S7, Ep 33: Nut Jobs and Chimichangas: A PA Smallmouth Update with Brendan Ruch

Marvin Cash00:00:00

Hey folks, it's Marvin Cash, the host of the Articulate Fly. We're back with another Roosh report with the man himself, Brendan Roush.Brendan, how are you?

Brendan Ruch00:00:12

What up, big Marv? I am good. I had a good day on the river and now I'm sitting in a gas station parking lot. Life couldn't be any better.

Marvin Cash00:00:22

Yeah. Did you finish the other half of the chimichanga?

Brendan Ruch00:00:26

No, I just, I discarded that for good reason.

Marvin Cash00:00:28

Yeah. Was it kind of one of those well aged convenience store chimichangas? Kind of under the light?

Brendan Ruch00:00:36

It was an imaginary chimichanga just for. For the conversation.

Marvin Cash00:00:40

Got it. So. So did the Easter Bunny bring anything good this time?

Brendan Ruch00:00:48

It brought some wacky weather today that ended up putting some good fish in the net. They, they like to eat when it's windy apparently today, so I can't complain about that. But. Yeah, no, some Reese's eggs, obviously.Don't tell me it's Reese's because it's Reese's. Some Zittner's eggs, I don't know if you've ever heard of those. Dark chocolate coconut, some kind of cream fire.

Marvin Cash00:01:16

And like maybe some lavender peeps, something like that.

Brendan Ruch00:01:21

Yeah, I didn't touch the peeps. I feel bad, but I usually leave the peeps hanging there.

Marvin Cash00:01:27

Well, there you go. You got any of those gourmet jelly beans?

Brendan Ruch00:01:34

I think my brother hides the jelly beans from me. I'm not sure. No jelly beans this year.

Marvin Cash00:01:38

Well, there you go. And you know, we were talking before we started recording that the spawn is a little bit slower than you thought.You were saying that the fish haven't really started spawning yet in your neck of the woods.

Brendan Ruch00:01:48

Yeah, I think on certain bodies of water, fish are on beds, particularly the water that's been low and clear and been heating up a little bit faster in some of the warmer weather we've had the last couple weeks. But yeah, I mean, where I was today, I.I rode into some shallow spots to fish the outside, the, you know, the seam and the water's green, so I can't confirm. I'm sure there are some fish on bed somewhere, but definitely not mass spawning events right now. Where I was.

Marvin Cash00:02:18

Yeah, very, very cool. And you know what else? You know, you had a good day. Kind of what's, what's been happening the last two weeks?

Brendan Ruch00:02:29

Wind, good fish and still swimming nut jobs.Hopefully people aren't tired of it yet, but fishing nut jobs on type three lines when it's high, typically most of the ones I have now are 316 tungsten bead weighted and then if we're, you know, if the water starts to drop out. I had a, about a week fishing those flies on intermediate lines and everything I've been fishing so far this year has been the SA Titan sync tip.Whether it's intermediate or the Type 3 just mend's a little bit easier than a full intermediate. And I do have my clients do a lot of like rod tip action that sometimes includes mending in the beginning. So very helpful there.

Marvin Cash00:03:21

Yeah. So you know, if we drill into that a little bit deeper because Rodrigo sent in a question.He wanted to get your favorite rod line and leader set up to effectively fish the nut job. You know, how would you break that down?

Brendan Ruch00:03:32

So as far as streamer rods go, um, any, I would just go out on a limb and say like with that fly you could fish it on your traditional 9 foot 7 weight, 9 foot 8 weight rods. But you're going to have a better time if you get a streamer specific rod, particularly the NRX plus swim fly rod from G. Loomis.I like the 7 and the 8 and then they also have the IMX Pro V2 streamer sticks which are I think 8, 10 also in a 7 and an 8 weight. So that's what I have on my boat and I'm fishing all Titan taper lines.And then my leader build is basically carbon copy of like The Schultz outfitters YouTube swim fly leader. I've been fishing that since the first time I fished with Mike, which was probably 2018. And it's does well for me.I'm usually around like seven feet when I start and then when I add more 16 pound tip it, it's kind of like wingspan length so you know, around six feet. I will then add tip it back to seven feet and then you know, go from there.

Marvin Cash00:04:46

Got it.And just for folks that don't know, you know, your preference for a streamer rod, I'm going to imagine that those rods are not tip soft like a traditional, like fast, you know, nine foot seven weight rod. Right? Yeah.

Brendan Ruch00:05:00

You know I'm, I'm not very well versed in rod design but it seems like the, the mass is carried up through the tip so the rods are pretty stiff and you can manipulate the flies really well through rod tip movements with rods such as the ones I mentioned that are designed for streamer fishing.Whereas your typical bonefish designed rods and that's going to be, you know, your flagship rods from every brand is going to be designed to cast a bonefish fly in a bonefish taper line. They're going to be a little softer in the tip and a little bit harder to manipulate the line with.

Marvin Cash00:05:39

Yeah. Because you. Right. You lose some of that animation to basically tip flex. Right?

Brendan Ruch00:05:45

Yeah, yeah. So that. That flex is absorbing what could be action in your fly.

Marvin Cash00:05:53

Got it. And also too, if I remember correctly, as a matter of fact, I think I saw it today. Your.Your nut job video with the Schultz outfitter guys is now live on YouTube. Right?

Brendan Ruch00:06:03

Yeah. Yeah. Head over to the Schultz outfitters page. Couple tweaks in there. And updates from the. The Ax video that was posted a few months ago. The.The Schultz video was filmed in February, and the Eric's video was filmed in November. So got the new Senyo satin chenille from MFC in there and the tungsten bead, which is just so much quicker than lead wraps.I don't care if it adds 30 seconds. I want to make fly tying as quick and painless as possible.

Marvin Cash00:06:33

Well, there you go. That's your evolution from the fly tying symposium. Right. To Bob in the hood.

Brendan Ruch00:06:39

Yeah. Yep.

Marvin Cash00:06:41

And so, you know, folks, we love questions on the articulate fly. You can email me or DM me on social media, whatever's easiest for you. And if we use your question, I will send you some articulate fly swag.And we are drawing for some cool stuff from Brennan at the end of the season.And you know, Brendan, we ran a promotion last time to for the prettiest nut job, and you were going to basically go through all of the social media posts and pick the winner. Who'd you pick?

Brendan Ruch00:07:06

Well, there were a lot of great flies, and I really appreciate everyone that participated, but our good buddy Jack Wynn is going to be getting a rouge angling hat. I know he's already got a couple, but that. That fly that he entered in the contest is just too good to pass up.

Marvin Cash00:07:22

Well, there you go. And before I let you go buy a real chimichanga for dinner tonight, you want to let folks know where they can find you so they can get on your boat.

Brendan Ruch00:07:30

Yeah. I am @BrendanRoosh on Instagram, BrendanRoosh and Rooshangling on Facebook, and my email is rushanglingmail.com.

Marvin Cash00:07:42

Well, there you go, folks. As always say you owe it to yourself to get out there and catch a few tight lines, everybody. Tight lines, Brendan.

Brendan Ruch00:07:49

Take care, guys. Thank you, Marvin.