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.

Marvin: Ellis, how are you doing?

Ellis: Doing all right. A little cold right now.

Marvin: I was getting ready to say you are the epitome of dedication.

Marvin: Rainy and 52 degrees and you fished until there wasn't any light left and very

Marvin: little juice left in the battery to get across the lake.

Ellis: Yep i i was wondering if if the size 27 battery is tailor-made just for that

Ellis: specific lake run but um i think i've knocked a little water and acid out of

Ellis: it a few times so i'm guessing that it dies a little sooner than it should yeah.

Marvin: At least you weren't on the emergency or that'd be a bummer.

Ellis: Yeah that is a bummer so.

Marvin: What are you seeing out there you know weather in our part of the world is all

Marvin: over the place like warm super warm super cold rain it must be kind of a little

Marvin: bit uh maybe nutty and frustrating on the trout streams.

Ellis: Yeah um what's what's nice about,

Ellis: how we fish is is that i mean it can feel nutty when it's It's really, really good.

Ellis: And this happened last week where...

Ellis: People listening probably know that I like to fish streamers when we're moving,

Ellis: and I like to stop for any rising trout.

Ellis: And there's certain places that I really want to hit with streamers.

Ellis: And it was like I'm stopping these guys are putting like 15-20 casts out with

Ellis: the streamers and I'm pulling off and giving them the 5 weights again,

Ellis: you know taking some shots get a fish or two in the boat for you know casting the risers and then,

Ellis: 7-8 weeks again and then 20-30

Ellis: shots it got to be a little silly and just

Ellis: have a conversation like what do you guys want to focus on

Ellis: and he's once said both so I'm at about those days and it's one of the reasons

Ellis: that I do spend these days and afternoons out on the water is just to figure

Ellis: out what it because we are encountered with it often but yeah,

Ellis: it's 50 going to be in the 40s tonight and then,

Ellis: I think a low of 34 tomorrow. High of 70 in two days.

Ellis: Today, I would think, would have been a great blue-wing hatch.

Ellis: It was kind of meh. Three days ago, it was just on fire.

Ellis: Very much all over the map. For your own fishing, it just Just it's one of the

Ellis: times to, it pays to be prepared for fishing a couple different ways.

Marvin: Yeah. And the good news is we're on the street as you are now on the Oro's pro staff.

Ellis: Yeah, I'm getting, um, you know, one color isn't contrast enough for me.

Ellis: And, and I feel like two is, is a little too loud. so I'm having them do like

Ellis: a sort of like a tie-dye thing if that makes sense.

Marvin: Yeah, and then I understand if you put them like 18 inches apart you can see

Marvin: the relative movement of them and you really whack the fish, right?

Ellis: Yeah, that's actually, jokes aside,

Ellis: I do feel like there are some good streams I used to fish, maybe even some for

Ellis: a heck, cicada hash, super girl hooked on one of those things.

Marvin: Yeah, there you go. Uh, get a black one and just put a couple of pen eyes on

Marvin: it and some wings and you're ready, right?

Marvin: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, I guess, you know, you're probably, what,

Marvin: two to three days away, assuming that, you know, you kind of get out of this

Marvin: cold, rainy weather from having kind of, you know, the beginning of some really,

Marvin: really good dry fly activity, right? Right.

Ellis: Yeah. And, you know, we, we have them intermittently,

Ellis: through, through the winter, but starting to see some, you know,

Ellis: there's just some indicators.

Ellis: Here's kind of a weird one. This is where I started to sound like a truly a burnt out guide.

Ellis: Um guy was fishing a

Ellis: drunken disorderly and sort of working it down his bank and um working down

Ellis: his weed bed and got back in the boat was picking off what he thought was vegetation

Ellis: and it was a big king's caddis and you know it's moved up in and out to the,

Ellis: those weed beds and i was popping over rock um today and they're Those things

Ellis: are all fat and happy. And...

Ellis: Yeah, the blue rings, I wouldn't say it can be frustrating or tough when they're

Ellis: coming off in big numbers and it's like 18s to 20s.

Ellis: But honestly, it's only frustrating when you're fishing 18s and 20s.

Ellis: If you size up to a 16 and maybe put one right behind it, they eat that 16.

Ellis: So um rock information telling me that some solvers and PMDs will be,

Ellis: around the corner so yeah it's it's about to be a buggy time of year and it's

Ellis: nice because it's the first you know the caddis,

Ellis: in a couple weeks the big caddis will be the first,

Ellis: you know major source of food and even these smaller hatches certainly on the

Ellis: Watauga, someone on the South Holson,

Ellis: you have such a variety of bugs coming off at the same time and whether or not

Ellis: it's going to be a big bluing hatch or PND or sulfur,

Ellis: you don't really know but that it's a good problem to have.

Marvin: Yeah for sure and you know shifting gears a little bit on you I got a small

Marvin: mouth question from Jeremy and you know he's jonesing for pre-spawn small mouth

Marvin: and he wanted to get your thoughts on your favorite flies for pre-spawn smallies.

Ellis: A different one that I had on last week they were just,

Ellis: yeah it was like 48 degrees when i was fishing uh the water temperature so expecting

Ellis: a little more activity yes i started slowing things down a little bit and um

Ellis: got some positive feedback,

Ellis: and i think that's just to give a prelude to the that question in typical form

Ellis: and fashion It depends if you're fishing pre-spawn smallies,

Ellis: but it's full sun and the water's still pretty cold and you have a high pressure

Ellis: front moving through and, um,

Ellis: you know, maybe, maybe you got a, a, a bit of a cold snap the night before.

Ellis: You can, you know, you can fish a big changer up against log jams and hope for the best, but, um,

Ellis: I kind of do the same thing with the smallies and I do with trout where it's

Ellis: like, I mean, there's the general baseline,

Ellis: giant sun, barometer, temperature, temperature of the water.

Ellis: I'm probably I'll go baiting in a few good places just to see but I'm going

Ellis: to have a little more faith in slow rolling,

Ellis: I like the articulated Crelex a lot I've gotten a lot of nice fish on that and the regular Crelex,

Ellis: Chuck Craft knew what he was doing And then I don't stray too much from the

Ellis: quote-unquote trout flies,

Ellis: which I think a lot of them are doing a good job of mimicking some crawdaddy stuff.

Ellis: So, I have a couple variations that are a little more small mouth oriented,

Ellis: but articulated bugger platform with maybe two or three extra pairs of legs

Ellis: on the front and back on a Peanut Envy or something like a Dungeon,

Ellis: you know, tied in a little more muted colors.

Ellis: And, man, if it is bitey and if you're in this area and you're fishing any of

Ellis: the reservoirs and creeks and all that.

Ellis: There's just such a big population of two to three inch shad i really get into fishing the,

Ellis: the finesse changers and in the you know two three inch zone and then even some of the micro ones,

Ellis: um for some of the skinnier water and at that point i'm probably transitioning to a,

Ellis: intermediate line or you know

Ellis: that for the triple densities going you know maxing out

Ellis: of the sink three with intermediate running

Ellis: line but um i i

Ellis: think you know i'm moving away from just immediately going big full sinking

Ellis: line you know short leader like like i would do for a bitey day and the trout

Ellis: and and giving them um i don't have as much data with the small mouse so i like to,

Ellis: give them the benefit of the doubt and see what type of mood they're in now when it is by e,

Ellis: and and they're going water temperatures mid 50s got a little cloud cover late

Ellis: afternoon and they're eating.

Ellis: I'd like to see one swim through a 7-inch Game Changer.

Ellis: And if you go down to the Creelacs, if you're fishing little peon enemies,

Ellis: if you're fishing clousers,

Ellis: clawdads, whatever, quote-unquote, smallmouth, quote-unquote,

Ellis: trout fly, that you're fishing and getting feedback from it,

Ellis: and you're getting 8-, 9-, 10-inch fish,

Ellis: and you're getting good numbers of them,

Ellis: it's time to when you when you have that bitiness that's it's time to assume

Ellis: that bigger fish are going to eat so start changing things up a little bit a little bit and,

Ellis: um maybe fishing deeper into structure and going a little bigger on the flies.

Marvin: Got it and you know folks we love questions on the articulate fly you can email

Marvin: them to us or dms on social media whatever is easiest for you and if we use

Marvin: your question i will send you some some articulate fly swag.

Marvin: We're going to be drawing for something cool from Ellis at the end of the season.

Marvin: And Ellis, I don't want to bucktail shame you, but did you get your last batch of bucktail out?

Ellis: I thought we were shooting for Easter. Isn't that right?

Marvin: Yeah, well, Easter's pretty soon, brother.

Ellis: Yeah, it is.

Ellis: They're out great, and they'll be up by Easter.

Marvin: All right, well, there you go. And, you know, folks, remember,

Marvin: we've got two great things on our Patreon community to support the show and support Ellis.

Marvin: At one tier, you get a discount on Ellis's great bucktails in time for Easter.

Marvin: Maybe not for overnight for Easter, but in time for Easter.

Marvin: And then another tier is a $100 annual guide credit with Ellis.

Marvin: And Ellis, before I let you hop, pun intended, you want to let folks know where

Marvin: they can find you and book you and fish with you and all that kind of good stuff?

Ellis: Yeah the easter pun

Ellis: that really got me um yes on

Ellis: instagram uh at ellis ward guides and trick information bucktail an occasional

Ellis: fly and some videos a bunch of stuff that i'm I'm hoping it's helpful at elliswardflies.com.

Ellis: And the easiest way to contact me for trips or information or just to get my

Ellis: brain about something is my cell phone at 513-543-0019.

Marvin: Well, there you go. Well, listen, folks, show it to yourself to get out there

Marvin: and catch a few. Tight lines, everybody. Tight lines, Ellis.

Ellis: Appreciate it, Marv.