S8, Ep 46: Low Water, Big Bugs: Matt Reilly's Southwest Virginia Fishing Update

In this fly fishing podcast episode of The Articulate Fly, host Marvin Cash checks in with Southwest Virginia guide Matt Reilly of Matt Reilly Fly Fishing for a late-June/early July conditions update. With water running low and clear across most of the region, Matt breaks down why the cooler-than-expected temperatures have kept bug fishing viable — from damselflies and dragonflies to terrestrials — and how he sequences streamers early before feathering into surface presentations as the day warms. The conversation pivots to gear when Matt discusses his Hatch Magazine review of the new Redington Big Game musky rods, focusing on their full-rod ceramic guide array as a first from a major manufacturer and the 12-weight's practical utility as a two-hander on 550–700 grain lines. Matt also walks through his two-handed aerial casting technique for musky — from the initial sidearm tease to elliptical overhead delivery — and covers the Scientific Anglers Custom Cut line's color-change visual cue as a trigger for timing the shot. With October musky days already booking out, the episode closes with a reminder that now — before summer heat locks conditions down further — is exactly the right time to get on the water.

EPISODE SUMMARY

Guest: Matt Reilly - Guide at Matt Reilly Fly Fishing (Southwest Virginia) — Regional Fishing Report

In this episode: Guide Matt Reilly shares a late-June/early July conditions update from Southwest Virginia, covering warm-water fish behavior in low, clear water and the evolution of two-handed musky fly fishing gear and technique. Topics include reading low-water conditions for bug fishing and dry fly presentations, sequencing strategies for streamers vs. surface work, musky rod design innovations and two-handed casting mechanics for big predator flies.

Key fishing techniques covered:

• Sequencing streamers in low-light/early morning conditions, then transitioning to bug fishing as sun and temperature rise
• Sight fishing in low, clear water with surface presentations to target bigger fish
• Two-handed aerial casting for musky: sidearm tease to build head length, then elliptical overhead delivery
• Figure 8 boat-side presentation and how extra rod length reduces fatigue
• Reading baitfish and crayfish molt cycles to time pattern selection in late June/early July

Location focus: Southwest Virginia; far southwestern Virginia and northeast Tennessee received rain earlier in the week; high country trout streams mentioned

Target species: Smallmouth bass (summer), musky (October guiding season); trout mentioned

Equipment discussed: Redington Big Game musky rods (11- and 12-weight, 9-foot), full-rod ceramic guides as a design innovation, Scientific Anglers Custom Cut line (550–700 grain window; cut-to-weight charcoal head with fluorescent yellow running line), Reilly Rod Crafters, Chippewa River Custom Rods, two-handed rods for musky

Key questions answered:

• When should I switch from streamers to bug fishing during low summer water?
• What makes the Redington Big Game 12-weight a practical two-hander for musky fly fishing?
• How do you cast a two-handed rod for musky — what's the actual technique?

Best for: Intermediate to advanced anglers interested in Southwest Virginia summer fishing, warm-water bug fishing strategy and the growing two-handed musky fly rod movement

FULL TRANSCRIPT:

Marvin Cash00:00:00

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

Matt Reilly00:00:11

I'm good, man. How are you?

Marvin Cash00:00:13

As always. Just trying to stay out of trouble and took a look at your weather and looks like you're actually.I know you always tell me it's cooler on your side of the mountains and I don't necessarily believe you, but it does look like you're a little unseasonably cool right now. What are you seeing on the water?

Matt Reilly00:00:28

Yeah, we've had kind of a bounce around between like 50 and 80 ish degrees the last couple of days. Had a little bit of, a little bit of a front come through. So that's, that's really what that was. It's supposed to be, I think in the.I saw a day said 94 sometime next week, I believe. So it's, it's coming for us, but it's water still very low most places.We did get a pretty good shot earlier this week over kind of far southwestern Virginia, northeast Tennessee. So we've got some water down there. Trout streams in the high country got a little bit, but um, down low it's, it's still pretty low.So not a whole lot has, not a whole lot has changed. Yeah.

Marvin Cash00:01:29

And you were saying before we started recording that the fact that it was cool kind of compensated with the low, clear water made bugs a little bit more viable. Even though it's really not like 94 degrees yet with bugs everywhere.

Matt Reilly00:01:40

Right. Yeah. I mean it. We usually have some pretty good bug fishing through June. Um, there's other things going on.Water's usually cooler, so we've got a good bait fish bite. Especially if we've got a lot of water in the river like couple to several weeks post spawn, we can have a pretty good bait fish bite.Usually some sort of crayfish. Adult crayfish molt going on late June, early July. But frankly I saw that a lot of places way early, like, like a month ago this year.So I'm, I'm kind of, kind of not holding my breath on that. We'll see if that comes to pass or not. But you know, may get another one. It's hard to say, but yeah.So I mean, just, just with the water being low and temps being warm and we've got damselflies and dragonflies out and about and plenty of terrestrial insects, bug fishing's been pretty good. And you know, like we were saying, just low water. If, if the bug is an Option is, is a lot of times going to be your ticket towards a bigger fish.So just in those really technical situations, so they have been doing a lot of that and kind of mixing some other things in, but just kind of depending on who I'm fishing with, sometimes we'll just commit to it because that's what we want to do and sometimes we'll play around with other things.

Marvin Cash00:03:19

As we always say, it's important to fish the way you want to. Right.

Matt Reilly00:03:23

Yeah, I, I believe that. Try to balance that with some, some intelligent understanding of, of general patterns and what might work better.But you know, it's just depends on how you want to fish.

Marvin Cash00:03:38

Yeah. And so, you know, if it's kind of chilly in the mornings and obviously if you come out and say I'm, you know, I'm ride or die on bugs. Right.That's one thing.But I assume are you kind of easing into the bug thing as the day warms up or are you kind of testing it first thing and kind of moving on if you have to?

Matt Reilly00:03:54

For sure the latter. I mean we had, like I said, it was 50 degrees when I left my house this morning at 7, heavy, heavy fog cover until probably 9:30, 10 o'. Clock.So you know, you can, you can get them. But especially in the real low water if, if you got, you know, flats and things like that where it pays to be able to sight fish.You want the sun and you definitely want the fish to be actively moving towards a fly in that situation. It.So I, I'll just, I'll just kind of prioritize other water in, in, in those situations early and you know, streamer fish and, and try to capitalize on that and, and then just kind of feather into it and, and see what happens.

Marvin Cash00:04:52

Yeah.I was going to say when you said it was kind of foggy and kind of cloudy, it seemed like that would be like an awesome streamer bite window first thing in the morning.

Matt Reilly00:05:00

Well, yeah, I mean it would be way better if there's a little more water in the river for sure.

Marvin Cash00:05:06

Well, we'll all do our rain dance. Although we had all that rain, I don't know, about a week ago and it doesn't look very good.And as you said, it looks like it's going to be toasty for everybody in the Old Dominion for the fourth of July.

Matt Reilly00:05:16

Yeah, that's pretty typical though. I can remember a lot of. Seems like as a kid I was painting a fence on the 4th of July too often and it was over a hundred in central Virginia.Too often too. So I don't think we're going to get there down here, but it's definitely going to be toasty.

Marvin Cash00:05:33

Yeah, I was thinking about. So we all, it's a lot of times we go to Poplar forest for the 4th and that's going to be pretty darn warm out there in those fields.

Matt Reilly00:05:39

Yeah.

Marvin Cash00:05:41

So you also, you mentioned to me you just had an article that just got dropped on Hatch magazine, right.

Matt Reilly00:05:47

Yeah. I'd been, been fishing these new Redington big game muskie rods for several months since about midway through the, the last year's muskie season.And so there's a review on those couple rods. They're 11 and 12 weights that frankly initially I wasn't incredibly impressed with.But the more I got to know them kind of, there's a, there's frankly there's a lot that they don't really give you in the marketing. The 12 weights are really pretty solid two hander. It takes a 550 to 700 grain line.So just looking at it on the website is a 12 weight doesn't really tell you that.But the exciting thing about those rods is that they're the first rods produced by a major manufacturer that have ceramic guides all the way up the rod which I think is paramount in any muskie fly rod design. So that was pretty exciting. And yeah, it's just kind of cool to see that happen.Some of the, you know, Reilly Rod Crafters, Chippewa river custom rods, been building rods like that for a long time but you know, the major manufacturers haven't done it. And so it's pretty cool to see one pop up because it kind of feels like fly fishing for muskies has gotten, you know, a little bit more traction.People are listening.And the fact that that 12 weight is built for the grainage window that it is and, and is the tool that it is kind of tells me that, that they're, they're paying attention to where the sport's going because that's how I've been fishing pretty much for the last three years is with two handed rods. So it's just cool to see.

Marvin Cash00:07:47

Yeah, I would say, you know, it's interesting. The two handed thing makes life so much easier.

Matt Reilly00:07:51

So much easier, man. From a guiding and a fishing perspective. And it just, it just kind of widens the playbook on what you can do.I mean you can throw giant flies with ease. You can design flies a little differently because they don't have to, you know, be super duper lightweight.I mean it sounds crazy, but I have definitely fished bulkier and heavier flies over the last couple of years that, that produce some different actions and it, they're a pain to cast with a single hand rod, but you know, you step up to a 650 grain line and a two handed rod and you don't even notice them. So you know, it, it's just kind of, it's exciting, you know, changing the game a little bit.

Marvin Cash00:08:39

Yeah, I mean, I think it's an interesting thing too because I always say, I think it's probably the most physically demanding fishing that I do in a given year. Right.

Matt Reilly00:08:46

Yeah.

Marvin Cash00:08:47

And I think, you know, the casting is one part of it, you know, but also too, you know, the figure 8 and having that extra length on the figure 8 makes life a whole lot easier at the boat. Right?

Matt Reilly00:08:56

For sure. For sure.And that was one of my complaints about that, that Redington is, and, and I, you know, I'm, I'm calling the 12 weight a two hander because casting a 650 or 700 with it with one hand is, is, is a lot of work. And, and I, I don't really see a reason to, to build a rod to that capacity for any other reason.But they are nine footers and I've just gotten so used to that 10 foot length that it does feel a little, a little undergunned to me. But, but you know, still, whole thing's kind of just a concept.You know, the fact that we're kind of the, the market's stepping forward in that direction is pretty cool.

Marvin Cash00:09:45

Yeah.And on the casting side, are you doing more of an elliptical stroke or are you doing a, like a true vertical kind of or off vertical casting stroke when you fish those?

Matt Reilly00:09:54

When I cast a two handed rod, it's, it's a lot of, basically all you do. It's, it's an aerial cast.I mean you can water load as well, but I, I cast aerially most of the time and more or less you're just teasing the, teasing the head out of the, out of the rod tip. You know, you start with a foot and a half a line out from your last figure eight.You know, if you got a 25 foot head, you try to shoot 10, 15ft on the first back cast, 10 more feet on the forward cast, couple feet on the back cast. And, and I, I tell my clients basically to just act like you're trying to like sweep the side of a, of a wall with a broom.You know, you're just kind of, just kind of, you Know, gently teasing that head out with a sidearm cast. And then once you get the head out, you're just coming elliptically overhead with two hands and just.And just shooting it and makes it pretty easy to. To. To consistently make cast it. You know, for the least competent casters, you know, 40, 40, 50ft's pretty attainable pretty easily.You know, somebody who's a. A good. A good caster with big rods and flies can probably hit 80, 80 plus feet, you know, almost every time.

Marvin Cash00:11:18

Yeah, and it's neat, too. I know the SA. You know, heads have the color change, which makes life super simple, Right?

Matt Reilly00:11:24

Yeah. I mean, that's, yeah, that's, that's. That's just it.I mean, the custom cut is the only SA line that I'm aware of that gets you up into those upper grain windows. And it's a. It's. You're just cutting that charcoal head back to. To get it to the. The grain weight that you want to be at.And then you've got a fluorescent yellow running line. So it's. It's pretty easy to tell. I tell people once you see a foot or two of that yellow, just to send it out there.

Marvin Cash00:11:52

Yeah, let it rip.

Matt Reilly00:11:54

Yep. Ex. Exactly.

Marvin Cash00:11:56

Well, you know, as we. As we kind of march into summer, you know, why don't you let folks know? I mean, gosh, you're probably booking October in Muskie at this point, right?

Matt Reilly00:12:05

Yeah, I've booked several muskie days, but, you know, I've kind of paused, paused my booking push.At the moment I've got a couple smallmouth days probably open in October, but yeah, otherwise we're looking at Muskie and, you know, whatever comes next.

Marvin Cash00:12:24

Yeah, all good stuff. And, you know, folks, send us questions if you have them. You know, email me or DM me on Instagram.And as I always say, you know, particularly if it's already low and clear now and it's not even July yet, you probably ought to get out and fish because you don't have to drag the boat, right? So get out there and catch a few. Tight lines, everybody. Tight lines.

Matt Reilly00:12:45

Matt. Hey, thanks, Marvin.