Latest / The Articulate Fly / S6, Ep 90: East Tennessee Fishing Report: Barometers, Bugs and Burnt Orange

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S6, Ep 90: East Tennessee Fishing Report: Barometers, Bugs and Burnt Orange · The Articulate Fly

• 0:03
  Marvin: Hey folks it's Marvin Cash the host of the Articulate Fly and we're back with
• 0:07
  Marvin: another East Tennessee fishing report with Ellis Ward. Ellis how are you?
• 0:12
  Ellis: I've been doing well Mars how are you?
• 0:14
  Marvin: As always just trying to stay out of trouble and you know it's kind of funny
• 0:17
  Marvin: we had a couple days together last week and then you tell me your you know crazy
• 0:21
  Marvin: fishing schedule bouncing between like mousing from four to four to fishing
• 0:25
  Marvin: like noon to nine the next day and then And sleeping all day Sunday sounds like
• 0:29
  Marvin: you've been burning the candle at both ends.
• 0:33
  Ellis: Yeah, I was sleeping all day Sunday.
• 0:37
  Ellis: I had a guy and his 18-year-old son, and this was after you and your son.
• 0:46
  Ellis: And sleeping all day starts to mean something different after you have kids.
• 0:52
  Ellis: So, you know, sleeping until 10 feels like what 2 or 3 p.m. used to.
• 1:01
  Marvin: And then, you know.
• 1:02
  Ellis: In between that, you know, hanging out with the daughter after school.
• 1:11
  Ellis: And we went up to a little creek and got a little rainbow trout.
• 1:18
  Ellis: And, of course, played some pertain pirates. lots of fishy stuff.
• 1:24
  Marvin: Yeah. So, you know, the cool thing is, you know, you know, while I was with
• 1:28
  Marvin: you, that hurricane came and amazingly didn't really drop very much rain in
• 1:31
  Marvin: Johnson city, but it did kind of mess the fishing up and, you know,
• 1:34
  Marvin: looking at the weather, you're kind of back kind of like what you like, right?
• 1:38
  Marvin: Cloudy, not super hot for angler comfort only. Uh, what are you seeing on the water?
• 1:45
  Ellis: Um, yeah, that was a weird,
• 1:49
  Ellis: really couple days. Um, um it was nice you were here for two days so you got
• 1:55
  Ellis: to see the the bad side and the good side um you know the,
• 2:04
  Ellis: the river just looks different when that the bite the barometer cloud cover
• 2:10
  Ellis: whatever when when that stuff's going you start seeing you know that that fish
• 2:15
  Ellis: under the overhang in the perfectly cast-proof,
• 2:20
  Ellis: osprey-proof spot that wasn't going the day before and.
• 2:30
  Ellis: And you start seeing fish scream out of banks that, man, it can be frustrating
• 2:35
  Ellis: when I know fish are here and the casts are there and everything's lined up.
• 2:42
  Ellis: And most of the time when that is occurring and we have even slightly favorable
• 2:49
  Ellis: conditions, we're getting feedback.
• 2:51
  Ellis: Back um but yeah
• 2:54
  Ellis: there there was i'm not
• 2:57
  Ellis: sure if it was because it was the edge of that depression versus something passing
• 3:03
  Ellis: through which is somewhat more of a predictable dropping in the barometer cloud
• 3:08
  Ellis: cover etc rising some wind and restabilization but yes we are we are back to
• 3:14
  Ellis: at what I would call normal,
• 3:17
  Ellis: which relative to our fishing in the tailwaters, normal is super high ceilings, super low floor.
• 3:29
  Ellis: So, Marv, I got to tell you, we hooked that trout under the tree.
• 3:36
  Marvin: Did you really?
• 3:38
  Ellis: Yeah, yeah. And went... straight into the lab jam and, uh, the angler just sat there.
• 3:53
  Ellis: I started laughing immediately. I mean, he just sat there with his rod up in
• 3:57
  Ellis: a tight line, kind of jaw dropped that the fish ate and he had it on and,
• 4:01
  Ellis: and the line was back in the boat.
• 4:04
  Ellis: Um, so there's not a whole lot to be done with the fish like that, where it was.
• 4:09
  Ellis: Fishing, uh, size 24 on six eggs.
• 4:12
  Marvin: So, so just so we're clear, this was that last dry, last dry fly spot we fished
• 4:18
  Marvin: before we went back and fished streamers to the bitter end on the last day?
• 4:23
  Ellis: Yeah, that one spot with the, you know, the nice brown on the other side of
• 4:30
  Ellis: the stick under some overhang stuff where we tried a couple different angles
• 4:34
  Ellis: and it just wasn't happening.
• 4:36
  Marvin: Yeah, yeah. It's basically we dropped down below your buddy,
• 4:38
  Marvin: right, at the end. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
• 4:42
  Marvin: Yeah. Well, at least we know it was a good fish. I didn't know that.
• 4:45
  Ellis: Yeah, it was a nice fish, and there were a couple more there.
• 4:51
  Ellis: So, yeah, it's been good. And it's starting to get to a blue-wingy season.
• 4:56
  Ellis: You've still got some yellow bugs around there.
• 4:58
  Ellis: But, man, the 20 to 24s are really where it's at.
• 5:07
  Ellis: And, I mean, really, if I'm going double dries, I'm going 18, 22.
• 5:14
  Ellis: If I'm just doing one, it's a 20 or a 22.
• 5:18
  Ellis: And, yes, there are bigger bugs in the water. And, sure, they'll eat those.
• 5:22
  Ellis: But if you're casting the rising trout, smaller 18s or the 20-22 draws are smacking fish.
• 5:36
  Marvin: Yeah, they were a little snotty, though, for us. I mean, they were not whacking them, right?
• 5:40
  Marvin: And sometimes they were actually, you know, turning around and taking them going
• 5:44
  Marvin: downstream. I mean, it was kind of weird.
• 5:47
  Ellis: Yes. Yeah, that's that. Whatever we want to call it. I just call it tailwater
• 5:53
  Ellis: trout fishing, but there are certainly conditions that play into it.
• 5:58
  Marvin: Yeah. So I got a question for you from Brenner, and as we start to think about
• 6:03
  Marvin: pumpkin spice lattes, he wanted to get your thoughts on what you change up from
• 6:08
  Marvin: a streamer color perspective as we start to move into fall.
• 6:14
  Ellis: Yeah. So it's interesting that you say pumpkin spice latte.
• 6:19
  Ellis: To say I like to just sell, sell, transition from my whites and olives to everything
• 6:27
  Ellis: in a burnt orange palette and I'm not going to take that joke any farther.
• 6:36
  Ellis: I'm a bad person to ask about this, I'm going to be honest, because and this
• 6:40
  Ellis: is an answer to the question in fairness, but I don't really change color as much as other people and.
• 6:53
  Ellis: At this point, I'm looking at, you know, a thousand or so days on the water,
• 6:57
  Ellis: just me fishing along with as many with clients.
• 7:02
  Ellis: And most of that is strictly streamer fishing.
• 7:08
  Ellis: It's an insane amount of data to be working with.
• 7:12
  Ellis: And I just don't see an impact switching colors.
• 7:18
  Ellis: There's profile water column action so whether or not you're giving it longer
• 7:24
  Ellis: pauses i mean if you're fishing let's say a yellow dungeon and one cast is a foot off the bank,
• 7:37
  Ellis: and you let it rest for a quarter
• 7:40
  Ellis: of a second and then start working it back with four to six inch strips and
• 7:46
  Ellis: your line's a little downstream so it's sort of getting swept that is a different
• 7:54
  Ellis: universe than if you cast with your rod tip ending slightly upstream,
• 7:59
  Ellis: tight line the bug hits the
• 8:02
  Ellis: water your cast begins as your rod is coming down even with the fly it's had
• 8:09
  Ellis: a chance to sit or at least get stable there and you start retrieving it from
• 8:17
  Ellis: that slack point against the bank, this time two inches from the bank,
• 8:21
  Ellis: and you give it half-second, three-quarter-second kills.
• 8:27
  Ellis: And 12 to 18-inch drifts, that's the same fly.
• 8:32
  Ellis: And those two presentations, dude, I don't care if you throw in a musky fly
• 8:39
  Ellis: and the other option is a single hook woolly bugger.
• 8:44
  Ellis: Those two presentations from the same yellow dungeon may as well be different lies. So...
• 8:55
  Ellis: I would just caution people to, I love playing with color.
• 8:59
  Ellis: Dude, I mean, I'm staring at a box of dozens of colors of dyes.
• 9:06
  Ellis: I like the art side to it. I like stuff that looks cool.
• 9:10
  Ellis: That's one of my biggest recommendations to people is, and one of the reasons
• 9:14
  Ellis: that I have people fishing white so much is because they see it and say, ooh,
• 9:20
  Ellis: and then all of a sudden when you get that ooh, rule
• 9:23
  Ellis: they're casting you get that extra six eight
• 9:26
  Ellis: ten inches to the bank and that's
• 9:30
  Ellis: when things start to happen but if that's yellow or
• 9:33
  Ellis: if that's uh you know brown to chartreuse
• 9:37
  Ellis: comp like whatever it is for you that has you feeling good that's that's what
• 9:44
  Ellis: you're going to um there's there's just not as serious in the river or stepping
• 9:53
  Ellis: in the river that looks like so many of the things that I fish,
• 9:57
  Ellis: but relative to where the trout are eating, what the profile is doing,
• 10:02
  Ellis: the different bite triggers in your cast and conditions, all of this stuff outweighs
• 10:12
  Ellis: is color, in my opinion, more than tenfold.
• 10:17
  Ellis: It's, I would rank that as unimportant, honestly.
• 10:25
  Ellis: So how do I change my colors moving into fall? I don't.
• 10:30
  Marvin: There you go. But you do go to coffee Zen packs, right?
• 10:35
  Ellis: No. As discussed on our trip, it,
• 10:41
  Ellis: You know, if it's early in the morning, you just had your breakfast burrito
• 10:46
  Ellis: from the gas station, coffee's in packs, that's like a lab experiment that I'm
• 10:53
  Ellis: not going to recommend to anyone who wants to have a good day.
• 10:56
  Ellis: So I stick with cool men and others who like to live on the edge, they can go coffee.
• 11:03
  Marvin: There you go. But just let's be cool. You're a real man. You're doing six.
• 11:06
  Marvin: Six is not threes, right?
• 11:07
  Ellis: I think there's some 12 or 15
• 11:13
  Ellis: milligram pouches out there that I feel like would put a small horse down.
• 11:18
  Ellis: But yes, 15 years of dipping grizzly long cut, the six milligrams are a little
• 11:29
  Ellis: bit of a methadone for me.
• 11:31
  Marvin: Yeah, so there you go, folks. That's a great stocking stuffer for Ellis.
• 11:34
  Marvin: And you know, folks, we love questions on the Articulate Fly.
• 11:37
  Marvin: You can email them to us or DM us on social media, whatever's easiest for you.
• 11:40
  Marvin: And if we use your question, I will send you some articulate fly swag.
• 11:43
  Marvin: And we're going to have a drawing for some awesome stuff from Ellis at the end of the season.
• 11:46
  Marvin: And, you know, Ellis, before I let you go and tell people how to reach out to
• 11:50
  Marvin: you and all that kind of good stuff and remind people about the great opportunities
• 11:53
  Marvin: in our community, why don't you let folks know that you are going to be traveling
• 11:57
  Marvin: and tying in Chattanooga at the end of the week?
• 12:00
  Ellis: Yeah i'm doing tying night at the
• 12:04
  Ellis: hatch outfitters in chattanooga i'm tying the swim bug
• 12:07
  Ellis: which i have a couple videos on this is
• 12:10
  Ellis: the first time i've done um live tying in
• 12:13
  Ellis: a few years so i'm pretty excited you can find information on the time i believe
• 12:21
  Ellis: it's 8 p.m it could be six uh but check out hatch outfitters Instagram and it's 15 bucks.
• 12:30
  Ellis: You get all the materials and supplying the deer hair and mallard and preselected
• 12:35
  Ellis: feathers and all that stuff.
• 12:37
  Ellis: Um, and I'll have more information on my Instagram and those are more guides.
• 12:46
  Marvin: Yeah. And I will drop that in the show notes and, uh, you know,
• 12:50
  Marvin: folks Remember that we've got two great benefits in our community that we host on Patreon.
• 12:57
  Marvin: At one level, you can get a discount on Ellis' Bucktails, and he's moved to
• 13:00
  Marvin: a new place with a massive workshop.
• 13:03
  Marvin: So it's going to be Bucktail Central here in about, I don't know,
• 13:06
  Marvin: three months, four months.
• 13:08
  Marvin: And then at another level, you get $100 annual guide credit with Ellis.
• 13:12
  Marvin: So two great ways to support the show and to support Ellis.
• 13:16
  Marvin: And Ellis, before I let you go, you want to let folks know kind of what your
• 13:20
  Marvin: guide calendar looks like. how to reach out and all that kind of good stuff.
• 13:25
  Ellis: Yeah, I mean, after I unburdened my shoulders from the weight,
• 13:29
  Ellis: you know, to an army, I don't know.
• 13:32
  Ellis: I'm already a little anxious about bucktail season coming up,
• 13:35
  Ellis: but, you know, it happens every year. I'm excited for it.
• 13:40
  Ellis: So, bucktail, flies, guide stuff, that's all at elliswardflies.com.
• 13:49
  Ellis: And calendar, I'm going to be starting to look at musking pretty soon.
• 13:54
  Ellis: And there are some different reasons why we can talk about that in a couple weeks here um,
• 14:01
  Ellis: but i i will be starting to do that uh the
• 14:05
  Ellis: headwaters that i fish and then some of the reservoirs that
• 14:08
  Ellis: that i fish here in tennessee and western north carolina are
• 14:11
  Ellis: you know they stay much cooler than
• 14:14
  Ellis: a lot of the musky water in the
• 14:17
  Ellis: the south and the southeast so i'm gonna
• 14:21
  Ellis: start to push that otherwise i big push
• 14:25
  Ellis: on malican i want to do as much of
• 14:27
  Ellis: that as possible until it gets
• 14:31
  Ellis: too chilly and a decent
• 14:34
  Ellis: amount of availability august is a little spotty but um you know weekends are
• 14:42
  Ellis: starting to go in september so scoop them up and again sites ariswordflies.com
• 14:49
  Ellis: that's what uh Ask for availability,
• 14:53
  Ellis: ask questions, whatever it is.
• 14:55
  Ellis: Text or call my cell at 513-543-0019.
• 15:01
  Marvin: Well, there you go. And folks, as I always say, you owe it to yourself to get
• 15:04
  Marvin: out there and catch a few. Tight lines, everybody. Tight lines, Ellis.
• 15:10
  Ellis: Appreciate it, Marv.