S8, Ep 16: The Seasonal Shift: Matt Reilly Discusses Spring Fishing Strategies in Southwest Virginia

In this Southwest Virginia Fishing Report on The Articulate Fly fly fishing podcast, host Marvin Cash checks in with Matt Reilly of Matt Reilly Fly Fishing for a late-winter/early-spring conditions update. With snowmelt behind them and sustained warm-up temperatures on the forecast, Matt details the transition from musky season to pre-spawn smallmouth bass in the New River system, explaining how water temperature — particularly the 40s-to-50°F range — governs both fish location and presentation strategy. The conversation covers streamer fishing tactics for cold-water smallmouth, the spring striper run, mountain trout opportunities through Matt's associate guides, and a no-cicadas-this-year heads-up for trip planners. Matt also shares current guide calendar availability, including open smallmouth, striper and fall musky dates for the season.

EPISODE SUMMARY

Guest: Matt Reilly – Guide/Owner, Matt Reilly Fly Fishing (Southwest Virginia / New River system)

In this episode: Guide Matt Reilly delivers his latest Southwest Virginia Fishing Report, covering the late-winter-to-spring transition with tactical depth on reading water temperatures for pre-spawn smallmouth bass, streamer presentation windows and the upcoming striper run. Topics include cold-water smallmouth staging locations, temperature-triggered streamer retrieves, the spring striper program, mountain trout opportunities through associate guides and the 2026 season's no-cicada calendar reality.

Key fishing techniques covered:

• Cold-water smallmouth staging — locating fish in upper-end winter pools, lower ends and tail-outs in the mid-to-upper 40°F range
• Temperature-based streamer presentation — mid-column suspending retrieves with long pauses in the low-to-mid 40s; active baitfish retrieves once water hits 50°F
• Transitioning off dumbbell-eye bottom-bouncing patterns to swimming streamers as temps climb
• Spring striper fly fishing on the Roanoke/Staunton system (mid-April through mid-May window)
• Mountain trout fishing in Southwest Virginia throughout the spring/summer season

Location focus: Southwest Virginia; New River system

Target species: Smallmouth bass (pre-spawn), musky (late-season wrap-up), striped bass (spring run), wild trout (mountain streams)

Equipment discussed: Streamers (baitfish mid-column patterns), swim flies; no specific fly or brand names mentioned in this episode

Key questions answered:

• Where do smallmouth stage during the 40–50°F pre-spawn transition?
• At what water temperature should you commit to active streamer presentations for smallmouth?
• What does the spring fishing calendar look like in Southwest Virginia in 2026?
• Are there cicadas in Southwest Virginia in 2026?
• How do you book open dates or cancellations with Matt Reilly Fly Fishing?

Best for: Intermediate to advanced anglers targeting pre-spawn smallmouth and spring predator species in the mid-Atlantic and Appalachian region

FULL TRANSCRIPT:

Marvin Cash00:00:04

Hey, folks, it's Marvin Cash, the host of The Articulate Fly. We're back with another Southwest Virginia Fishing Report with the man himself, Matt Reilly. Matt, how are you?

Matt Reilly00:00:12

Pretty good man. How are you?

Marvin Cash00:00:13

Just trying to stay out of trouble. You just had a big birthday.

Matt Reilly00:00:18

I did a couple weeks ago, yeah.

Marvin Cash00:00:22

One of the ones divisible by 10. So that's super cool. But you, you don't want to talk about it.So we'll shift to the fishing the, you know, so we're kind of in this interesting kind of funky trans the mid Atlantic. Although you know, we talked before we started recording that.I think we're finally on a more sustained upward trend in temperatures even though things have been bouncing around. And I think that probably means for you, right? Winding down, musky, turning on pre spawn smallmouth.We've got a couple other things that you're into that we want to talk about too.

Matt Reilly00:00:49

Yeah, just about. I mean we've just in the last couple weeks had had a lot of snowmelt enter the river water temperatures took a nose dive.But we've had some 60, 70 degree highs since then, gotten a healthy amount of rain water temperatures are, you know, north of, certainly north of 40 most places. And, and in some places, you know, upper 40s.And we've got, I don't know, at least, you know, Most of the 10 day forecast is going to be, you know, highs in the 60s and 70s, even close to 80. So I think things are gonna start to slide pretty quick.Um, I've got two more muskie trips to knockout and then it's just gonna be kind of laying the foundation, couple of days for the, the rest of the month smallmouth fishing and, and then getting on that train.

Marvin Cash00:01:48

Yeah. So you're gonna be finding them I guess in that nice slow water, right?

Matt Reilly00:01:52

Um, yeah. I mean for the most part if, if we're in the kind of mid to upper 40s, which is where I really, you know, kind of like to start.Like if we're you know, maybe, maybe low to mid-40s in the morning. But that, that mid to upper-40s range, this should be sort of staging to, to break out of those winter areas.So you'll find them in, you know, kind of the upper ends of those winter pools, lower ends, tail outs.And you know, once it, once it starts to warm up past that and certainly get into 50, they'll just kind of spread out throughout the river and, and start feeding. And one thing that is, is sort of important to pay attention to that.I, I sometimes Miss, if we have some of these real warm days this time of year is some, some rivers might get some water temps up in like the middle, you know, low to mid-50s. If it's really, really warm in late February, we haven't, we haven't had too much of that.Um, but once those water temps get out, you know, you'll have fish spread out throughout the river and usually in those, you know, in those years it'll get cold again and you'll be fishing some mid, mid 40 degree temps and march and you know, you're, you're looking at the water temp thinking well they should be here. But you know, two weeks ago it was 52, 53 degrees and they've, they've already moved. So history is important.You know, that's where if, if you fish smallmouth all winter, you have a pretty big advantage in that regard because.Cause you can kind of follow em from you know, meat of winter spots to the staging, you know, edges and then you know, you'll notice pretty quick if they move. So that's, that's something to be paying attention to this time of year if you're just getting back to them.

Marvin Cash00:03:51

Got it. And so you know, where's kind of that temperature that you kind of cross over from?Kind of having to pry them out off the bottom or they're not really chasey to where they kind of really start. Because I know you love the streamer game, right? Where they really start chasing stuff.

Matt Reilly00:04:04

Oh Yeah. I mean 50 degrees is, is plenty. I even, even, you know, even those mid-40s temps.If, if you can, if you can fish slow, you can, and you can get flies or, or lures, you know, mid column or maybe even a little bit deeper. Just long pauses and lots of suspension that, that can, that can work, you know, pretty well too.You don't necessarily have to go, you know, to something with dumbbell eyes bouncing on the bottom, you know, straight to a, an active streamer retrieve.

Marvin Cash00:04:40

But

Matt Reilly00:04:43

yeah, I, it that certainly that kind of upper 40s through 50.You know, once I'm seeing 50 in the morning, I, I have, you know, no, no fear that I'll be able to catch them on a bait fish mid column type streamer. And, and usually that's, you know, just because of what's fun and what I want to do and how limited the time window is.I'm, I'm usually going to commit myself to that unless it's really, really obvious that that's not gonna work.

Marvin Cash00:05:13

Got it. And you know, as we mentioned before we started recording, you got a couple other things folks should know about, right?So I don't think there are any cicadas this year, right?

Matt Reilly00:05:20

There are not, no. This is the only year in the next 13 that there's not a brood anywhere.

Marvin Cash00:05:28

Yeah.

Matt Reilly00:05:28

And then we'll have some pretty interesting years after that.

Marvin Cash00:05:31

Yeah. So I know you'll, you'll do pre spawn smallmouth and I just saw your email for the striper run. Do you want to let folks know about that?But I also got another email from you. I saw you're really kind of opening up. You. There was all that.This one was cold and you weren't fishing, so you were, you were tying flies and doing customer emails. But then I also saw you've really kind of opened up your Mount Rogers program too.

Matt Reilly00:05:54

Yeah, man, I had to. Had a lot of email campaigns queued up and scheduled there for a little while.But yeah, it's, I mean, springtime, there's just a ton going on this time of year.We've got, like I said, I'm gonna get on smallmouth here in the next couple of days and then pretty much ride that through mid April and then striper fish, hopefully until, hopefully until mid May. It's always just kind of a wait and see thing. Cause you know, stripers can be here one day and gone the next.And if they're gone, you can't catch them, so you gotta stay on top of that. But. And then, you know, pretty much, I mean, late February through, you know, summers is, is pretty fantastic fishing in the mountains too.And I've got couple of associates that I've been working with pretty closely that have been taken, taken a lot of folks in the mountains trout fishing the last couple of months. And it's. Well, I was talking to a lot of the folks up in Cincinnati at that show last month. It's, it's, it's.It's pretty great fishing that nobody really does around here just because we've got two big tail waters and you know, there's.The Smoky Mountains are not that far away, so lots of folks come down to this region to, to fish for wild trout, but don't necessarily end up in southwest Virginia. And it's, it, it can be pretty good and I get a lot of requests for it.Um, personally I just have been doing fewer and fewer of those trips, so I've got a couple of guys that frankly are better than me at it that, that I've been, been, you know, handed all my folks to. So that's that's been pretty exciting the last couple months to watch.

Marvin Cash00:07:54

Yeah, absolutely. And you know, 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 stickers. And we're in a drawing for some cool stuff for Matt at the end of the season.And you know, Matt, before I let you go, you want to let folks know kind of how to get in touch. And you know, I know things are kind of always in a state of flux, kind of moving around.So there are cancellations, how to kind of keep their eye open if they can maybe sneak in a smallmouth date that they weren't able to book six months ago.

Matt Reilly00:08:22

Yeah, well, first of all, my information's on the website.It's mattreillyflyfishing.com and as you know, I pretty much send a newsletter out every month with kind of, you know, monthly fishing report, what's coming up, forecast kind of deal and then upcoming programs. I usually try to include some, some tying stuff and, and anything that's kind of tip and tactic that's, that's seasonally relevant.So feel free to check that out too. But, and, and you'll see a lot of my open dates there too.But pretty much got just a couple of, couple of March, March and early April, smallmouth days, a couple of striper slots, and then we're just looking at, you know, post spawn, everything.There's some muskie fishing to be done in, you know, May, early June, and then we're, you know, for the most part just smallmouth fishing this year until, you know, October.So with no cicadas, which I don't want to say I'm thankful for, but it'll be, it'll be nice to have, have a little bit of a break from running around this year after the last several.

Marvin Cash00:09:43

Yeah. Not having to dial in the hatch and then find an Airbnb close by. Right?

Matt Reilly00:09:48

That's right.

Marvin Cash00:09:49

Yeah. And so I would imagine on the smallmouth side, you're probably kind of in the prime top water months, probably pretty full.But what does your backside smally calendar look like this season?

Matt Reilly00:09:58

You mean getting into the fall?

Marvin Cash00:10:00

Yeah, exactly.

Matt Reilly00:10:01

Yeah.And that, you know, I always, those, those first couple weeks of October are usually always my, my last to book and I don't really push them that hard because frankly, I usually end up having to reschedule some dates into that, that window. But it's, it's pretty open at the moment. I think I have three or four days booked.I do have some stuff still, you know, just here and there in, like, June and July, you know, I've had a couple of days in August and September cancel that. That have come open, just, you know, canceled in the last couple of weeks that were booked months ago. So. Yeah, it's. It's always changing.That's why I always tell people if they're interested in something just to get in touch with me, and that way I at least know you're interested and we can. We can try our best to make it happen.

Marvin Cash00:10:53

Yeah. Get in there before it shows up in a newsletter blast to. For an empty date, right?

Matt Reilly00:10:58

Exactly.

Marvin Cash00:10:58

Yeah. Too early to get you a 20, 27 muskie deposit?

Matt Reilly00:11:04

Probably. Yeah.

Marvin Cash00:11:05

Fair enough. Well, listen, folks, it's warming up in our neck of the woods. If it's warm enough to go out and fish, you should get out there and catch a few.Otherwise, tie some flies. Tight lines, everybody. Tight lines, Matt.

Matt Reilly00:11:15

Thanks, Marvin.