S8, Ep 77: From Smallmouth to Musky: Matt Reilly's Guide to Southwest Virginia's Fall Fishing

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 doing?

I'm great, man.How are you?

As always.Just trying to stay out of trouble and you know, we didn't get quite as much rain from the hurricane here, kind of in the Charlotte area.Did you get a ton of rain where you are?

Oh, yeah, we got quite a bit.It's giving me a little bit of a, a week off here to do some other things and catch up on sleep.So it's been, it's been kind of nice.

Yeah, I figured you were probably off the water because I saw a very extensive newsletter earlier this week.

Yeah, about a week and a half late.That's usually a pretty good sign that I've been busy and all of a sudden have some time on my hands.

Yeah.So, you know, the word of the day is a muskie.You want to kind of let folks know kind of, you know, when you think that program's going to start and kind of what to look for and how to get on the books and all that kind of good stuff.

Yeah, we'll pretty much be, I'm gonna, I think my first muskie trip here's Sunday and I'll do, you know, kind of a sporadic few throughout October and then really kind of hit it hard and the beginning in November, thankfully.Hopefully, you know, we keep some water in the river.Right now it's, it's looking pretty good after all that rain.So hopefully we've got a little bit more than we did last year.That's all we can hope for.Yeah.

And so, you know, I guess the early season game is right.You know, the, the musky aren't as hunkered down as they are if we go in January or February.So kind of what's the trick to finding them and getting them in the boat?

Yeah, early season, I, I usually is defined by warmer water and clearer water than you'd otherwise have.And you know what you might call the late season, like January, February,.

And.

That can be, it's kind of a double edged sword.Generally you have fish that are spread out a little bit more, they're generally moving a little bit more.On average.You just, you get a lot more kind of curiosity follows and just fish coming in to check things out.And, but with, with clearer water sometimes they can be pretty spooky.So, you know, and I try to explain this to people.I say, you know, the, the huge generalization is that, you know, October Early November, that's, that's your time to go out and, and move just an absolute ton of fish and maybe not even catch one.You know, maybe get an eat or two and a lot of spooked fish and.But just a lot of sightings and that can be, that can be a lot of fun.It's a good way.I think it can be a good time to take new folks just because you get a lot of context.You can see some fish and see what you're doing and you know, and then as things cool down, like you said, you know, it's not that, it's not that we don't catch as many fish later in the year because we.The.The number of fish caught tends to stay the same generally.But their, their activity becomes a little more intentional.Cause the water's cold and um, you've also usually got reduced visibility so you don't see quite as many, but they still eat and.Yeah.So, you know, it's just a little bit kind of lower key earlier in the season.Fish are spread out.So you know, we're fishing a lot more water in the span of a day.Still kind of concentrating on those key spots, but feathering things out a little bit and finding fish in all kinds of spots.So it's, it's a good time to go if you.Sounds funny, but if you don't know anything about the river and you're trying to go on your own and, and find some muskie, it's a good time to go because they'll be kind of spread out in good habitat.

Yeah.And with the low, with the, with I guess, hopefully not low water, but clear water, do you try to kind of entice them to eat as, you know, as far away from the boat.

As possible if, if you've got the option or if, if they'll play that game.You know, I, I tend to fish a lot faster this time of year, try to get a fish that's aggressive to, to kind of go for it or not.You know, the faster you fish, the, the harder fish has got to work to get it.And you know, if they don't eat it out away from the boat, theoretically they're just that much more jacked up when they do get to the boat and hopefully aren't too worried about you.So speed is usually my first sort of trick when fish are being.Being spooky and clear water.Sunny days that we get in October.

Got it.And if you, if folks want to get out and kind of take advantage of the last kind of Tail end of smallmouth season.What suggestions do you have for them?

Definitely, you know, there's, there's some top water fishing to be done left still, especially if the water drops down low again, which, you know, just based on how the year's gone, I imagine it will.I hope it doesn't.But if we keep some water in the river, the streamer fishing should be pretty good.And you know, just generally speaking, this is in the fall, sort of like the springtime.So another time where I tend to fish bigger than maybe the water conditions would dictate unless things get really, really low, I try to go a little bit bigger than I would in the summertime just because as things get colder, you know, fish, they, they are sort of metabolically loosened up a little bit to go chase things down and, and eat them and, and they can be motivated, big fish can be motivated by a big meal in the fall and that can kind of kind of peak sometime in November.So we've still got a good bit of that.You know, you'll see that a lot on the muskie, on muskie days where you have big smallmouth taking swipes at, you know, 8, 9, 10 inch flies.So you know, 5 or 6 inch streamers, not, not too much.But you know, I, I tend to start with the, the sort of swim fly stuff and, and if they won't eat that, then naturally, you know, you might have to slow down and, and drop down in the water column a little bit.But for the most part, you know, if water temps are in the, you know, 50s, you should be good barring any, you know, if it's 51 or 55, because we just had a giant cold front and it was in the 60s the day before.That's usually not good.But generally speaking, it's sort of just a reversal of a similar pattern that you see in the springtime.

You know, got it and saw your newsletter.You've got, you know, more than a handful of muskie dates.You want to kind of give folks kind of the general, you know, idea of what's open on your calendar and how to get in touch and all that kind of good stuff.

Yeah, there's, there's a smattering in November, smattering in December and same in January and February.So we're not, you know, booked up yet, but is getting pretty tight especially you know, the holidays and things tend to put a little bit of a squeeze on some of those late December and, and late November dates.So there's not quite as many available as there would otherwise be.But if you're interested in any of that, just give me a call or send me an email and all that information's on my website, which is just MattReillyFlyFishing.com.

Yeah, absolutely.And I imagine people could even give you a deposit for a striper trip in the spring too, right?

Maybe, yeah.It just depends.I got a lot of things going on right now.

Fair enough.That sounds like maybe you haven't scouted out your.Your Cicada Airbnb situation down in Louisiana.

Yeah, like I said, it's still pretty far from my mind.As much as I hate to say it.

Fair enough.Well, folks, as I always say, you owe it to yourself to get out there and catch a few.And if conditions aren't great where you are, it's a good time of year to drink beer and tie flies too.Tight lines, everybody.Tight lines, Matt.

Thanks, man.