Folks, it's Marvin Cash, the host of The Articulate Fly. We're back with another Southwest Virginia Fishing Report with the man himself, Matt Reilly. Matt, how are you?

I'm good, man. How are you?

Just trying to stay out of trouble and get ready for the Easter Bunny. It's. It's kind of funny. We were talking before we started recording. It sounds like you might need to do a rain dance in your neck of the woods.

Oh, yeah, man. I think, much as I hate to say, you know, my pre spawn smallmouth season, I'll pretty much end here like the 14th of April. I don't think we have much hope for more. More water in the next couple of weeks. Just looking at the extended forecast. So rain would be nice just for the remainder of the year, but I don't. I don't see it happening here in the immediate future.

Yeah, very interesting. So, you know, Anders hit me up on Instagram when I was soliciting questions, and, you know, he wanted to get the update on the pre spawn bite. You know, how's it been?

Uh, it's been, I mean, typical up and down. Recently we've really settled into that low water pattern. And, you know, when I say low water, I mean like, like a fifth of the seasonal average, maybe a quarter. It's. It is very low out there pretty much everywhere. That in places is causing. We've had some very warm weather too. You know, string of days here in the upper 70s, close to 80, so water temps are sliding really quick. And that can. That can kind of make things funky at times. If. If your water temps get in the upper 50s is certainly 60 plus, you know, well ahead of the photo period that. That drives the spawn. So that all that said, you know, last couple days on the river have been pretty good. And we've just. We've just been having to adapt to those conditions and really make sure we're fishing the right water type. And. And I mean, like I said, we're kind of sneaking around like. Like summer.

Yeah, it's interesting. So, I mean, are you. I would imagine you're lengthening leaders. Are you trying to go for, like, more delicate flies to kind of get rid of that plop?

You know, I haven't. I. I have been fishing more delicate flies just as a byproduct. It's nothing I did intentionally. Um, I don't know. I don't know if that's necessarily going to make a huge difference. I. I have lengthened leaders a little bit. I'm mostly fishing intermediate lines and Here recently I've dropped down to a seven weight and have been fishing clear tip intermediate seven weight lines with a, you know, my standard like six and a half foot intermediate leader. I did, I did lengthen my, my tippet section a little bit so it might be closer to seven feet. But you know, streamer fishing with a clear tip line and a seven foot leader, it's, it's, I think that's, that's plenty. At least it's been, been working for us. And yeah, you know, just same, same as I would do on the, from the conventional side just as things get lower and clearer, just you know, downsizing which I really hate to do this time of year but we are firmly in the it's necessary place. But just, just going a little bit smaller, a little bit slimmer, a little more natural colors and you know, especially on these sunny days, early and late tend to be, tend to be the ticket too. So yeah, not, not unlike streamer fishing for, for trout. You know, it's a similar, similar thing you're trying to do.

Yeah. And so on the pattern side, what's, what's your favorite like feather changer, CK bait fish. What are you throwing?

Yeah, CK bait fish kind of. And, and my buddy Roger's rump shaker pattern is like a know 4 inch smaller profile bait fish, some bigger Murdich minnows, that, that kind of thing you could, you could definitely get away with any, any number of game changers that are in that smaller size. And you know I have at times played around with, with going a little bit bigger and in certain places to see if it, if it makes a difference. And um, like I said at this point I think it does more harm than good. And you know, having been on the water every day too, you know, I, I have seen it very linearly transition from you know, fish, fish smoking, 67 inch big profile flies and chartreuse and orange and to really needing that, that smaller, more subtle presentation. So I'm pretty confident in that. I mean I've fished the last, after Monday we kind of, kind of cracked that code and then, and then the last two days I really haven't changed change flies much and it's, it's been working. So that's, that's where we're at right now.

Yeah. So we'll slide into the Easter holiday and then you'll probably come back, got a few days, get your taxes done and then you'll be on the striper train, right?

Yeah. Yeah. My, my accountant hates me because he, he, he's trying to get a hold of me this time of year and that just. That just doesn't work. I think I've. I think I've been extended the last like five years, but we. Yeah, we'll have another week and a half or so. We are supposed to get a little bit of rain over the weekend, so maybe that'll, that'll kind of bolster us a little bit, hopefully. Um, and then water temps or air temps are supposed to kind of settle back into that seasonal like 40 to 65 range. So, you know, hopefully that'll kind of keep those. Those water temps in the. In the 50s consistently again.

Got it. Well, you know, folks, we love questions on the articulate fly. You can email me or DM me on Instagram and if we use your question, I will send you some articulate fly stickers and you're drawing for something cool for Matt at the end of the season. And you know, Matt, before I let you hop like I always do, you know, you want to let folks know kind of what you have open, how to get in touch and all that kind of good stuff.

Yeah, I have a. Basically a handful of days in like June, July, and then like one or two in August and September. It's, it's, you know, as I always say, it's kind of always changing. So, so don't. If you're interested in something, don't hesitate to reach out. I, as always, I'll. I'll keep my. My site and. And newsletter subscribers breast of any cancellations or shifts around in the schedule or anything. So that's where you'll see that stuff first. But yeah, that's, that's pretty much it. Just kind of looking at couple of days in the postpone smallmouth timeframe, May, June, and then couple of summer dates. And yeah, that's a good problem to have.

Gives you a good excuse for your accountant too, right?

Yeah, exactly.

So it sounds like folks are kind of out of luck on the striper front, so maybe they just need to plan better for next year. And you know, folks, I have all of Matt's contact information in the show notes. So drop down there, go to the website, sign up for the newsletter so that you can maybe sneak in a date or two here before we get into that kind of late summer slash, early fall smallmouth window. That's probably still got a few more days.

Yeah, there's still a few, few more days, particularly in October, but you know, that stuff tends to book up pretty quick, so it's, it's pretty thin well, there you go.

Well, listen, folks, it's getting warm outside. And as Matt said, though, I think we're finally out of this yo, yo weather where it snows one day and then it's 85 degrees the next. So, you know, if it's warm where you are, get out there and fish. Want to wish everyone a happy Easter. Tight lines, everybody. Tight lines and happy Easter. Matt.

Hey, thanks, man. You.