Latest / The Articulate Fly / S6, Ep 83: Hot Days and Clear Waters: Matt Reilly's Southwest Virginia Fishing Report

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S6, Ep 83: Hot Days and Clear Waters: Matt Reilly's Southwest Virginia Fishing Report · The Articulate Fly

• 0:03
  Marvin: Hey folks it's marvin cash the host of the articulate fly we're back with another
• 0:07
  Marvin: southwest virginia fishing report with matt riley matt how are you i'm.
• 0:12
  Matt: Good man same old same old hot and tired.
• 0:15
  Marvin: And uh despite that we were talking it's like uh you're in the in the land of
• 0:20
  Marvin: hit or miss rainstorms in the afternoon you're in the land of miss right guy.
• 0:25
  Matt: That is that is true yeah we We we've had some kind of, I guess you say sort
• 0:33
  Matt: of regional soakers a couple of times here in the last week,
• 0:37
  Matt: but not really not enough. I mean, it's been so dry.
• 0:41
  Matt: We we we get bumps and then we're right back down to, you know,
• 0:47
  Matt: below the seasonal average in a day or two.
• 0:50
  Matt: Um just you know we're we're not uh we're not set up for a uh viable uh late
• 1:03
  Matt: summer at this point because things keep getting drier you know there's not
• 1:08
  Matt: gonna be a whole lot of water anywhere yeah.
• 1:10
  Marvin: Which gets us to to drag in the raft over rocks right.
• 1:13
  Matt: That's right or or uh you know I've run in the jet boat in the big water, one or the other. Yeah.
• 1:21
  Marvin: And so, you know, if it's, it's, I imagine then it's clear, it's kind of warm.
• 1:25
  Marvin: So, I mean, I would imagine it's probably, you know, getting as technical as
• 1:29
  Marvin: it gets when you fish for smallmouth.
• 1:32
  Matt: Yep. Um, real low and clear and, you know, things, things seem to get more,
• 1:37
  Matt: you know, they can get more technical when things get,
• 1:42
  Matt: as I say, stale, you know, where we just prior to last week,
• 1:46
  Matt: we'd just been in the 90s and dry for,
• 1:50
  Matt: you know, weeks.
• 1:52
  Matt: It seemed like, you know, just not ever having a reset or a flush of water or anything.
• 1:59
  Matt: Recently, with a couple little rainstorms popping up with these,
• 2:03
  Matt: you know, dog-based fronts, it's helped a little bit.
• 2:08
  Matt: But, you know, still just not very much water in the river.
• 2:15
  Matt: We're actually on the big river, on the new right now. We're sitting pretty good.
• 2:22
  Matt: Dealt with some stain here recently but uh
• 2:26
  Matt: it's it's it's uh
• 2:29
  Matt: it's it's definitely been new they're calling
• 2:31
  Matt: for some rain you know next week and um with a big one hopefully having it early
• 2:38
  Matt: in the week but you know again like we were talking about before we started
• 2:42
  Matt: recording we've been hoping for rain all summer because it's been so dry and
• 2:47
  Matt: and you get excited when and you start seeing it forecast,
• 2:49
  Matt: but it, uh, this is the time of year where it's always in the forecast and,
• 2:54
  Matt: you know, sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't. So we're just have to wait and see.
• 2:59
  Marvin: And so I would imagine, I know you're flexible, but you know,
• 3:02
  Marvin: we are in the thick of bug season. So I imagine the, the bug bites probably pretty good though.
• 3:08
  Matt: Yeah. Um, when you can, when you can get it, I mean, I, I tend to ride it pretty
• 3:13
  Matt: hard when I feel like I can get away with it just because, um,
• 3:18
  Matt: myself and most of my clients tend to want to fish that way.
• 3:24
  Matt: Cause now is the time, um, kind of starting right about now through early to
• 3:30
  Matt: mid mid-October is when things are usually pretty hot and heavy.
• 3:35
  Matt: And, you know, the things that kind of get in the way of that are rain and heavy clouds.
• 3:42
  Matt: If, you know, you're fishing kind of a finesse-y, passive topwater presentation.
• 3:50
  Matt: I do a lot of sight fishing certain places, and that certainly kills that.
• 3:56
  Matt: And when the water's really low, there's not a lot of current.
• 4:00
  Matt: Not a lot of sunlight or bright bright light
• 4:03
  Matt: out and about um this fish can really
• 4:06
  Matt: spread out and it's kind of hard to to uh
• 4:10
  Matt: calculate exactly where they're going to be and
• 4:14
  Matt: you know when when you add
• 4:17
  Matt: that really technical aspect of low clear water in there too it's just that
• 4:21
  Matt: much easier to spook fish so you just have to end up working really slow and
• 4:27
  Matt: really methodically through some good areas and and uh so that can complicate
• 4:32
  Matt: things but when the sun's out and you have the shade,
• 4:36
  Matt: uh concentrating factors working for you um it's it's been pretty good and.
• 4:41
  Marvin: I've got an optimistic question i guess it kind of depends on where you are
• 4:44
  Marvin: uh in the great commonwealth of virginia but brenner wanted to get your thoughts
• 4:49
  Marvin: on your favorite patterns for when you do get the great opportunity to fish
• 4:53
  Marvin: high and or stained water.
• 4:55
  Matt: Um see that's a there's a couple interesting little elements there i'll say one thing that um,
• 5:09
  Matt: One thing that is true almost across the board is that, you know,
• 5:14
  Matt: in the springtime, you know, when you have slower water tables and trees that are not necessarily,
• 5:23
  Matt: you know, supporting leaf respiration and all that, you tend to have higher,
• 5:31
  Matt: you tend to have clearer water and higher water levels.
• 5:34
  Matt: So, you know, in April on a given river, if you're fishing 1,000 cubic feet,
• 5:40
  Matt: 3,000 cubic feet, it's going to be significantly clearer than if you're fishing
• 5:45
  Matt: that same level in August.
• 5:48
  Matt: Just because, you know, water tends to drop out faster. It tends to muddy up.
• 5:54
  Matt: And, you know, that's just the way it tends to be.
• 5:59
  Matt: So, this, and especially as little rain as we've had, as low as the water table is,
• 6:04
  Matt: if we get a lot of rain, likely what'll happen is you'll have high water for
• 6:10
  Matt: a day or maybe two, but it's going to drop out pretty quick and you're going
• 6:14
  Matt: to end up with kind of low, dirty water.
• 6:17
  Matt: Water um so you
• 6:20
  Matt: know if we're just talking high you know clear
• 6:24
  Matt: to you know relatively clear water
• 6:27
  Matt: um my my answer is usually i mean across the board with heavier heavier and
• 6:34
  Matt: dirty dirtier water i'm gonna fish bigger and usually usually darker um you
• 6:42
  Matt: know blacks and purples and blues and,
• 6:47
  Matt: Um, I, I, jury's kind of out on, on chartreuse. I'm really not sure.
• 6:53
  Matt: You know, I, it's anecdotally, I like to think I do better with those kind of
• 6:58
  Matt: fluorescent colors and dirtier water.
• 7:00
  Matt: Um, but I've also done well with white. So I, I really think potentially it
• 7:06
  Matt: has more to do with where you're fishing the fly in the water column relative to flow, um.
• 7:13
  Matt: In, in higher water naturally, you're going to seek out
• 7:16
  Matt: some current breaks you know closer to the bank
• 7:19
  Matt: on average um and kind
• 7:22
  Matt: of a point that smallmouth bass specific is
• 7:26
  Matt: just the fact that they're they're very visual
• 7:29
  Matt: feeders in general um so when
• 7:32
  Matt: you are dealing with stain um there
• 7:37
  Matt: it it can be tough at times particularly
• 7:41
  Matt: in smaller watersheds where
• 7:44
  Matt: that condition tends to change pretty quickly you can notice some really uh
• 7:51
  Matt: pretty dramatic just shutoffs i think where where those fish kind of know that
• 7:57
  Matt: okay we can weather this storm things are going to change in a day so they can they can kind of just,
• 8:04
  Matt: you know, hole up for a bit and then get back to feeding, you know,
• 8:08
  Matt: when the clarity improves a little bit.
• 8:11
  Matt: But there've also been some studies done and, and I can say I've,
• 8:16
  Matt: I've, you know, again, anecdotally kind of been able to qualify it.
• 8:23
  Matt: They show that when, when you have increases in flow and decreases in clarity,
• 8:28
  Matt: small amounts tend to focus on the bottom
• 8:31
  Matt: as kind of a point of reference for feeding as opposed to trying to make you
• 8:36
  Matt: know a visual feeding fish trying to make a living in the middle of the column
• 8:40
  Matt: when there's very little visibility it's just not you know how it generally
• 8:44
  Matt: goes so they're going to hunt the edges and they're going to hunt the bottom so,
• 8:49
  Matt: crayfish flies you know with some weight anything that's going to fish on the bottom or close to it,
• 8:56
  Matt: in those dark contrasty colors or things that go to you know think like a like
• 9:01
  Matt: a black and blue clawed at um they that that would be a a fly that i would think
• 9:07
  Matt: really hard about those kinds of conditions got.
• 9:10
  Marvin: It and you have any kind of preferences on rattles.
• 9:13
  Matt: Um jerry's really out on rattles i really don't think i believe in them at all gotcha.
• 9:22
  Marvin: Uh and we won't go down the rat tail and talk about like propeller spinners
• 9:27
  Marvin: and corkscrew tails and all that kind of good stuff.
• 9:30
  Matt: Right. Right. So, I mean, that's another that's another point.
• 9:33
  Matt: I mean, flies really do, I think, a pretty poor job of making a lot of noise.
• 9:43
  Matt: Even a big fly rattle is basically nothing compared to, you know, a big, you know, three,
• 9:55
  Matt: four big BBs in a jerk bait or a lipless crank bait or something like that.
• 10:01
  Matt: Or a spinner bait with big Colorado blades.
• 10:04
  Matt: Fly anglers best bet at making a lot of noise is on the surface.
• 10:08
  Matt: So um you know absolutely play around with big you know like uh,
• 10:15
  Matt: Oh, shoot. Like, you know, big, big poppers, big deer hair bugs,
• 10:21
  Matt: kind of blockhead popper kind of stuff that's worth messing around with if you
• 10:29
  Matt: want to stay on top water, which we do a lot in the summer.
• 10:32
  Matt: Summer and uh yeah you know that might be a situation where i do lean on making
• 10:39
  Matt: a lot more noise than i would and say low and clear water just because you know
• 10:45
  Matt: the visual aspect is not quite as quite as present the best fish need to be
• 10:50
  Matt: able to find which you're which you're going.
• 10:52
  Marvin: Well there you go and you know folks we love questions on the articulate fly
• 10:56
  Marvin: you can email them to us or dm us on social media and if we use your question
• 11:00
  Marvin: i will send you some articulate fly swag, and we learned a drawing for some
• 11:04
  Marvin: cool stuff from Matt at the end of the season.
• 11:05
  Marvin: And I know, you know, every time we talk, you are booking deeper and deeper into musky season.
• 11:10
  Marvin: And then occasionally I'll see a little blurb, like a canceled day,
• 11:13
  Marvin: canceled day here or there.
• 11:15
  Marvin: You want to let folks know kind of like what you're booking and how to reach
• 11:18
  Marvin: out and all that kind of good stuff?
• 11:20
  Matt: Yeah. Yeah. Had quite a few schedule change-ups this summer,
• 11:27
  Matt: but thankfully, I have to be super thankful for all the folks I fish with.
• 11:33
  Matt: I'm usually able to fill those pretty quickly, so that's a big thank you there to everybody.
• 11:39
  Matt: Buddy um but for the most part
• 11:41
  Matt: we are looking at musky season which is
• 11:44
  Matt: kind of you know starting like early november
• 11:48
  Matt: through the end of february early march and uh still plenty of dates there but
• 11:54
  Matt: you know a lot of my regular folks are starting to or have for a bit now had
• 11:59
  Matt: dates taken off and everybody's always looking for those you know quote unquote
• 12:04
  Matt: prime moon dates dates, um,
• 12:07
  Matt: those tend to go quickest.
• 12:09
  Matt: So, um, there's a, there's a benefit to booking musky dates in the middle of
• 12:14
  Matt: the summer, but, uh, yeah, that's, that's what we're looking at right now.
• 12:20
  Matt: So if you're interested in that or any of our, you know, winter smallmouth fishing,
• 12:25
  Matt: that's, uh, that's another program that we run through the winter time.
• 12:29
  Matt: Um, which is, it's kind Kind of a unique, special deal, but it's an opportunity
• 12:34
  Matt: to catch a lot of big smallmouth in the depth of winter fishing streamers pretty actively.
• 12:41
  Matt: We're booking all that stuff right now. So, feel free to reach out if you have
• 12:46
  Matt: any questions about any of that.
• 12:47
  Matt: If you've never musky fished and you're curious about it, have questions,
• 12:52
  Matt: or you're hesitant to book something because you don't really know what you're
• 12:57
  Matt: getting into, just shoot me some questions. I'm happy to answer all that stuff.
• 13:02
  Matt: Um, and as you know, my contact information is on the website,
• 13:06
  Matt: which is mattreillyflyfishing.com and you can email, call, text,
• 13:12
  Matt: whatever you feel best doing.
• 13:14
  Marvin: Uh, well, there you go. And folks, as I always say, you owe it to yourself to
• 13:17
  Marvin: get out there and catch a few. Tight lines, everybody. Tight lines, Matt.
• 13:22
  Matt: Thanks, Marvin.