S6, Ep 41: Smallmouth Secrets and Streamer Savvy with Brendan Ruch

Marvin Cash: Hey folks, it's Marvin Cash, the host of the articulate fly. On this episode, I'm joined by Pennsylvania young gun Brendan Ruch. We talk about prespawn smallmouth, tying predator flies and his newly launched guide company, Ruch Angling. I think you're really going to enjoy this one. But before we get to the interview, just a couple of housekeeping items. If you like the podcast, please tell a friend and please subscribe and leave us a rating review in the podcatcher of your choice, it really helps us out. And we're excited to partner with our friends at Jesse Browns to bring The Chocklett Factory to Charlotte On May 4. Blane will be teaching private tying classes, discussing predator and prey, and sharing his favorite rod, reel, and line combos. Check out the link in the show notes for more details. Now onto the interview. Well, Brendan, welcome to the Articulate fly.

Brendan Ruch: Thanks for having me. Excited to be here.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, I'm really looking forward to our conversation. And we have a tradition on the articulate fly. We like to ask all of our guests to share their earliest fishing memory.

Brendan Ruch: There are so many memories. I was trying to think about this earlier today, but basically just being on a reservoir with my dad, throwing Texas rigged soft plastics at lily pads, catching largemouth bass. My favorite memory from that era would be catching a very, very large fish on a top water frog and being heartbroken that he wouldn't let me keep it. But, you know, today I totally understand why, and I respect that decision, but man I was pretty annoyed in the moment.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. So before we go down the fly path, what's your favorite color worm? And what’s your favorite color lizard?

Brendan Ruch: For the worm, I think we were fishing a lot of, I was grabbing the black and purple power worm.

Marvin Cash: Mhm.

Brendan Ruch: Then the lizard, I believe, was pumpkin seed with a chartreuse tail.

Marvin Cash: Well, there you go. And so that's a really great segue into, you know, when did you start fly fishing?

Brendan Ruch: Fly fishing came pretty late to me because no one in my family fly fish. So, I had a pretty good foundation fishing for largemouth and some trout fishing. But I started fly fishing senior year of high school, and it's only because I was getting out fished by fly fishermen on a trout stream in northeast PA. So it was out of necessity.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, so the power bait and the spinners weren't getting it done?

Brendan Ruch: Yeah, those little jerk baits just weren't getting it done like those pheasant tails were.

Marvin Cash: And so, of course, you know, it's obviously been kind of downhill from there. So kind of who are some folks that have mentored you on your fly fishing journey? What have they taught you?

Brendan Ruch: There are a lot of people, pretty much all of them are tied in with TCO one way or another. But, John Parisi, Lenny gleeweb, TCO Bryn mawr. That's where I started my obsession in fly fishing. I got a job there like 2016. So they really got me dialed in on the trout stuff. We traveled a lot together, in the state, but, you know, driving a few hours here and there. on kind of like suicide run day trips. And then when it came to bass, it was Jake Golok kind of showed me the light. that I could do what I loved you know, as a kid, but with a fly.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, that's pretty cool. And so when did you know, I imagine you probably kind of started out at TCO as a shop rat, right?

Brendan Ruch: Oh yeah.

Marvin Cash: And. So when did you get the guide bug?

Brendan Ruch: Jake started to get busy enough to hire another guide, it was right around maybe like my second year of employment there. We started kind of like floating or. He floated the idea past me and I bought a raft, started fishing, like, floating every chance I could with you know, guys from the shop, from all four stores really. And yeah, I mean, he brought me on and just kind of let me loose once he felt comfortable.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, it's pretty interesting. We've had him on the podcast probably about the time, I guess, his smallmouth fly book came out. And, you know, it was interesting, kind of how he was able to really kind of scale Relentless.

Brendan Ruch: Yeah, it is. There are so many, you know, guides under the relentless umbrella. It's very, very impressive. And I had a great time working for those guys.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, it's interesting, too, cause I guess, Naguski's under that umbrella too. He's been on. And, as a matter of fact, I think I met him when I met you at the, probably, the last fly tying symposium before COVID right?

Brendan Ruch: Oh, right, yeah. That was a good time.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, it was absolutely, It was a good time and a simpler time. So, obviously, I imagine Jake was influential, but who are some of the other folks that have kind of mentored you on your guide journey and what did they teach you?

Brendan Ruch: So there are a lot of guides that work with TCO, and there was one in particular, named Sam Galt that I mean, he's been guiding for trout in the state college area for, like, years. And I was very nervous accepting money to take people fishing, especially, like, you know, the first year. And he kind of calmed me down, and you know, he told me what the people expect. Which I think is just to go out, have a good time, and hopefully take something away from the day. You know, if it's not fish, it's going to be new tactics or, you know, some bad jokes or something.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, I like your jokes, actually.

Brendan Ruch: Sometimes they're pretty rough.

Marvin Cash: It's okay. That's why this is a family show, and we took some questions out. But anybody else that has kind of helped either steer you from a technical perspective or, you know, kind of what you were talking about earlier, kind of that people skilled expectation, part of guiding.

Brendan Ruch: Yeah, I mean, from the technical aspects, like fishing with Jake, you know, on the waters that we guided on or we guide on still, that was critical. And then I traveled out to Michigan with Jake back in 2018 to fish with Mike Schultz, Justin Kurbanik, and James Hughes. And I don't think I've looked at smallmouth fishing the same since that trip. I learned a ton of tactics from, you know, got a little piece of the pie put together from three of those guys. And, yeah, I mean, the swim fly game out there, the way they use those flies to, you know, basically imitate lures that I was familiar with growing up. Yeah, I mean it's an invaluable skill to have on the water.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. You know, it's interesting because, I mean, I've kind of noticed that, you know, however you want to kind of brand them, the most successful people in our sport are, let's just say, ambidextrous. Right? They fish gear, and they fish fly. And you know, it's amazing because I know, you know, Blaine certainly does that, George Daniel does that. And I think that insight about fish behavior and how to catch him on gear and on bait, you know, really can make you a killer, you know, fly fishing angler.

Brendan Ruch: Yeah, I think specifically for presentations that require, like, a proper retrieve when you're fishing a fly, as opposed to drifting. So like, dry fly fishing, nymph fishing, maybe not learning a ton from gear fishing, but when you're working a lure or retrieving a fly, like you know, what's successful on the lure, and over time, you learn what's successful on the fly by fish input, but, you're able to emulate lures, like, pretty successfully other than maybe, like, true bottom bouncing just because you're going to get hung up a lot more with a fly.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, it's interesting, too, because, I mean you know, we were both up in Michigan for Bob in the hood. And I had never, I'd been around Mike, but I hadn't kind of been in his shop and kind of seen the vibe there. And I got to tell you, that is an amazing operation that he's got with some incredibly knowledgeable, faithful, and really just kind of great guys in the shop in terms of fishing gear and not gear.

Brendan Ruch: Yeah, I was talking to someone about this recently. But they were like, yeah, man, the guys at Mike's shop are always, like, super helpful and super knowledgeable. And like, he's been lucky enough to find guys that are sick for fishing. Like, they're obsessed with it. And some shops, you know, you have guys that are very personable, but maybe not the techiest guys. But, yeah, I mean, they've got a guy that does every kind of fishing, you know, available in the midwest, and they're all pretty darn good at it.

Marvin Cash: Yeah or you could walk into a fly shop in Montana in, like, middle of late September and basically have people super burned out.

Brendan Ruch: Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Marvin Cash: I've walked into that buzzsaw before, you know, so you. I mean, yeah, it's just they don't even care about fishing at that point anymore. 

Brendan Ruch: Uh, right.

Marvin Cash: So tell me a little bit about, you know, kind of as you've kind of worked on your guide chops, you know, what do you think is the secret to being a good guide, Brendan?

Brendan Ruch: I think it's being malleable and trying to be, you know, what the client wants you to be in that moment. I mean, especially when you're dealing with people that you've never met before or maybe you've only chatted with on the phone briefly. Like, from a personal standpoint. Like, you know, it's essentially, you know, you're in customer service from the customer side, and the fishing is separate, in my opinion. Same kind of thing with the shop. Like, you can be a great, great shop guy, but maybe defer questions to other people when it gets too technical. If you can be good at both. I think that's what makes a great guide.

Marvin Cash: Got it. And do you have a type of angler that you really, really like? I know you like to fish with everybody, but I mean, is there a particular type of angler that you like to get in your boat that you're like, this is going to be an exceptionally special day. Like, you know, I know some people like to teach. Some people like teaching kids, you know, is there anything like that that really gets you stoked for a day out.

Brendan Ruch: Besides someone that is, like, down to learn and hunt big fish? I mean, like, if I have a father son trip, that is going to be the best possible day. Like, it just reminds me of, you know, being a kid fishing with my dad and fishing with my grandfather, and, being a part of someone else's memories, you know, it's pretty special.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, that's super cool. And so what do you think? I always ask guides this question too, you know, what do you think is the biggest misconception people have about the life of a fishing guide?

Brendan Ruch: It varies for a lot of people, but, you know, if you're single income, you know, It can be kind of a little challenging in the offseason. Especially if you're, you know, if you're not going. I'm lucky enough where I can musky fish in the off season. I'm going to be doing some guiding here this coming year. But yeah, I think finding something to occupy your time in the offseason, whether it be, you know, a side job or a different hobby, is pretty important so you don't go stir crazy.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. And so it's kind of funny. And we talked about this a little bit at the beginning of the interview, you know, I mean, you know, people, I think when they think about, like, central pa, they think probably trout first and not smallmouth. And, you know, you predominantly guide for smallmouth, you know, what kind of attracted you to them over trout.

Brendan Ruch: It's all about retrieving flies and fooling fish and watching them come in and just like, you know, if a fish is coming in, kind of lazy and making it convert into an eat like, that's really, really cool. Smallmouth provide chances for savage eats in the springtime but you can get some sticky in the summertime subsurface too. But then in the summer, you can fish poppers, aggressively watch them crush a popper or a whopper plopper. If you're, you know, if you're savvy but, they'll also sip. The biggest fish in the river is going to sip a cork bug or, you know, a foam like Mister wiggly or something. So it's, for me, it's all about being able to actively retrieve the fly and you're just a huge part of why that fish is eating.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, it's interesting. I mean, the kind, of the summer bug thing. I mean, it's insanely frustrating to watch those guys skate for like six or 8 ft behind a popper. And you twitch it and then they disappear, which is kind of a bummer, right?

Brendan Ruch: Yeah, yeah. You could twitch it and have the fish do a 180 after it turns around. Or you could have, you know, a fish spook off of it. I think that's kind of the cool thing about summer is like, each fish shows its individual personality when you're bug fishing.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, it's, it's interesting because, you know, kind of where I grew up, kind of fishing the James and the Mori and places like that, it's. That heat is just so brutal, you know, and I have people kind of, you know, up in the mountains or maybe up where you are, they tell me that it's not as humid and hot, but, you know, I always say, you know, in July and August, you're not in the shade and the fish are.

Brendan Ruch: Yeah, exactly.

Marvin Cash: And it makes, you know, 95 degrees and high humidity makes for a pretty grim outing. But yeah, it's good stuff. And, you know, it's interesting too, because we were talking before we started recording Brendan, about kind of the regional differences in smallmouth fisheries. Like, I know, you know, the timber creates a certain element. You know in Michigan, for example, there are seasonal differences based on how far north or south you are and kind of how big your water is. What do you see? I guess in Pennsylvania that makes your smallmouth fisheries different than, say, Michigan and other places in the country.

Brendan Ruch: I think the lack of dams in the south central pa region, wood moves around a lot. We have a ton of ledges on every body of water. I fish some more than others, depending on the float. But you have bottom structure that's going to hold fish from bank to bank. Some people go out there and pound the banks. You can go out there, you can fish left bank, middle. Sometimes the other bank is going to be good too. But the fish are going to be very spread out because there is structure almost everywhere. In a lot of places, they are on a lot of floats. So, yeah, learning those ledgy sections during low water seasons is crucial because then you can hit those spots when the water's high and green and still be productive. They're not on the banks, per se.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, got it. And it's interesting, too, because I think we're really in the thick of prespawn smallmouth fishing here, kind of in the mid Atlantic. And I was kind of curious if you could, if I could pry a couple tips for you to share with our listeners about how to be successful during this time of the year on the water.

Brendan Ruch: Yeah, I think the most common mistake I see this time of year from people coming on the boat. And it could be friends, fellow industry guys, like, the fly has to kick, maybe kick twice, and then pause long enough for those fish to want to move out of there, lie and eat it. We haven't really hit over 52 degree water temps yet so fishing has got to be slow right now. And when I have a guy that can really dial in, like, rod tip movements or even, like, an aggressive upstream mend into his presentation, usually that's when I know We're going to have the most success that day.

Marvin Cash: Got it. So it's almost, you know, the fish are kind of sluggish, and so you kind of have to kind of bonk them on the nose a little bit and kind of, um, um, piss them off to get them to eat, I guess.

Brendan Ruch: Yeah, I mean, it's. It's kind of just like imitating a wounded fish, going to kick side to side, and then right now, we're pushing a lot of, like, circus peanuts. Personally, If I'm going out right now, I'm fishing a leggy boy every time. I think that's kind of filled the circus peanut role in my arsenal. But you're able to fish that fly as fast as you want or as slow as you want. And if you add enough legs to offset the weight in the fly, that thing is going to glide, hover, and then start to drop real slow. But it's always going to stay where you want it to stay as long as you give it slack or tension.

Marvin Cash: Got it. I was getting ready to say so really, the attraction for that fly is really the ability to kind of hang it or suspend it.

Brendan Ruch: Yeah, definitely. Like, an unweighted changer and a sinking line isn't going to get you the same results that you can get with an intermediate line and a weighted fly that it's weighted. But there's so much drag from the legs and the brush head. And, you know, if you tie the body pretty dense with the feathers, like, you can make that fly hang there. And that's when they're going to swim through at this time of year. Like they don't want to see that thing diving in the bottom or being stripped, you know, perpendicular from the bank or something like that.

Marvin Cash: Got it. And for people that I guess aren't familiar with the leggy boy, I guess the way I kind of think about it is it's kind of like a feather changer with a bunch of legs on it.

Brendan Ruch: Yeah, totally.

Marvin Cash: Yeah.

Brendan Ruch:  I fish them with like a pretty long, stiff marabou tail. If I can find marabou feathers, like maybe like the, you know, short, stubby ones still, like uniform and good quality, but they have a little bit thicker, like vein or stem. I'll tie four of those in and that allows the tail to whip a little bit more like rooster tail, but still swim and undulate on those long pauses.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, it's almost like you want the marabou that you don't want for kind Woolly Buggers.

Brendan Ruch: Yeah, yeah. Like, I don't want it to be too sparse otherwise you don't really get as much of a kick if you're hard stripping it.

Marvin Cash: And so for you and prespawn, you know, when do you expect to kind of to see the bass kind of, you know, move from pre-spawn to spawn at kind of, what's the water temperature that you kind of set? Like, you know, we got to leave them alone for a little while and go chase trout or go do something else.

Brendan Ruch: Usually it's right around like April 15 here. You know as you become more familiar with the body of water, you know where the beds are going to be? So, you know, you can row over there and say, oh, yep, there are two beds. And then, you know, go on about your way, like fishing the middle of the river or fishing current seams. But yeah, I'm anti messing with bed fish at this point. Like, not necessarily. You're still going to find fish that are either post spawn or pre spawn while other fish are on beds.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. I think it's a tough thing, too, particularly kind of like where I grew up and fished in central Virginia. We've had, you know, probably most years out of the last probably eight to ten we've had these scouring floods during the spawn.  And so kind of whatever you can do to leave them alone so that there are a few more in the river, I think, is a good idea.

Brendan Ruch: Yeah, for sure. And, you know, if. If you're bed fishing, I feel like what you're doing is testing your accuracy at that point. Because if something falls on the bed, like, the fish is going to move it, you know, it is what they do. They're, like, programmed to do that.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, it's kind of interesting, I don't know did you go see the f3t movies? and there was one about them, and then they were basically fishing for peacock bass on beds?

Brendan Ruch: I did not see them this year.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, it was kind of interesting. I was like, that's kind of weird. I mean, you know, something that most fly anglers generally won't do, but I guess, to each his own. I don't have a movie, though so. 

Brendan Ruch: Not yet. 

Marvin Cash: Not yet, Well, it's coming, folks.

Marvin Cash: And so, you know, the interesting thing is you've kind of gone out on your own. You've got Ruch angling, and so I'm always curious, too, to kind of, you know, you've had time to kind of build, you know, kind of what you like your daily program to be. Why don't you let us know a little bit about kind of what a day on the water is like with Brendan rush?

Brendan Ruch: We're going to meet at the ramp, put the boat in, do a shuttle, and, I think one of the most important questions I ask for some people is do you want to listen to music on the boat? And,  if you say yes, it's probably going to be a pretty fun day. But, yeah, I mean, we're just locked in, fishing hard with many breaks for laughter, fist bumps. But, yeah, I mean, it really depends on person to person. But a lot of people at this point are, you know, they've been in the boat with me before. So we're kind of dialing in the program for that day, tactics wise, and then joking around and having fun in between.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. And so, you know, you've piqued my curiosity on the music side. So, you know, what are your three favorite boat playlists?

Brendan Ruch: Anyone that knows me knows, I have to say, like, Doja Cat and Dua Lipa. But  my guys, I had today, we had a great experience last year fishing to DMX pretty much all day. You know what these fishes want. That's a good one.  But yeah, I mean, you know, if someone requests music, we're obviously going to listen to that. But usually kind of upbeat pop or like future, for instance, get some, you know, some hard vibes on the boat. Usually pretty confidence inspiring.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. So you're not doing yacht rock like Steely Dan or anything like that?

Brendan Ruch: I've been known to play some yacht rock, depending on the crowd.

Marvin Cash: And do you generally, do you prefer for people to fish your gear or do you like them to bring their own or do you not care?

Brendan Ruch: I'll, I'll give you a list. And you know, if you don't have an intermediate line, you have let's say like a 25 foot sinking line, type six, then, yeah. You're fishing my stuff. But you know, if you have an eight weight with an intermediate line, then we're totally in good shape. You can, you can fish your gear. I'll build you a leader. No preference for me, but I do have, you know, a whole fleet of Loomis rods. Right now we're fishing the NRX plus swim flies and it's a pretty good experience.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. And so do you generally fish an intermediate or do you also like to fish a floater?

Brendan Ruch: I don't do a ton of floating line fishing in the springtime. Obviously in the summertime, top water fishing. Yeah, definitely. But if we're on one of the bigger rivers in the spring, a sink tip like type three or type six can be really useful. Because then you can kind of play a neutrally buoyant fly almost like a leggy boy where you're like letting that short tip dig and like, you know, when it has slack and then you're working that column and then you can either introduce tension or introduce slack just like you would to the fly on the leggy boy.

Marvin Cash: Got it. And so I guess maybe your water is bigger because I know some guys like to fish like floaters when they're fishing crayfish and things because they like to get that up and down action. Right. But it sounds like you're doing the same thing in deeper water with sink tips. Right?

Brendan Ruch: Yeah. With the sink tip thing that's, you know, spring flows on the bigger rivers like Susquehanna, Juniata.

Brendan Ruch: It allows you to get that hard kick and, you know, almost glide out of those neutrally buoyant flies like a brush head deceiver from Alex Lackis is a big one, i'm a fan of. It allows you to get that kick pause, and before the line start dragging it down, you can get a real nice, like, you know, two count hang before it starts to get tension again.

Marvin Cash: Ah, got it. And, you know, it's interesting, you know, I met you kind of through tying, so I was kind of curious, you know. When did you get interested in being a fly tyer?

Brendan Ruch: When I first started at TCO, for some reason, I didn't think I would tie flies. I was like, oh, if I could just buy them, I'll buy them. Then, of course, you know, a couple months into working there, my buddy, Casey Digiovanni was like, come on, man, you got to tie flies. Like, you can't work here and not tie. So he set up a vice, and I think we tied a squirmy wormy that day. Actually, I tied an f fly with John Parisi before that at The Bryn mawr shop. I think it's called an f fly. It's like some sort of, like, tent wing dry fly, maybe CDC. I got into tying shortly after working at TCO, and once I started streamer fishing is when I just became obsessed with it. I don't know how much money I've spent on streamer fly tying, but I know I never want to see that number.

Marvin Cash: Well, yeah, I was with you guys in Michigan, and it was kind of funny watching you and Braden and Austin talk about how much money you had in your baskets.

Brendan Ruch: Oh, my God. Yeah, Schultz outfitters is like you know, it's a place you don't want to be if you have loose morals when it comes to spending money.

Marvin Cash: It's kind of like the world's largest cannabis shop, except it's for predator fly tying material.

Brendan Ruch: Oh, yeah, for sure. Yeah, he's got everything you could ever want.

Marvin Cash: So, what do you tie on today?

Brendan Ruch: I tie on a Renzetti presentation 2000 with the game changer jaws that Blaine designed. And I've been tying on that for, like, three years.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, it's interesting. I've got two travelers here on my desk. I used to have one for the office and one for the house, and now the office is at the house, so I have two of them. So, yeah, it's interesting. I mean, I love them, they're indestructible. The next time I go tying them, I'll probably break something. But, yeah, it's interesting too, on the predator fly thing, because, you know, I kind of look at kind of the evolution, and it's kind of almost like the way that space is developed. It's almost kind of an old school way where people had to go back and figure out stuff. Kind of like, you know, previous generations had to figure stuff out because you couldn't just go watch a YouTube video. I mean, now you can for some stuff, but, you know, design and thought process and problem solving to me, you know, in that space has been very, very old school.

Brendan Ruch: Yeah, I mean, they were basically starting from ground zero. I mean, they had hooks and shanks. But the shanks weren't what they are today, obviously. I think, like, you know, the circus peanut, I  wasn't around fishing back then, but, I mean, it's obviously made a huge impact. So that would be Russ Madden circus peanut. Super versatile fly. And, you know, getting the two hook platform going definitely changed everything.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, it's interesting, you know, like, talking to Blaine about him, like, literally in his garage cutting shanks with bolt cutters. Right? You know, now we just go, and there are multiple companies, and you just buy what you want.

Brendan Ruch: Yeah, we’re pretty fortunate.

Marvin Cash: Yeah.

Marvin Cash: You know, as opposed to basically drinking. Drinking beer in the garage with a vise and a pair of bolt cutters every Sunday afternoon.

Brendan Ruch: Yeah, I mean, I was. I was very lucky because the Schultz Outfitters YouTube was just kind of, I guess, getting started when I started tying these flies. So like, you know, the first feather game changer video, I must have watched that while I was tying, like, 200 times, like, each shank. Like, all right, are these proportions right? I definitely am a perfectionist when it comes to flying tie. I'll spend way too much time on a fly just because I know if I don't like the way it looks, I'm never going to fish it. But YouTube and looking at Instagram photos for density and taper was definitely a very big influence on me. So that. That would be the Schultz outfitters account and then, obviously, Blaine chocolates account.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. And so if you're a perfectionist, tying flies. Does that make it more likely that you'll scream at clients that lose flies on the first cast?

Brendan Ruch: We don't lose flies.

Marvin Cash:  Are you a scuba diver? Do you have, like, fins and a mask and you're like, you know, diving down, pulling them off of logs and rocks.

Brendan Ruch: No, I've been known to sacrifice a rod tip for a fly, but I mean, we get. We get them.

Marvin Cash: Yeah.

Marvin Cash: That's an interesting use of the lifetime warranty. But you got to do what you got to do, right?

Brendan Ruch: Yeah, for sure.

Marvin Cash: So you mentioned Blaine and you mentioned the guys at Schultzy's, you know, who are some other tyers that have influenced you in your. Your development as a predator fly tire?

Brendan Ruch: We're going back to Michigan, and it's going to be Russ Madden and Alex lapkus, for sure. The Lapkus brush head receiver,I think that video dropped, like, three years ago. And it was very interesting to me because it was basically, like, taking elements from maybe, like, the swing and d platform and applying it to a much easier fly to tie and cast. It’s like, maybe not easier to tie, but it's going to be a shorter time at the vice. And it ended up proving to be really crucial in the guide program because, you know, someone that can't cast, like, 30 hen saddle feathers wrapped on a bunch of shanks, like, they can cast this fly that's bucktail craft fur, two schlappen feathers, and two rooster saddle feathers for the tail.

Marvin Cash: Got it. And, you know, what about Russ's designs? What kind of caught you there?

Brendan Ruch: The circus peanut being, like, tied in the round like a changer. I started tying peanuts right around the time I started tying feather changers. Both of them kind of blended together as I was tying them because it was similar, I guess, tactics and the way you tie them, or methods. Similar methods.Yeah , the peanut. Early on in my, like, pre spawn fishing was crucial because you're getting those flies down right away off the bank or off the structure. And depending on how, you know, you can put lead eyes, tungsten beads, you can put, beach and eyes, but you could tweak that fly to match the conditions you have. And I think that was really cool, too. Like, from not a design perspective, but just tying what you need to match the current conditions, it's important. And eventually, you know, I'm in year seven, I think, like, I have all those flies still. And it's like you have a whole arsenal of different weighted flies to basically accomplish any task that you run into.

Marvin Cash: It's funny you say that. While you were saying that, it made me think about like my bonefish box Right? With the different eye weights. Right. And you have them arranged and like the whole nine yards. Right. 1 foot, 2ft, 3ft of water.

Brendan Ruch: Yep.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. Who in addition, you know, to Russ, has kind of influenced you as you've kind of developed on the tying front.

Brendan Ruch: I did spend a couple summers on Jake's couch and we would, you know, if we had the energy, we would stay up tying flies and, you know, going through our boxes and stuff. We tied a lot of changers. I still owe him some craft fur changers, but for a while I was paying rent in craft fur changers. But he was tying mallard flanks or mallard changers at the time, which is something that I don't even have the patience for. But, yeah, I mean, Jake's roamer, super effective. And I never got the hang of using laser dub. But, yeah, I mean, tying with Jake was always a good time and always learned something.

Marvin Cash: And do you have a favorite flavor of changer ice cream?

Brendan Ruch: Favorite to fish would be a craft fur changer just because you can make it do a bunch of different things. I think crafter is a really cool material, the way it interacts with water. But I would say, like, if we're speaking strictly changers, it would be like a brush head feather changer with a moth tail. Maybe a 316 tungsten bead.

Marvin Cash: Yeah.It's because you like the kick, right?

Brendan Ruch: Yeah. The tail absorbs water and I don't think I have any tether changes in my box that aren't mock tail, honestly.

Marvin Cash: Yeah.Interesting. And so, you know, kind of as you. You've evolved, I mean, are there any, you know, kind of patterns or techniques that you're known for?

Brendan Ruch: I've never designed a fly, but I would say if someone knows me through fly tying, they know that I'm tying Blaine's flies, jolt’s flies. And Russ and lapkus, they're the big four that you know, I'm tying at shows. Or if you're at a show, you'll see my box. It's going to be mostly flies from those guys or variations of.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. And you've told me that you, you know, you're kind of tying flies to solve problems, which is what guides do. Right? You know, what are kind of the core, you know, fishing problems or presentations that you're looking for smallmouth that you like to tie around.

Brendan Ruch: Well, a problem that I run into often is, you know, if someone can't do the rod tip movements that I mentioned earlier. To move their fly especially in a spot where I want to get more than one cast. Like I'm, you know, I'm slowing the boat down slower than the current. Tying a fly that's basically the leggy boy has solved those problems for me. But tying a fly that's able to stay down while they're stripping and still kick under tension. Someone might not be able to do the right, like, you know, kelly Gallup jerk strip, but if they can get that fly to at least kick, kick, and then maybe stop with like, more of a trouty Mend, then that's still going to be effective.

Marvin Cash: Got it. Any other situations either kind of specific triggers you, like for smallmouth or other kind of, we'll just say angler assist issues?

Brendan Ruch: The angler assist aspect of like just casting these flies. A lot of people that come out and it's their first time casting streamers, like, they're not going to be able to cast a game changer off the bat. So single hook flies, like the roamer or articulated flies like that Alex Lapkus brush head receiver those flies are crucial because they're easy to get them to kick, especially the lapkus fly. Just because that little brush head pushes water like a buford and the back end is kind of whips around. It's very simple to get that fly to kick. But it's also easy to have someone deliver it where they want to deliver it. Because if they can't get the fly there, then, you know, why do you even have a game changer on?

Marvin Cash: Yeah, then you have to listen to steely Dan, right?

Marvin Cash: Yeah.

Brendan Ruch: Or maybe the Smiths, because we'll be a little sad.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, you could kill yourself if you listen to that stuff too long. So, so what is it that you see with the changers that people have problems with, do they generally false cast too much and they dry the fly out and it becomes air resistant? Or is it just the entire thing of not having a, you know, not having really practiced fishing, you know, casting big streamers before?

Brendan Ruch: I think it's a combination of a lot of things. The number one thing is probably that I tie a pretty dense fly.

Marvin Cash: Mhm.

Brendan Ruch: For the most part. So, like, you know, if you get, if you buy a fly from the chocolate factory, will it be easier to cast than a fly that's in my box, probably. I'm tying them dense just to get the most action out of them that you possibly can just to divert that water.

Marvin Cash: So, I mean if you're tying them dense, that seems, that would tell me, right. That probably most anglers, you know, they're going to hold a lot more water, right. And so they basically have, it's almost like a rock spinning around at the tip of the rod. If they're not really smooth, it's really kind of hard to kind of get a good forward cast and a back cast. Right?

Brendan Ruch: Yeah. I mean, most people, especially, you know, coming from an or living in an area where trout is a predominant fly game species, most people are at most used to casting an indicator. So teaching someone timing is very important. Especially their first time casting streamers. Like, you know, turn your head, watch your, watch your back cast. Like, that's crucial. I think, you know, some people don't have, you know, maybe they're not locking  their arm up in the right way to stop that rod when that fly pulls back on them or something.There are a lot of little issues we can work out on the boat. But for some people a very, very small percentage of people, like just don't, they don't get the changer they get the Lafkas fly.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, it's interesting because it sounds like, you know, when you solve those problems, it'll also make your musky casting life a whole lot easier. Right.

Brendan Ruch: Yeah, it definitely like correlates to musky fishing for sure. And it gets amplified once the flies get bigger, obviously.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. And then I'd imagine too is it kind of warms up and maybe you're trying to cover more water. You know, it's just, it's like musky fishing. Like there is a huge difference between casting 75, 60ft, right?

Brendan Ruch: Yeah And there's also a huge difference. Like most of the time when you're setting up on a spot, if you cast right on what you're trying to fish, like where you think the fish is, none of the flies that we're fishing are really going to catch that fish. So you're kind of like casting maybe like slightly beyond with the intention of coming across that spot. Or if you're fishing wood, maybe you can, if it's submerged wood, you can cast past the wood, do like a nice, like, reach cast or just kind of like, raise your rod tip and reposition your line upstream, to get that fly where you want it, but the line is already kind of sinking under that. Under that slack. Yep.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, it's interesting. And, you know, and the other. The other thing I always like to ask tyers is, I bet you've got some crazy goofball tool, that no one. People that tie with, you know about, right? Or people that watch on your instagram live know about, but you probably can't live without it. And, you know, when you people about there and be like, damn, I should tie with that, too.

Brendan Ruch: Back when I was, just started at TCO, I think I stole a comb from my parents closet. And that comb has traveled to every fly show with me. And that's really like brushing out, like, crustaceans brush heads and things like that before I trim them.

Marvin Cash: Got it. Is it like a comb made out of bone or something so it doesn't hold static electricity? Or is it just a regular old fashioned comb that you stole?

Brendan Ruch: Good old fashioned comb. It's about maybe six inches long, one side a little finer than the other.

Marvin Cash: Got it. And I know that, I occasionally see your patterns for sale at Schultz outfitters. I mean, are there other places where people can see your patterns and buy them?

Brendan Ruch: As of right now, you can only see him on the boat. I'm working for one of my clients in the offseason, the tying orders are closed, you know, unless you really want one. I was very fortunate to be able to, you know, have flies in Shelton's shop. That was really cool. But selling flies is. It's also getting tougher just due to the shortage of materials and the realm that I'm in. Like, hen saddles are nearly impossible to find.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, got it. And also, too, I mean, it's just. It is insanely time consuming. And there's all kinds of stuff that people That buy flies don't understand, like federal excise tax and all that kind of nutty stuff that, you know, makes it a little bit less fun than it should be. So I guess maybe, you know, kind of watch maybe, you know, Schultz outfitters and see if, like, maybe for Bob in the hood, maybe you tie some flies or something like that. But otherwise they need to come fish with you and make you listen to steely Dan and the Smiths until you cough up a fly.

Brendan Ruch: Yeah, I mean, you know, if you catch a 20 inch fish and you ask for a fly, you're probably going to get that fly.

Marvin Cash: Got it.

Brendan Ruch: Kind of like as a little trophy.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, there you go. 100%. I've got a few of those. As a matter of fact. I've got a circus peanut and a hat from Montana.

Brendan Ruch: Oh, nice.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, yeah, for sure. So before I let you go, Brendan, is there anything else you'd like to share with our listeners?

Brendan Ruch: You can find more at, Brendan Ruch on Instagram. Website's not up and running yet, but it will be ruchangling.com. I'm very happy to be on here. I feel very fortunate to be in the position I'm in right now. Working for myself, lots of good friends across the industry, and I'm just looking forward to see what the future holds.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, for sure. And you also have been known to do some Instagram live tying stuff, too, on your Instagram channel, right?

Brendan Ruch: So I recently have been doing lives tying with the log jam fishing company. Good friends over at log jam. And that's been like Tuesday nights at 830. They'll post whenever we do a live. That might change at some point.

Marvin Cash: Got it. And so, you know, you're smallmouth guiding up in central Pa. Kind of. What does your season look like? And, you know, when do you head to Virginia to do the musky fishing?

Brendan Ruch: So my season in Pennsylvania usually starts mid march. I was down in Virginia from mid March this year, so I got back the last week of March. And the whole, like, you know, springtime flows, pre spawn, post spawn fishing will go from then until about, sometimes the first week of June, if we have good water. And around that time, we'll switch over to more summer tactics, go to some bigger water, fishing ledges, things like that, on, you know, the juniata for the Susquehanna. And from then, you know, we move into top water season and, you know, fishing crayfish, weighted flies, that runs until the fall. And it seems like really far away right now, but we'll be. We'll be there in a heartbeat.

Marvin Cash: Yeah.And then I guess probably what, like a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving, you'll head to Virginia and kind of guide that season out until you start all over again. Right?

Brendan Ruch: Yeah, I'm not sure if I'll be working full time down there for those guys, but, I'll be down there on an as needed basis, especially for group trips.

Marvin Cash: Yeah.

Brendan Ruch:I also do work with Virginia trophy guides, Josh Lafferty and Captain Austin Conrad, along with Brady Braden Miller.

Marvin Cash: Yeah.

Marvin Cash: Skippy britches.

Brendan Ruch: Yeah.

Marvin Cash: Well, that's awesome. And so, you know, you want to let folks know, you know, your preferred way. You know, obviously, we've got the. The handle for your website and Instagram, but, you know, what's the best way for folks to get in touch with you if they want to get on your guide calendar this year?

Brendan Ruch: My phone number. Give me a call or shoot me a text would be number one, for sure. Then email is going to be ruchanglingmail.com,  r u c h is ruch.

Marvin Cash: Gotcha. And I will drop your cell phone number in the show notes so everybody can get to that, right from the episode.

Marvin Cash: Great.

Brendan Ruch: Thank you.

Marvin Cash: Awesome. Well, listen, Brendan, it's been fun having you on, and look forward to seeing you on the water at a show soon.

Brendan Ruch: Yeah, you'll have to come up.

Marvin Cash: Absolutely.

Brendan Ruch: Thanks for having me.

Marvin Cash: You bet. Take care.

Brendan Ruch: Yeah, take care.

Marvin Cash: Well, folks, I hope you enjoyed that as much as we enjoyed bringing it to you. Don't forget to check out the link in the show notes for The Chocklett Factory in Charlotte on May 4. Tight lines, everybody.