S7, Ep 25: Seasonal Shifts: Ellis Ward's East Tennessee Fishing Report

Marvin Cash00:00:00

Hey, folks, it's Marvin Cash, the host of the Articulate Fly. We're back with another East Tennessee Fishing report with Ellis Ward.Ellis, how are you?

Ellis Ward00:00:11

I'm doing well, Marv. How are you?

Marvin Cash00:00:13

As always, I'm just trying to stay out of trouble and took a peek at your weather and I would say you got maybe slightly cool but kind of normal spring weather for East Tennessee, right?

Ellis Ward00:00:24

Yeah, we've had some couple warm days and I don't know, it's, it's been, it's. Yes, seasonal is seasonable. It hasn't been warm, it hasn't been cold.It's been both and we've had a good amount of wind, but, you know, high highs in the mid upper 60s. You know, we, we got some days where that sun kicks through and ends up being closer to 75. And then others, other days where it stays hidden.And we're looking at more like mid-40s. So March.

Marvin Cash00:01:08

Yeah. And so, you know, interesting, right? So you've still got this kind of milky greeny tinge on both rivers from the silt from the hurricane.But, you know, the last time we spoke, you were getting excited because you're starting to see bugs.

Ellis Ward00:01:21

Yeah, yeah, I was getting real fired up.And I'm not going to say it was premature, but I do need to be honest with myself and just recognize that it happens every year right about this time. It's, you just get inconsistent hatches.We're still, I have to say it's the, you know, it's that siltation just telling the bugs to quiet down because in, in high water releases.As much as you might think that dry fly fishing or, or bugs hatching would occur in low water, most of the time it's that high water is clear and you know, it's just like I'm going to try not to dive down this rabbit hole, but it's, it's just like any other predator prey relationship when there's more places to hide, you know, in certain places there's clearly some more safety. We can get big hatches coming off with the, with the water, you know, whenever it gets there.And then you, you kind of see the same when it's, when it's falling, you'll see bugs coming off in different places and in different numbers. So that, that pattern is just, it's still irregular.And you know, at the same time I am seeing more and more so, you know, days getting longer, light penetration continues to increase, consultation drops a little bit. And you know, the fun part is with, with the clarity being what it is. It's. It's just something that is.I, I tried to, to estimate on a trip this last week, just pointing out in low water how milky green it was, thinking that maybe it's. It's probably under 10% of days that normally that we have this milky grain.It lasts for a couple days after rain at, you know, after it's chocolate milk and then it's back to gin clear. So it's, it's certainly not something I complain about.I, I do miss the, I think streamer fishing clients in hours five, six or seven probably miss the occasional stop for casting the risers. But, you know, the risers we haven't seen, just like the streamer eaters that we have been seeing are, Are up there and eating with commitment.So fishing been. Been pretty good with, with some hard days and yeah, at the end of the day, very, very normal March.

Marvin Cash00:04:24

And interesting too, you know, to kind of give folks an idea. So I was with you. I don't know. Gosh, a couple weeks ago, Two, three weeks ago.You know, when we talk about the visibility, I mean, you can still, I would say, you know, visibility is what, three or four feet, and then it kind of starts to get a little bit. You start to lose a fly a little bit. But I mean, it's not like it's, you know, soupy milky, but there's definitely a stain.Would you say that's about right?

Ellis Ward00:04:48

Yeah, I would say three or four feet. And you know, for anyone who hasn't fished these tail waters or a tail water, I remember the Gunpowder and Savage being pretty similar.Like normally in low water you're counting grains of sand and not pebbles. I mean, you, you can see sand and in high water you're, you're counting pebbles and blades of grass over weed beds. And now in low water, it's.You can barely make out what the substrate is on the bottom. And in high water you're, you know, you can't see boulders. So the.Yeah, the visibility is still for, for any other body of water and any other freestone is still great. I mean, there's really no other way to describe it. It's just super fishy.It looks like a really fishy level of clarity that you would expect from a limestone creek when it's running pretty good.

Marvin Cash00:05:57

Yeah. And got a question for you from Andy. He wanted. And he's excited just like you will be soon. Right. He wanted to know when does mousing start?And, you know, how do you vary your fly design based on the species that you're pursuing with the mouse.

Ellis Ward00:06:13

Yeah, I think every, every October, every Halloween, you know, I'm, I'm Happy gilmore. I'm saying 300 and 200 and something days till mouse and season begins.It's really, and I'm, I'm going to not dive down this one, but mice are mammals. If they haven't found a place to stay warm during the winter, the tailwaters don't freeze and have food on their banks.So to the extent you can endure temperatures mousing top water, whatever you want to call it, is, you know, open for business, it's really, it really comes down to angler comfort. So I was, I was starting to think about it last week with some of these 75, 80 degree days.That said, nights are still in the, you know, upper 30s, so we're probably still a couple weeks out.

Marvin Cash00:07:28

Yeah, you don't want to have to put your waders on every time you have to drag the boat, right?

Ellis Ward00:07:34

No, but man, sometimes I do just because that water gets cold.

Marvin Cash00:07:38

Yeah.And so in terms of, you know, obviously, you know, your main game is, you know, mousing for big trout at night, but if you were going for bass or another species, how would you change your fly design?

Ellis Ward00:07:53

Yeah, so I'm just going to get away from, from top water and, and kind of talk about fly design in general. I, I think that there's, you get three different types of eats, you know, rainbow trout, steelhead, whatever you want to call them.They're oftentimes.And this is, this is from watching fish eat flies and, and then also looking at where hook points are and which hook points and with articulated flies, single hook lures with three trebles and lures with two browns. Browns eat right in the middle. You know, whether or not they're, they're trying to, you know, nudge a fish to turn it and eat it head head first.Someone sent me some video, you know, some, some slow motion, high res video of, of them doing that with Al Wies or something.And it's like, all right, well, right, wrong or indifferent, what's, what is the same thing that is happening every single time from a hooking up perspective. And it's that, I mean, gosh, I, I have this image of fish and a musky fly on a super bitey day in big water with this, you know, nothing crazy.It's a good trout. 20 ended up being over 21. But like that's, it's not crazy. Big blowing through the surface, came all the way out of the water.Vertically, I had a single hook. It's a muskie fly. So we'll dovetail on that a little bit all the way through the surface.That hook point was in the roof of its mouth and it was eating that thing squarely in the middle.Fishing the small lures with, with two trebles on them, it's, I mean, it's just crazy that this, the speed and the accuracy that they have, you know, especially the, the smaller fish, you'll, you'll see them come in on, on just that, that middle treble and it's, you know, it's an inch, inch and a half away from the other one and, and they didn't touch, they hit right in the belly. So from a fly design perspective, boy, Marv, you're gonna have to shut this down at some point.I, I've, I've, I'll use game changers as an example of, of kind of how I fluctuate and then maybe the swim bug a little bit.But having two hooks in can lead to the dry dropper conundrum of when you get a big eat on a, on a game changer, Whether or not the hinges take away, you know, that, that hook set force, we're gonna leave that alone.If you got that trailer and it gets on the outside of their face or even on the inside of their mouth, if it's a big fish and it just ends up eating the ladder, you know, the back 2/3 of the fly, that, that opposing tension is, is gonna pull that, that bigger hook out so you, you have a smaller, stickier hook, let's say with not as good of a set.Or maybe it's on the outside of their face pulling on the larger, harder to set hook that's probably on the inside of their mouth, probably on a bonier part of their mouth. And so I, I, I started to, after that happened enough, I started to just do one hook point in the middle.And a little of that is, is taken from, from Blaine. I fished with Chris Willen a number of years ago and he showed me this, this T bone that Blaine had tied.And I remember running his hands down, sort of slim it out and just showing this. It's almost like a catfish hook, this little, this dirty hook, you know, maybe three out or four.Like in the, the hook point was at like the back 2/3 of the fly. And it's just when you get an eat, you want as much, you always want as much advantage as possible.And so sure, two hook points can be good, but man, if you put that thing Two thirds of the way back, more than halfway back. That's for, for brown trout, for muskie, that's their, their, that hook point is going to find their face.And the only thing, I mean there's nothing getting in the way outside of you. Not strip setting. Like when you're strip setting 100%, you're pointing your rod, you don't have bow in your line.You're not lifting your rod, you're not sweeping your rod to the left or pushing it down. You're just pulling on it. I mean dude, you can, you can break 30 pound mono.It's kind of hard, but I mean you can pull really hard on a direct strip set. And all of that force is going to that, to that hook point. So I, I, I'm partial to the concept of, of reducing the number of hook points.Swim bug, for example, I like, you know that big gap in the middle with a shank. And then, you know, Gamakatsu B10 S6 is just, it's strong enough for most trout.I don't really like it for striper, but a really sticky smaller hook in the back and that front hook is oftentimes it's. So I'm tying that for keel, for momentum, for swimming and casting dynamics.And, and, and you know, they end up getting that back hook on the inside of their mouth. And so there's, there's a lot of intentionality that I sort of bypass when talking about that fly and most of my flies.But point being with, with, with trout, with muskie, like if your hook point on the back hook is somewhere within like a third of the body length away from the bend of the front hook, it's too close. That front hook is, is effectively a bite guard. Now with smallmouth, you, you know, you look at the same fly and, and how they would eat it.With the swim bug, for example, they're going head first. There's they, they eat, they flare their gills, they swim right through it and, and, and vacuum it in.And that back hook ends up on the outside of their mouth a lot.And so with, with smallmouth you can certainly afford to get away with leaning more towards the front or just going one point just because they're going to eat the thing.And same principle with reducing the number of competing points of force, pulling things out or just spreading that hook set over two different points. So yeah, musky. Same principles. Brown trout just everything's a little upsized.But I mean you don't need to go 6o, you don't need to go 7o, you know, 2os 3 odds, depending on what type of hook they are. As long as they're heavy enough gauge, that can increase your hookup ratio.As long as that hook point isn't blocked from something bigger in front of it and it's in the behind. Let's say the front half of the fly, but really the front two thirds.

Marvin Cash00:16:41

Well, there you go. We'll call it there. The drones are almost to you.

Ellis Ward00:16:45

Yes. We have to stop somewhere.

Marvin Cash00:16:50

So, folks, we love questions on the articulate fly. You can email me or DM me on social media, whatever is easiest for you.And if we use your question, I will send you some articulate fly swag, which may include a sticker for the new podcast, the Butcher Shop. We're just saying.And when you're drawing for some cool stuff from Ellis and Ellis, before I let you go, you know, I know you've probably been processing Bucktail. You got all kinds of stuff going on.You want to let folks know Bucktail status, you know, Easter colors, how to get on the boat, all that kind of good stuff.

Ellis Ward00:17:22

Yeah, I need to. My pastels need some work. I've been. Yeah, I've been chopping and. And dying and have not uploaded.I want to do a big batch release here in the next week or two. I'll make an announcement on Instagram for that. I'm on Instagram at Ellis Ward Guides website for trip information.And Bucktail is ellis ward flies.com and best way to reach me, talk to talk about whatever. Fishing. I've had a lot of guys reach out just wanting to ask about fly design or they're coming to fish here with their buddy and they have a boat.And like, I love those conversations. So the best way to do that and to book a trip is my cell phone at 513-543-0019.

Marvin Cash00:18:21

Yeah. And you're up for a little mild life coaching as well, right?

Ellis Ward00:18:26

Yeah, as long as people are game for mediocre advice.

Marvin Cash00:18:32

There you go. Well, folks, as I always say, particularly now that it's pretty much warming up across the country, even up north, they're starting to thaw out. You.You owe it yourself to get out there and catch a few. Tight lines, everybody. Tight lines. Ellis.

Ellis Ward00:18:45

Appreciate it, Marvin.