S7, Ep 4: Chasing Big Browns and Musky in East Tennessee with Ellis Ward
Join host Marvin Cash as he kicks off the first East Tennessee Fishing Report of the year with Ellis Ward. Dive into the world of post-spawn streamer fishing for big brown trout and musky, and discover the secrets behind staying warm on the water. From the best gloves to use to the current state of the rivers, Ellis shares his insights and experiences. Plus, learn about his unique approach to custom bucktail dying and how you can score some sweet bucktails. Whether you're a seasoned angler or just starting out, this episode is packed with valuable tips and tricks to enhance your fishing adventures!
To learn more about Ellis, check out our interview!
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Marvin Cash
Hey, folks, it's Marvin Cash, the host of the Articulate Fly.
Marvin Cash
And we're back with the first East Tennessee fishing report of the year with Ellis Ward.
Ellis Ward
Ellis, how are you doing?
Ellis Ward
Well, Marv, warming up slightly, but not been frosty.
Marvin Cash
Yeah, it's interesting, I was watching your, your Instagram reel with that stud brown trout on the streamer, and it's kind of funny.
Marvin Cash
You guys were truly professional.
Marvin Cash
Had the latex gloves and the whole nine yards.
Ellis Ward
Yeah, I, I think true to what I do with all walks of guiding and tying and fishing, I have gotten three different types of, you know, there's the mechanic gloves and I've actually become partial to grease monkey, though they weren't available when I was getting a bunch of different types of tests.
Ellis Ward
And I, I think I'm, I'm now partial to the, the latex, oddly enough, but they're sort of an off putting, you know, medical beige color.
Ellis Ward
So you look way cooler with the black ones.
Marvin Cash
Yeah, that's what I've got.
Marvin Cash
I guess they're actually technically not latex anymore.
Marvin Cash
I think they're nitrile.
Ellis Ward
Yeah, most of them are the ones that I, the ones that I've come to.
Ellis Ward
You know, Venom Steel is the brand that makes a number of these and they do some, some latex and they do nitrile.
Ellis Ward
But yeah, those black ones are nitrile and they just, man, that, that's, that's the difference between legitimately the difference between fishing and not fishing.
Ellis Ward
When it's 30 degrees out and you're fishing streamers and you're stripping line in, it's.
Ellis Ward
If you don't have them, you're not fishing.
Ellis Ward
It, it's just, it's painful if you, if you do have them, and ideally you have a pair or two and some hand warmers go out 6, 7, 8 hours, no problem, as long as you got layers.
Marvin Cash
Yeah, it's pretty amazing.
Marvin Cash
So I know what I normally do is I have a pair of those Sims fleece mittens, right.
Marvin Cash
With the individual fingers and wear the nitrile gloves underneath those.
Marvin Cash
And I'm always amazed.
Marvin Cash
I mean, you can tie on midges wearing those gloves for sure.
Ellis Ward
Yeah, I've done, I'm now doing.
Ellis Ward
I actually asked the guy at U Haul, I was refilling propane to heat the workshop, and I saw some gloves that he had and was using it to type something on his phone.
Ellis Ward
I was like, hey, man, what do you got there?
Ellis Ward
So I'm always looking for whatever it is that's gonna help a little bit.
Ellis Ward
And Keep your hands warm.
Ellis Ward
That helps a lot a bit.
Marvin Cash
And still let you post on the gram, right?
Ellis Ward
That's right.
Marvin Cash
So if people have been paying attention, you are in the thick of post spawn streame for big brown trout and muskie fishing.
Marvin Cash
What are you seeing on the water?
Ellis Ward
Yeah, so the rivers are.
Ellis Ward
I mean the Wataga is finally clearing after.
Ellis Ward
I'm not going to say finally clearing.
Ellis Ward
It's clearing at the rate that it's been clearing.
Ellis Ward
It's.
Ellis Ward
It's been long enough to where that, that real slow clear up is finally resulting in not just fishable water, but super juicy water.
Ellis Ward
So it's been.
Ellis Ward
It's still not easy.
Ellis Ward
You know, there's I, I start to feel a little hesitant when the idea of oh, you just go out and cast some streamers.
Ellis Ward
There's gonna be big browns coming up and smashing.
Ellis Ward
I'm like, you still gotta work.
Ellis Ward
It's.
Ellis Ward
It's just we're not working in on hard days, you know, seeing a handful of, of eats or a handful of flashes and you know, picking off some, some little brownies.
Ellis Ward
On the hard days it's.
Ellis Ward
You're getting shots at 3, 4, 5 in the.
Ellis Ward
The 16 to 20 category.
Ellis Ward
And the, the ceiling is I, I really like for different reasons fishing at all times a year, honestly, outside of the.
Ellis Ward
The late fall, early winter, but the, the January, February, to.
Ellis Ward
To a certain extent March.
Ellis Ward
Post spawn streamer fishing is just the ceiling for a big fish is the highest that I've seen it, you know, outside of sight fishing them on reds.
Ellis Ward
It's.
Ellis Ward
It's the highest that I.
Ellis Ward
The highest, you know, if you want to talk about like catch per effort.
Ellis Ward
The highest.
Ellis Ward
It's hard to say catching because a lot of the times they eat and you get caught with your pants down.
Ellis Ward
But the highest I seen a big fish per cast.
Ellis Ward
And also, you know, the relative number of big fish that we're seeing and getting to eat compared to you know, the medium size and small fish.
Ellis Ward
It's on the good days, man, it's.
Ellis Ward
That ceiling is as high as it could be.
Ellis Ward
And I've had phenomenal days every week of the year in all different conditions because it's fishing but just on a.
Ellis Ward
Because it is fishing.
Ellis Ward
It's.
Ellis Ward
It's numbers and getting there in the right zone is what you have to do.
Ellis Ward
And then putting all the good casts in and you know, all those things we talk about getting the flies where they need to be practicing shooting out the back and hauling forward all that good stuff.
Ellis Ward
But you combine that with this time of year.
Ellis Ward
And that's where your, your numbers start to, to go up in terms of being able to, to see a fish that you might not otherwise see.
Marvin Cash
Got it.
Marvin Cash
And so what are you seeing on the muskie front?
Ellis Ward
Man, you know, it's been like two weeks since I've been out and I've been exploring new water and moving some fish.
Ellis Ward
I, I had a, I had a handful of trips muskie.
Ellis Ward
You know, the, the trip front has been a little slower.
Ellis Ward
And so it's this one, this one's a little weird because you, you know, I've been fishing there enough to know where, where they are and where they're going to be at different times a year.
Ellis Ward
And, you know, getting up there and, and checking on them every once in a while, it's like, do I go out and catch a fish and put a picture up so that I can get clients on the boat, or do I go find new water and continue to get more addresses?
Ellis Ward
And when the trips start rolling in, I have all my fish that are relatively not pressured.
Ellis Ward
So I've been doing the new water thing, and it's fun in a different way.
Ellis Ward
I've been going out in the Nola Chucky and some spots that are a little off the beaten path on the French Broad and promising stuff, but been pretty quiet on that front.
Ellis Ward
And some of that is intentional and other stuff is, we'll say situational, but patience pays off.
Marvin Cash
Yeah.
Marvin Cash
And so I guess to kind of close out the trifecta.
Marvin Cash
How is everything on the doctor Dear death front?
Ellis Ward
Oh, man, we are.
Ellis Ward
We are fully cooking.
Ellis Ward
I think there's probably going to be some pictures involved in this podcast or, or Instagram post.
Ellis Ward
I did a release, kind of a little one.
Ellis Ward
I just, I had enough people asking, you know, the regular folks who, you know, speaking very candidly, it's nice to have done this the way I've done it, which is, you know, grades one through five, one and two being like absolute freaks.
Ellis Ward
Like grade ones, get out of here.
Ellis Ward
They.
Ellis Ward
They don't belong anywhere, let alone in your tying room getting cut up to put on a hook that you're gonna put into a tree.
Ellis Ward
So doing it to where, you know, the, the first couple years I did it, it's just there's so few and far between and they're so insane that it's like, all right, well, I can't.
Ellis Ward
It's so hard to sell those.
Ellis Ward
And at the same time, look at selling, you know, selling this for what, 20, 25 bucks?
Ellis Ward
And then at the same Time you're looking at, you know, the big manufacturers and, you know, in the shops and the.
Ellis Ward
The larger distribution sources for 15 bucks.
Ellis Ward
And I'm pricing kind of on that.
Ellis Ward
And it's like the supply demand curve is not right here.
Ellis Ward
And so I started.
Ellis Ward
I wanted to create some separation so that there could be, you know, these other classes that are admittedly what I felt was like, shockingly expensive.
Ellis Ward
But 30, 35 bucks, you're getting a tail that it's, you know, it's six of the other tails.
Ellis Ward
And it doesn't matter how many $15 tails you buy from the store.
Ellis Ward
You don't get the, you know, four and a half to six inch fibers as the majority on.
Ellis Ward
On anything.
Ellis Ward
So I wanted to get a number of those out to some folks and, and get some different colors going.
Ellis Ward
I'm gonna have some in tailwater flyco with our boy John here in the next week or two.
Ellis Ward
And I actually just finished up dark olive and light olive today, and a couple hundred naturals, some of which will be dyed.
Ellis Ward
So we're ripping if you can't tell.
Ellis Ward
Yeah.
Marvin Cash
And I may or may not be bringing some of those with me up to Bobbin in the hood in a couple weeks.
Ellis Ward
Yeah, I'll send you one or two.
Ellis Ward
That should hopefully turn some heads.
Marvin Cash
Yeah.
Marvin Cash
And are you doing any custom dye jobs?
Marvin Cash
Maybe?
Marvin Cash
I guess.
Marvin Cash
We got Valentine's Day coming up.
Marvin Cash
You got anything in the hopper there?
Ellis Ward
You know, every time it's February 15th and, you know, this about me, I start thinking of what am I going to do next year for Valentine's Day?
Ellis Ward
Custom bucktail dying.
Ellis Ward
And, you know, it's been almost a full year, and I haven't decided yet, just because there's so many options.
Ellis Ward
So I'm going to keep thinking about it.
Ellis Ward
It keeps me up at night, and I'm just.
Ellis Ward
I'm trying to sleep a little more these days, but stay tuned.
Marvin Cash
Fair enough.
Marvin Cash
And you know, folks, we love questions on the articulate fly.
Marvin Cash
You can email them to me or DM me on social media, whatever's easiest for you.
Marvin Cash
And if we use your question, I will send you some articulate fly swag, and you're going to draw for some cool stuff from Ellis at the end of the season.
Marvin Cash
And, Ellis, before I let you go, to get back to the borax party, you want to let folks know, kind of, you know, what you're booking, how to reach out and all that kind of good stuff.
Ellis Ward
Yeah.
Ellis Ward
January and February, trying to think on my feet, which is dangerous when it comes to a calendar.
Ellis Ward
I might have a weekend left.
Ellis Ward
I don't know if I do.
Ellis Ward
If you can get here, and especially if you're local and, you know, it's.
Ellis Ward
It's within a couple days or whatever, you can make work, it's.
Ellis Ward
It's just such a good time of year that I.
Ellis Ward
If you're thinking about it, I want you here now versus, you know, next October.
Ellis Ward
So best way to contact me is my Cell phone at 513-543-0019.
Ellis Ward
Information, pictures, Bucktail, some flies, and some musky lures can all be found@ellisward flies.com and I'm on Instagram @ellis wardguides.
Marvin Cash
Well, there you go.
Marvin Cash
Well, listen, folks, as I always say, yo to yourself to get out there and catch a few tight lines, everybody.
Marvin Cash
Tight lines.
Marvin Cash
Atlas.
Ellis Ward
Appreciate it, Marvin.
Ellis Ward
Guide | Fly Tier
I am a full time, year round fishing guide in East Tennessee, based out of Johnson City. I also design and tie flies from midges to musky, process a thousand or so bucktails every season, teach at East Tennessee State University, and raise my daughter.
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