Marvin: Hey folks, it's Marvin Cash, the host of the Articulate Fly, Marvin: and we're back with another East Tennessee Fishing Report with Ellis Ward. How are you, Ellis? Ellis: I'm doing well, Marv. How are you? Marvin: As always, I'm just trying to stay out of trouble and been watching the Instagram Marvin: feed and East Tennessee looks like the sulfurs have arrived, brother. Ellis: Yeah, man. It feels nice. It feels nice to see the yellow bugs flying around.
Ellis: And as a guide, as an angler, partially as a tire, it feels nice to see fish eating them. Marvin: Yeah, it's kind of cool, right? Because doesn't the South Holston have one of Marvin: the longest sulfur hatches in the country? Ellis: You're out of my depth very quickly there. And I don't know. Ellis: That feels like something you hear.
Ellis: And then there's part of me that says who's measuring that but it really I mean Ellis: just objectively I've only been on a handful of streams that have sulfur hatches and, Ellis: both the South Holston and the Watauga are you know kind of mid to late May through late June, Ellis: so it is It can be day-to-day, as with all fishing and dry fly hatches, Ellis: but it is really a good chunk of the summer. Ellis: And you get them through July, it's just not as prolific.
Ellis: And there's blue wings and midges, and the whole time, it's an all-you-can-eat buffet. Ellis: Fey but those big you know big Ellis: for tail waters 14 16 and what's Ellis: fun about that is you can fish 12s and they're eating 12s um i i wouldn't necessarily Ellis: do that but um that that larger size bug lasting for the better part of a really Ellis: solid month and then and really tailing out through july it's pretty cool yeah.
Marvin: And of course it sets up your favorite program right and dry fly to the risers Marvin: and pull streamers the rest of the time? Ellis: Yeah, it's just too fun. Ellis: And with the Watauga generating from 1 to 6 every afternoon outside of Sundays Ellis: through the summer from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
Ellis: That we have water for four to five hours Ellis: and that big water Ellis: i think there's some misconceptions around you know Ellis: dry fly fishing and it being hot in the Ellis: low water look if it's low water all Ellis: summer i'm going to tell you the dry fly fishing's hot because i'm going Ellis: to figure it out figure out what to do high water Ellis: dry fly fishing uh yes on Ellis: the south holson yes definitely on the watauga um the Ellis: otaga has flows that are
Ellis: are scheduled for six days a week um Ellis: and the whitewater rafting companies that bring a lot of people to this area Ellis: will say that um they depend on that and so that's not going anywhere and in Ellis: high water dry fly fishing it can it can be like low water they're They're a little more localized, Ellis: but man, when they find a place that they're having high water, Ellis: they're not going all the way back down to the bottom. They're hanging right there.
Ellis: So it's sort of the same as that low water, you know, finding the shelves and Ellis: all that. Just a different game. Marvin: Yeah. And then, of course, you know that we're also, as it starts to warm up, Marvin: we start to really get into the thick of mouse season too, right?
Ellis: Just about to talk through it, man, on that timeline. line starting you know meeting, Ellis: early to mid afternoon i mean i i was just talking with a client earlier today and, Ellis: uh first time fishing with me and kind of saying i'll meet in the morning it's Ellis: like well it's gonna be kind of late summer i said it again it depends some Ellis: days i do want to meet in the morning it depends on the weather but that evening hatch is,
Ellis: It can be really, really good, and then it gives us the option to hang out in the house. Marvin: Yeah, there you go, and I've got a streamer question for you, too.
Marvin: So Brenner wanted to get your thoughts. I know we've had a ton of rain in our Marvin: part of the world recently, Marvin: and I know that you're a little bit protected but less protected on the Watauga Marvin: because of the Doe River and wanted to get your thoughts on color combos for Marvin: streamers when you're fishing in stained water. Ellis: Yeah. I think I'm just going to start officially beating this drum publicly. Ellis: I don't care about color.
Ellis: That's incorrect. I want something that is white, maybe like some sort of off-olive Ellis: yellow, something that I can really, really see. Ellis: And when I say that, it's something you can see, something clients can see. Ellis: And I'm probably fishing it pretty high in the water column. Ellis: And if I can get it to be bigger, I would appreciate that as well. Ellis: I would say it depends on how you're fishing.
Ellis: So for a lot of my fishing as a guide and even when I'm out on my own on either Ellis: of the rivers, I am, it's hard to say fishing to fish. Ellis: It's not like I know exactly that cast is perfect, but man, some of them, yeah, at this point I do. Ellis: And so it's finding those spots and I want something they can see. Ellis: And I've just amassed enough data at this point to say that. Ellis: Something with opacity, something that is opaque, light does not penetrate it.
Ellis: I don't care if it's white. Ellis: When something's coming from below it, there's no light down there. Ellis: And then if it's closer to the surface, aka closer to sunlight, Ellis: it projects more of a difference in light.
Ellis: So if it's down low there's not as much light hitting the top of it to create Ellis: a profile below so it's really just putting a spotlight shining shining something Ellis: to give the fish the silhouette, Ellis: to say i'm going to eat that thing and i've i've Ellis: seen it happen now i know i've said this before but i will Ellis: continue to say it i've seen Ellis: brown trout blow through the water erupting on Ellis: a streamer taking it through the surface in
Ellis: all but chocolate i mean all but like debris filled chocolate milk really i Ellis: would say unfishable water um relative to my understanding before Before doing Ellis: what I've been doing for the last four years. Ellis: So hiring the water column and something that really does block light, that's not feathers. Ellis: It's, you know, craft fur changers are two of my favorites.
Ellis: And then I have a streamer that I have sort of jokingly called the Luff, Ellis: which is more like an articulated, just a two-section craft fur streamer. Ellis: And yeah, the rate of success there, and I've had days where we switch to that Ellis: and it's immediate. So, yeah. Ellis: More than a few of those days. And I think that folks should be willing to try Ellis: it at this point because, gosh, it's too fun. Ellis: Was I on that one?
Marvin: No, you did. You did great. I literally just put the safety back on the trigger. Marvin: So you're good. But to follow up. Yeah, but to follow up on that. Marvin: See, this is how I'm going to get you your extra couple minutes. minutes so you. Ellis: Like you. Marvin: Like a lighter colored fly because if you're fishing high you want the predator Marvin: to see the belly right and so that's the color jam.
Ellis: I'll clarify there the color jam is for human eyes i want something that i can Ellis: see i want something that the angler can see, Ellis: and as you go away from white um i've tried to convince myself that black is Ellis: really visible but it's it's just not um so there's just.
Ellis: There isn't much light below the Ellis: streamer the sun's coming from the top of it shining directly down and then Ellis: um the trout normally are are sharking it if you're fishing higher in the water Ellis: column they're they're coming from below so there's really no thought process around color Ellis: outside of I want to track what's happening and in muddy water that can be more Ellis: challenging so the whiter and
Ellis: really I just I mean if you if you want to do a lot of flash go nuts but. Ellis: I had this this Rolodex this montage of video clips in my head of watching Watching Ellis: these events, striper, brown trout, Ellis: eat big craft fur changers, and the swim bug fishing higher in the water column Ellis: to a certain extent the drunk. Ellis: One of the great things, and in this very specific instance, Ellis: one of the drawbacks is that the drunk finds depth pretty quickly.
Ellis: So keeping something that rides higher in the water column, Ellis: is kind of where the swim bug comes in in this instance and then craft for a Ellis: changer is just for your retrieve speed trying to make sure you're deepening up where it should be, Ellis: and yeah at that point. Ellis: You know all these cliffs have a fly with very little flash involved. Marvin: Got it how about rattles.
Ellis: Big fan now kind of tough because some of these you know i'm thinking of fishing the drunk and Ellis: having fish track it up to the boat and eating on that kill eating on that pump Ellis: fake just before you take it out don't pretend like you're gonna take it out Ellis: and then don't so when it hangs on the surface there for a second so i don't Ellis: know are they tracking it in because of the rattle and then they're finally eating it,
Ellis: because of that boat side let's hang out at the surface for a second so do we Ellis: bypass that and just fish higher in the water column and not worry about flash or rattles but, Ellis: as a rule I like to add them in where I can you know last thing on that is, Ellis: a lot of these high water muddy water, Ellis: 40-inch strike, I mean, giant fish inhaling a fly at the surface and about four gallons of water. Ellis: Browns doing the same thing, not 40 inches.
Ellis: Those are without rattles and very little flash. I don't think those two things hurt, though. Marvin: Yeah, well, there you go. And, you know, folks, we love questions at The Articulate Fly. Marvin: You can email them to us or DM us on social media, whatever is easiest for you. Marvin: And if we use your question, I will send you some articulate fly schwag. Marvin: We're going to enter a drawing for something cool from Ellis at the end of the
Marvin: season. And, you know, Ellis, I know you're stacking days on your calendar. Marvin: You want to let folks know, you know, where they can find you, Marvin: what you have available, how they can talk fishing and book you. Marvin: But also, I suspect you might be hanging on to a few Easter pastel bucktails Marvin: you might want to share with folks. Ellis: Yeah, so the best way to contact me for anything really is my cell phone at 513-543-0019. Ellis: Instagram is at Ellis Ward Guides.
Ellis: And website is EllisWardFlies.com. As for bucktail, Ellis: I will be moving nearby, and the new spot has a 30x40 workshop, Ellis: so things are going to get sporty next deer season. Ellis: And currently, yeah, I have a good number of tails left, and I'm pretty sure some twos and threes.
Ellis: But yeah definitely continuing to continuing to develop that part of the business Ellis: as well and as for me and I'll kind of jump it all over the place, Ellis: if you are interested in the dry flying mousing, Ellis: give me a shout and let's get some good dates on the calendar if we can get Ellis: dates with the right moons and things like that It's better to plan around that one. Ellis: Some of this stuff can be day-to-day, but if you're planning a night fish, let's talk about it now.
Marvin: There you go. And remember, folks, we've got two great opportunities in our community. Marvin: One of them is 100 off-guide credit with Ellis, and another is a 10% discount on Bucktail. Marvin: So check that out. That's hosted over on our Patreon site, and there's a link in the show notes. Marvin: And as I always say, you owe it to yourself to get out there and catch a few. Marvin: Tight lines, everybody. Tight lines, Ellis. Ellis: Appreciate it Marv.