S6, Ep 51: The Ruch Report: Brendan Ruch on Post-Spawn Smallmouth Strategies
Dive into the world of smallmouth bass fishing with host Marvin Cash as he introduces the inaugural Ruch Report on The Articulate Fly. In this episode, we're joined by smallmouth guide Brendan Ruch to get the latest scoop on river conditions and bass behavior post-spawn.
Brendan shares his experiences from a rare day off the water, reflecting on recent weather patterns that have led to high water levels and their impact on fishing. He discusses the shift back to April-like conditions on smaller streams and the prime hunting conditions that have emerged for big bass as tributaries clear and larger rivers hit that sweet spot of visibility.
Listeners will gain insights into the tactics and gear that Brendan employs to entice those hefty post-spawn bass, including streamer strategies and the importance of targeting mid-river structure for ambush predators. He also touches on the excitement of topwater fishing and the missed cicada hatch in his region.
Marvin and Brendan also discuss the opportunities for fishing as summer approaches and how to adapt as the water levels change. Brendan offers valuable advice on where to find bass as conditions evolve and what to expect in the coming weeks.
Whether you're a seasoned angler or just getting your feet wet, this episode is packed with practical advice and the infectious passion for fly fishing that will have you eager to hit the water. Tight lines!
To learn more about Brendan, check out our interview.
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Speaker:
Marvin: Hey folks, it's Marvin Cash, the host of the Articulate Fly,
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Marvin: and we're here for the inaugural Roosh Report with none other than the OG Brendan
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Marvin: Roosh himself. Brendan, how are you?
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Brendan: Doing great. I'm fantastic. Thanks for having me.
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Marvin: Yeah, it's awesome. And you got a great, you had a guide's day off today.
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Brendan: Yeah, it's rare to have a day where I don't have to travel somewhere.
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Brendan: So yeah, it was nice to wake wake up later than I'd like to admit and take care
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Brendan: of some things and hang out.
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Marvin: Yeah. In the PM, not the AM, right?
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Brendan: Close to it.
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Marvin: Good for you. And, you know, it's kind of funny because I talked to the guys
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Marvin: at TCO in State College and, I mean, just like kind of everywhere,
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Marvin: kind of on the Eastern Seaboard, we've gotten a fair amount of rain in the last week to 10 days.
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Marvin: And I would imagine that's probably at a minimum wrecked your major tributaries, right? Right.
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Brendan: Yeah, we got kind of pushed off of the larger rivers and in a good way,
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Brendan: kind of, you know, got to get back to like April conditions on some of the smaller bodies of water.
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Brendan: So it's been nice this year. it's kind of like once the tributaries start to
Speaker:
Brendan: get clear the bigger rivers are coming down kind of like right into like the
Speaker:
Brendan: prime like you know six inch fly water where it's like green like,
Speaker:
Brendan: four feet of visibility at most um and the big fish are just you know that's
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Brendan: when they like to hunt so um and then when it rains again the tributaries are
Speaker:
Brendan: blown for a day or two and then And you're back in that prime water for at least a few days.
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Marvin: Yeah, and I would imagine, too, even though you're a little bit farther north
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Marvin: than some of the other folks I talked to about smallmouth, I'd imagine you are
Speaker:
Marvin: well on the other side of the spawn, and I would hope your bass are probably
Speaker:
Marvin: not sulky anymore, right? Yeah.
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Brendan: The higher water kind of put some pep in their stick.
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Brendan: Last week, a week and a half ago, we were getting some pretty skinny fish post-spawn,
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Brendan: in faster current, prime feeding spots.
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Brendan: The past few days, the fish really put on some weight in that high water.
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Brendan: They're almost at pre-spawn weight. Some of the fins are showing a little sign
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Brendan: that they were on beds recently, but the fish are They're killing big flies
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Brendan: and, uh, feeling, feeling fat and happy again.
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Marvin: Yeah. And so with the kind of the elevated water, does that kind of put them
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Marvin: on structure and they're just basically, you know, chasing ambushy? Is that kind of the MO?
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Brendan: Yeah, for sure. Um, like I had one of the best days of my career,
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Brendan: uh, about a week and a half ago and,
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Brendan: we were on some bigger water and first fish of the day was like a 19 and a half
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Brendan: and it was on mid river structure, like just a giant boulder.
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Brendan: And, um, that was kind of a good sign, like big post-spawn fish off the bed, back in the ambush zone.
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Brendan: And, uh, yeah, that kind of like set the tone for the rest of the day.
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Brendan: And a lot of those fish on the big river were just where they should have been.
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Brendan: We're kind of like in, you know, late March water where they're kind of packed the pounds on.
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Marvin: Got it. And so kind of from a gear and tactics perspective, you know,
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Marvin: are you kind of, what are your fishing streamers sort of mid column,
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Marvin: maybe with like, uh, intermediate lines? I mean, what's the,
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Marvin: what's the, what's the game on the tactics?
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Brendan: Yeah, with the water temps we have now, like post-spawn in the high water,
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Brendan: the fish are much more willing to come up than they are in late March, early April.
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Brendan: So we're fishing kind of like the same flies on intermediates.
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Brendan: The pauses can be a little bit shorter than they need to be in early spring,
Speaker:
Brendan: which is cool because you get to see some fish that really want to commit and
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Brendan: they'll kind of just do a complete 180 on the fly. So you get to see the whole profile of the fish.
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Brendan: Um fishing either keel changers or like that leggy boy platform so like a small
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Brendan: tungsten bead behind the brush head uh just to keep that fly from wanting to
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Brendan: come up a little bit too high but definitely the top third of the water column.
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Marvin: Got it and sort of as you know things clear and the water drops i mean i know
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Marvin: it's a little early form to kind of spread out you know where should folks look
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Marvin: if they want to find them let's just say in a week or so you know know,
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Marvin: where, where are they going to migrate to as the water drops and clears out?
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Brendan: Um, fortunately it looks like we have enough rain to keep flows kind of where they are.
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Brendan: Um, but I think still like those, those mid river transitions,
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Brendan: um, specifically in the, the Rocky rivers that we have here,
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Brendan: uh, you might find some fish up on skinnier water,
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Brendan: but I'm, I'm typically fishing that
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Brendan: first real drop and the structure that relates
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Brendan: to that um fishing pretty wide current seams when the water drops out not necessarily
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Brendan: looking at like the small three foot wide seams on the bank uh just because
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Brendan: there isn't much isn't much margin for error in there when the fish are dealing
Speaker:
Brendan: with birds of prey constantly got.
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Marvin: It and so you know we're you know we're getting ready to cruise into the beginning
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Marvin: of summer i guess officially with memorial day weekend coming up you know do
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Marvin: you uh you know it's going to be probably what a good month or so before your,
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Marvin: your top water fishing really kind of turns on.
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Brendan: Right now, we're getting a lot of fish looking up for frogs and even some bigger,
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Brendan: like the largest size boobabug, for instance.
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Brendan: I'm not mentally there yet. I still want to see fish kill the biggest streamers possible.
Speaker:
Brendan: But if they start eating flies as soon as they hit the water,
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Brendan: then we'll switch to a frog.
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Brendan: But yeah, we're looking at maybe three, four weeks until it's prime topwater
Speaker:
Brendan: season. and, and, uh, kind of just like stick to the program,
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Brendan: even if the morning isn't, or like the, you know, midday, it'll shut off on
Speaker:
Brendan: top water, kind of stick to the program.
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Brendan: And usually you'll still get the larger fish looking up.
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Marvin: Got it. And I guess, you know, are you in the, uh, are you in the middle of
Speaker:
Marvin: all the cicada craziness or is that not in your neck of the woods this year?
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Brendan: Unfortunately, we're missing that this year, but, uh, it seems like a lot of
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Brendan: people a little bit South of here, they're going to have a pretty good time.
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Marvin: Yeah. Yeah, it's been pretty nuts down here in the Carolinas and Virginia.
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Marvin: People have been tearing up bass, and they've been tearing up carp for sure.
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Marvin: And, you know, folks, we love questions on the Articulate Fly.
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Marvin: You can DM them to us or email them to us, whatever is easiest for you.
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Marvin: And if we use your question on an upcoming Roosh report, I will send you some Articulate Fly swag.
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Marvin: And we're working on putting together the prize package from Brendan,
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Marvin: but at a minimum it's going to have a bunch of Roosh angling swag and stickers,
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Marvin: but I'm sure there's going to be some other cool stuff as well.
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Marvin: And, you know, Brendan, before I let you go, you want to let folks know where
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Marvin: they can find you on social media, book you and fish with you and all that kind of good stuff.
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Marvin: And if you've got, you know, kind of open windows in your guide calendar,
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Marvin: why don't you let folks know about those as well?
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Brendan: Yeah, so you can reach me on Instagram at Brendan Ruch, E-R-E-N-B-A-N-R-U-C-H.
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Brendan: I just started a Facebook page for the business. It's Ruch Angling. And...
Speaker:
Brendan: Yeah, my phone number will be in the show notes. And what was the second part
Speaker:
Brendan: of your question? I'm sorry.
Speaker:
Marvin: Let's see. Oh, open dates.
Speaker:
Brendan: Yeah, so I have some open dates spread throughout the summer.
Speaker:
Brendan: And if you want to get out and catch a bunch of smallmouth, we can certainly
Speaker:
Brendan: do that on sub-circus stuff.
Speaker:
Brendan: But summertime is a great time to kind of hunt a bigger fish on topwater.
Speaker:
Brendan: Water and uh yeah the rivers we have here are definitely well suited for that.
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Marvin: Yeah very very cool and i also know you're famous you'll probably be tying with
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Marvin: the log jam guys tomorrow night if you got kind of uh other places people can
Speaker:
Marvin: kind of catch up with you and kind of see what you're doing uh when you're not
Speaker:
Marvin: on the water um doing crazy stuff with bananas and stuff like that or listening to the Smiths?
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Brendan: Yeah, so a few of my friends at Log Jam are crazy enough to want to tie flies
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Brendan: with me every Tuesday night at 8.35 Eastern.
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Brendan: So you can catch me there, and that'll be a pretty good time.
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Brendan: I would imagine I'll have some, maybe a house fly piece and a Log Jam hat in the giveaway as well.
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Marvin: Yeah, super cool. Well, listen, folks, Folks, you know, we are getting into
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Marvin: that great time of the year where, you know, you don't necessarily have to put your trout right away.
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Marvin: But there's some great warm water species you can chase on the fly.
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Marvin: You owe it to yourself to get out there and catch a few.
Speaker:
Marvin: Tight lines, everybody. Tight lines, Brendan.
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