Latest / The Articulate Fly / S6, Ep 25: Southwest Virginia Fishing Report with Matt Reilly

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S6, Ep 25: Southwest Virginia Fishing Report with Matt Reilly · The Articulate Fly

• 0:03
  Marvin: Hey folks, it's Marvin Cash, the host of the Articulate Fly,
• 0:06
  Marvin: and we're back with another Southwest Virginia Fishing Report with Matt Riley. How you doing, Matt?
• 0:11
  Matt: I'm doing well, Marvin. How are you?
• 0:13
  Marvin: As always, just trying to stay out of trouble, and we were talking before we
• 0:17
  Marvin: started recording, and it sounds
• 0:18
  Marvin: like musky season's winding down and smallmouth season is revving up.
• 0:22
  Matt: Yep um that's that's
• 0:26
  Matt: for sure we've had uh certainly the last
• 0:28
  Matt: three four days of help with that you know we've
• 0:31
  Matt: had some had some 70 75 degree
• 0:35
  Matt: days and water temps are sliding pretty
• 0:37
  Matt: quickly um and uh you know what i look for on the what i look for on the musky
• 0:44
  Matt: front usually is about that like consistent 50 to 52 degree water tone um for
• 0:52
  Matt: them to kind of at least get it in their.
• 0:55
  Matt: Their uh little brains about spawning um
• 0:59
  Matt: but uh you know more than anything it's
• 1:02
  Matt: just it's from from my perspective it's a scheduling decision
• 1:06
  Matt: you know i'm going to make the jump to smallmouth it's it's kind of it's kind
• 1:11
  Matt: of tough to ride musky with the very bitter end and then and then hop on the
• 1:15
  Matt: smallmouth train because typically what happens is the muskie fishing starts
• 1:20
  Matt: to get a little more challenging as we get closer to spawn time,
• 1:25
  Matt: and the smallmouth fishing can be fantastic.
• 1:27
  Matt: So I tend to make the jump a little conservatively a little earlier than maybe
• 1:33
  Matt: I need to, but it just helps everybody, I think.
• 1:38
  Matt: And, you know, all of our other in the state of Virginia, other than the Shenandoah
• 1:44
  Matt: River, all of our river muskie fisheries are being sustained by natural reproduction at this point.
• 1:51
  Matt: So, you know, if it's easy to leave them alone and let them do their things
• 1:57
  Matt: for a month or so and, you know, hopefully get some more fish out of it,
• 2:01
  Matt: then that's what we're going to do.
• 2:03
  Marvin: Yeah, there you go. And so obviously we're shifting to kind of a pre-spawn smallmouth.
• 2:08
  Marvin: And I know we've talked about this before in previous years,
• 2:10
  Marvin: but, you know, what should anglers expect and, you know, what should their approach be?
• 2:15
  Matt: Yeah, you know, spine time is always a, it's always a, you know.
• 2:21
  Matt: Two steps forward one step back kind of progression um
• 2:25
  Matt: water temps are definitely on the on the upward
• 2:28
  Matt: slide but you know we with these
• 2:31
  Matt: 75 degree days i mean certain places we could see like
• 2:34
  Matt: mid 50s temperatures this week um and
• 2:38
  Matt: then you know we'll get a little bit of a cold snap and you know for the most
• 2:42
  Matt: part our fish are going to wait until mid-april or so to spawn we've got correct
• 2:49
  Matt: photo period and usually you know pretty rock solid 60 degree temperatures um but it's uh.
• 2:58
  Matt: You know the pre-spawn period's a an interesting um
• 3:02
  Matt: kind of seeding situation you do have water counts um that affect activity but
• 3:09
  Matt: you also have um kind of the hormonal like instinct driven and feeling that it's,
• 3:18
  Matt: you know, telling them that they've got this big event coming.
• 3:21
  Matt: It's going to be a big tower expenditure and they need to, you know,
• 3:24
  Matt: females need to build up egg masses and energy reserves and the males need to do the same thing.
• 3:31
  Matt: Because when a male goes on a nest in mid-April, you know, he'll be there for
• 3:36
  Matt: a couple weeks to a month, not really eating a lot, just more or less defending his progeny.
• 3:44
  Matt: And so they, they both need some, some extra, extra reserves.
• 3:50
  Matt: So, um, there's a lot of heavy feeding going on ahead of the spawn and that's,
• 3:55
  Matt: you know, why the fish tend to be fat.
• 3:58
  Matt: Um, you tend to get the bigger fish more than a lot of smaller fish because,
• 4:03
  Matt: you know, bigger fish have, um, you know, they need to eat more to build up more.
• 4:08
  Matt: And uh so the uh cooler temperatures and you know weather and as we get into the the kind of.
• 4:20
  Matt: Low to mid 50s um day-to-day weather
• 4:23
  Matt: doesn't necessarily affect them as much
• 4:26
  Matt: as it would say in the summertime when they've got
• 4:29
  Matt: three or four months to sit around and eat and not think about what's coming
• 4:33
  Matt: um so you know i mean there's plenty of days in march and april you're starting
• 4:39
  Matt: out in 20 some degree weather snow and rain and all that kind of thing and but
• 4:44
  Matt: uh you know just know that that they have to eat, and now is kind of the time.
• 4:49
  Marvin: Yeah, and I know you love streamers, but is it kind of a low and slow game?
• 4:55
  Marvin: Or if you get those warmer days, you kind of fish the warmer,
• 4:59
  Marvin: shallower water with a little sunlight on it, maybe with a streamer,
• 5:01
  Marvin: just to kind of see if anybody's home?
• 5:05
  Matt: Yeah, all of the above. The major food sources I look at this time of year are
• 5:12
  Matt: not necessarily food sources,
• 5:14
  Matt: but just water column uh areas i
• 5:18
  Matt: guess you know you've got the bottom is always going to be important because
• 5:22
  Matt: um water's still a little
• 5:24
  Matt: cold and the fish are potentially coming out
• 5:27
  Matt: of winter depending on on when in the year you're talking about um
• 5:31
  Matt: so to that end you know big like crayfish creature
• 5:35
  Matt: you kind of lures and flies and and
• 5:39
  Matt: uh are always going to be important and
• 5:42
  Matt: and move them pretty slow on the bottom and then you
• 5:45
  Matt: know mid column stuff and even even all
• 5:48
  Matt: the way up to not that far under the surface you
• 5:51
  Matt: know some stuff that floats or sustains um depending
• 5:54
  Matt: on how deep the water is you're fishing um but but generally bait fishy and
• 6:01
  Matt: cray fishy stuff and and i'm gonna one for the fun factor and two for the ease of fishing for clients.
• 6:14
  Matt: I'm always going to.
• 6:17
  Matt: Pick, probably start with a streamer. Certainly if you have two people in the
• 6:22
  Matt: boat, you can bracket the bite with a crayfish or a more active baitfish presentation.
• 6:29
  Matt: But if it's just me, I'm probably going to pick a streamer up first and just
• 6:34
  Matt: kind of play with it and see what I can get them to do.
• 6:37
  Matt: Because it's more fun. It's a little easier.
• 6:41
  Matt: And there are ways that you can
• 6:43
  Matt: can really feel that out you know flies that that do suspend
• 6:47
  Matt: pretty well that you can you know
• 6:49
  Matt: you can either move real fast you know
• 6:52
  Matt: jerk strip them or just really move them
• 6:55
  Matt: um or you know give them a couple of
• 6:58
  Matt: hard yanks and then pause them for like four or five seconds and
• 7:01
  Matt: see if anybody taps them you know there's that kind of that kind of gradient
• 7:05
  Matt: will allow you to figure out where the the bites at if if if you're getting
• 7:10
  Matt: fish to chase and crush flies then obviously keep rolling with that if uh if
• 7:15
  Matt: they need a five second pause and there's a super light bite you know maybe.
• 7:20
  Matt: Maybe see how long you get away with that maybe see if
• 7:24
  Matt: it progresses as the day goes on the water warms
• 7:27
  Matt: up um or maybe consider dropping it
• 7:30
  Matt: down a little bit and seeing if you're not getting more takes on the
• 7:32
  Matt: bottom you know so it's just kind of feeling
• 7:36
  Matt: them out and day-to-day things can be different and you
• 7:40
  Matt: know just not uh the other
• 7:43
  Matt: thing that's extremely important this time of year is understanding that
• 7:47
  Matt: you know if you're doing a six
• 7:50
  Matt: mile float and you don't catch a fish for two hours
• 7:53
  Matt: um you need to be real critical about
• 7:56
  Matt: the habitat you're fishing um and if
• 8:00
  Matt: if you run into to a pot of fish and catch three or
• 8:03
  Matt: four of them in five minutes take note of that too and
• 8:06
  Matt: what habitat you're catching them out of because they do move around
• 8:10
  Matt: quite a bit this time of year um and they will not be everywhere so um kind
• 8:16
  Matt: of qualify your fly choices and um you know tactical change decisions with what's
• 8:27
  Matt: what's going on what you're seeing you know um Um,
• 8:30
  Matt: because, uh, it's, it's not always the fish.
• 8:34
  Matt: Um, sometimes you're just not on them.
• 8:37
  Marvin: Yeah, God. And it dovetails. Well, we've got a question from Ben and he kind
• 8:40
  Marvin: of wanted to get kind of maybe, you know, not pre-spawn specific,
• 8:43
  Marvin: but, um, you know, kind of in general, kind of your thoughts around how you
• 8:48
  Marvin: approach, you know, your fly change progression when things aren't working.
• 8:54
  Matt: Yeah. Um, that's a, that's a, that's a good question. and it's one that I feel
• 9:00
  Matt: like I see maybe handled incorrectly a lot of times it,
• 9:09
  Matt: When I'm building out a fly box, it doesn't matter what it's for,
• 9:13
  Matt: but I would say maybe not trout.
• 9:17
  Matt: Trout fishing in the springtime, you've got hatches, different color and size
• 9:24
  Matt: dry flies will make a difference at times because the fish may key in on certain bugs,
• 9:31
  Matt: and those things are going to make a big difference.
• 9:34
  Matt: But if you're talking about a fish that is very opportunistic,
• 9:39
  Matt: capable of, you know, I mean, this goes for just about every fish,
• 9:43
  Matt: but talking smallmouth, musky, stripers, et cetera,
• 9:48
  Matt: they'll eat anything from a crayfish to a, you know, eight-inch chub,
• 9:54
  Matt: you know, to a bug on the surface.
• 9:57
  Matt: This the where i'm building out fly locks it has more to do with building um
• 10:02
  Matt: tools for different situations um
• 10:06
  Matt: you know like one thing i see in musky fishing a lot is this concept of a.
• 10:13
  Matt: Of a uh you know a kick and turn you know 90 degree profile show as a trigger
• 10:19
  Matt: which is which which is huge, but at the same time, you don't,
• 10:23
  Matt: you don't need like six different patterns and five different colors that all do that.
• 10:29
  Matt: You know, you need one pretty much, um, because you also need something that's
• 10:36
  Matt: going to swim or something that's going to get a little deeper.
• 10:38
  Matt: It's not quite as buoyant. Um, so that you can pause for a long time and let
• 10:44
  Matt: it suspend, you know, and I think about that when I'm building small mouth boxes too.
• 10:49
  Matt: Um, Um, you don't necessarily need like seven different swim flies that all do the same thing.
• 10:56
  Matt: Um, they're just going to take up time at the vice, um, stocking your box with.
• 11:00
  Matt: So when things aren't working, it pays to have a bunch of different patterns
• 11:05
  Matt: that do different things, you know, so crayfish that, that fish the bottom really
• 11:09
  Matt: well, um, that sink and get down there.
• 11:12
  Matt: You know, maybe a more lightly weighted crayfish for summertime conditions or,
• 11:19
  Matt: or just when, you know, you want to be able to just kind of dead drift something
• 11:22
  Matt: for a long period of time and not have it locked to the bottom.
• 11:27
  Matt: Streamer flies mid-column flies that are going to suspend or
• 11:30
  Matt: ones that are going to jig you know and then top water flies
• 11:33
  Matt: are going to do different things sliders and poppers and
• 11:37
  Matt: bugs and and then when things aren't working
• 11:40
  Matt: you know again i guess not necessarily just talk
• 11:43
  Matt: about pre-spawn but anytime you know you don't
• 11:47
  Matt: want to go from one swim fly to another swim fly to another swim
• 11:50
  Matt: fly you know you need to make a drastic significant
• 11:53
  Matt: change in your presentation and then
• 11:56
  Matt: take data from the feedback you get from
• 11:59
  Matt: that you know if absolutely nothing is happening
• 12:03
  Matt: on the surface then you know
• 12:07
  Matt: take it down to mid column and and see what
• 12:09
  Matt: happens absolutely nothing is happening then take
• 12:13
  Matt: it to the bottom you know or maybe take to the bottom first you know and see
• 12:17
  Matt: I would I would avoid that because mid columns just work on the fish in the
• 12:21
  Matt: bottom but you know it it It pays to just ask yourself the question, what's going on?
• 12:30
  Matt: And if they're not doing what you're currently doing, you need to do something very different.
• 12:40
  Matt: I see in retrospect, I guess, for me, who does it a lot, that seems relatively
• 12:46
  Matt: straightforward, but it's easy to get caught in that, you know,
• 12:52
  Matt: well, the mergement is not working.
• 12:54
  Matt: And so let's try a CK bait fish or let's try a game changer or something like that.
• 12:59
  Matt: When realistically speaking, they're very different patterns,
• 13:02
  Matt: but you know, they, they kind of fish in the same area and do a lot of the same thing, you know?
• 13:08
  Marvin: Yeah. And I would imagine too, you kind of maybe pick the strata that you're
• 13:12
  Marvin: fishing kind of, you know, this is an insane generalization,
• 13:15
  Marvin: but I won't say covering water. I don't want to get in trouble for that.
• 13:20
  Marvin: It is maybe kind of time of year, you maybe kind of pick where you start in
• 13:23
  Marvin: the water column, you know, and it varies, right?
• 13:26
  Marvin: Because we know in the summertime, right, more top, you know,
• 13:30
  Marvin: pre-spawn, more bottom, and you kind of pick where you want to start,
• 13:32
  Marvin: you know, based on that and then vary off of that.
• 13:36
  Matt: Right and and to another point you
• 13:39
  Matt: know which i thought that's where you're going to go with it um for a
• 13:43
  Matt: second there um it's it's not always your fly
• 13:46
  Matt: pattern like i said talking about pre-spawn fishing you know
• 13:49
  Matt: it just very basically if
• 13:52
  Matt: you're not around fish it doesn't matter what fly you're fishing you're not
• 13:55
  Matt: going to catch them um you're not going to get chases or bumps or whatever so
• 14:00
  Matt: if you've been floating uh you know two mile long you know just kind of even
• 14:07
  Matt: current a couple little pockets on the bank kind of you know just,
• 14:13
  Matt: maybe just get the heck out of there and go find some ledges or pockets or,
• 14:18
  Matt: big boulder fields or something entirely different um
• 14:21
  Matt: take the same fly same presentation that
• 14:25
  Matt: you weren't getting bit on and try it in there see what happens you
• 14:27
  Matt: know it's all about just gathering data changing the
• 14:31
  Matt: input and seeing what the output is and and uh
• 14:34
  Matt: trying to learn from that you know it's uh i i think in the pre-spawn space
• 14:40
  Matt: there's a lot of this like yeah you just go out and throw a six inch bait fish
• 14:45
  Matt: fly and crush five pounders all day and and that's it's it's a lot more more, um,
• 14:53
  Matt: there's a lot more process and thought and understanding of the,
• 14:58
  Matt: uh, the environment and the fish that goes into it this time of year.
• 15:02
  Marvin: Yeah, got it. And, you know, folks, we love questions at the articulate fly.
• 15:06
  Marvin: You can email them to me or DM, DM us on social media, whatever's easiest for
• 15:09
  Marvin: you. And if we use your question, I will send you some articulate fly swag.
• 15:13
  Marvin: And we're going to draw for some cool stuff from Matt at the end of the season.
• 15:16
  Marvin: And Matt, before I let you go, uh, you want to let folks know where they can
• 15:20
  Marvin: find you and fish with you this, uh, this summer, spring and,
• 15:24
  Marvin: uh, you know, into the fall.
• 15:25
  Marvin: And I imagine you're probably even booking musky for next year.
• 15:29
  Matt: Yeah. Um, yeah, so spring, summer, early fall, um, I might have like five or
• 15:36
  Matt: six days left on the small mouth, um, program, but you know,
• 15:40
  Matt: things are always changing.
• 15:42
  Matt: Um, schedules are always changing days for you up here and there.
• 15:45
  Matt: So never be scared to ask about that. um I have I have probably booked six or
• 15:52
  Matt: seven musky days for for next uh not next year next uh,
• 15:57
  Matt: next season starting about mid to late october um,
• 16:03
  Matt: So that is, it's not too early for that either, particularly if you want specific
• 16:09
  Matt: windows, um, cause they, they do go pretty quickly.
• 16:14
  Matt: Um, and, uh, yeah, trout stuff pretty much always available.
• 16:19
  Matt: Um, got a couple of guys that can handle that.
• 16:22
  Matt: And, uh, that's one of the, you know, I, I end up, uh, doing a lot of smallmouth stuff, March, April.
• 16:29
  Matt: Um but uh it's definitely
• 16:33
  Matt: prime time in the mountains over here i actually haven't i
• 16:36
  Matt: haven't spent a whole lot of time doing that myself the last few years because
• 16:40
  Matt: i've been so busy with smallmouth but uh we've got some great dry fly fishing
• 16:44
  Matt: and some streamer fishing opportunities even on the on the mountain streams
• 16:48
  Matt: um but that's that's always an option so um if you're interested shouldn't that give me a shout too.
• 16:55
  Matt: And all my contact stuff's on the internet, on my website, mattrileyflyfishing.com
• 17:01
  Matt: and just reach out however you feel best.
• 17:04
  Marvin: Well, there you go. Well, listen, folks, it's warming up, you know,
• 17:07
  Marvin: so, and on the East coast, I think we're kind of through fly fishing show season.
• 17:11
  Marvin: So, you know, if the weather's nice, get out there and catch a few,
• 17:14
  Marvin: otherwise spend some time at the vice and get ready.
• 17:17
  Marvin: Tight lines, everybody. Tight lines, Matt.
• 17:20
  Matt: Hey, thanks Marvin.