.com and you can email, call, text,

Matt: whatever you feel best doing.

Marvin: Uh, well, there you go. And folks, as I always say, you owe it to yourself to

Marvin: get out there and catch a few. Tight lines, everybody. Tight lines, Matt.

Matt: Thanks, Marvin.