March 13, 2025 • 14 mins
In this episode of The Articulate Fly, host Marvin Cash teams up with Ellis Ward for an insightful East Tennessee Fishing Report. Fresh off the Kentucky River Musky Classic, Ellis shares tales from the tournament, including unexpected challenges and the thrill of fishing in less-than-ideal conditions. Despite the tough bite, he reflects on the camaraderie of the event and the potential for growth in future tournaments.
The conversation shifts to the current state of fishing on the South Holston and Watauga rivers, where signs of spring are emerging with hatches of caddis and blue-winged olives. Ellis provides listeners with key insights into what to look for in local streams and rivers as they gear up for smallmouth season, emphasizing the importance of temperature and food sources in finding active fish.
Listeners will appreciate Ellis' expert advice on navigating East Tennessee's waterways, including tips on using Google Maps to identify promising fishing spots. With the weather warming up, this episode is a timely reminder for anglers to get outside and enjoy the fishing opportunities that spring brings.
To learn more about Ellis, check out our interview!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hey folks, it's Marvin Cash,the host of the Articulate Fly. We're
back with another EastTennessee fishing report with Ellis
Ward. Ellis, how are you?
I am doing well, Marv, how are you?
And as always, I'm just tryingto stay out of trouble. And you're
hot. Back from the, what isit? The Eastern Kentucky Muskie Classic.
(00:22):
Kentucky River Muskie Classic.You're pretty darn close and yeah,
fresh freshly from that tofour trips and some days with both
my four month old son and sixyear old daughter. So we are all
(00:49):
over the place.
Interesting. And you're stillon the wagon, right?
Barely, barely. Sort of justgetting dragged, but I got a couple
fingers stuck in between the boards.
Well, we'll hang in there. Soyou know what, tell us, give us a
30,000 foot recap of theMuskie Classic. I would imagine it
was a lot of gas station food,crappy weather, but some fish were
(01:12):
caught and I imagine, youknow, as we're starting to warm up,
things are looking better onthe South Holston and the Watauga
as well.
Yeah, so I, I had my jet boatknocked off of my trailer on the
way to the tournament andwhile I was moving it got swiped
(01:36):
and shout out to the 1976Aluma Weld and the Suzuki 2 stroke
4028 jet position correctly,might I add. Despite sparks flying
and that car putting a decentgash into the side of the boat, we
(01:58):
were able to fish for twodays, really hard one. The second
day we were blasting through alog jam trying to get up into some
clear water and spoiler alert,the muskies were not there. We did
end up seeing two, but nothingto the boat. Kind of the same story
(02:20):
for a number of people. Andit's, you know, one of the, one of
the forks was I, I think thisyear was a better turnout and, and
the water generally speakingwas better. But last year we were
there like I know we had thisconversation last time about, ended
(02:42):
up being about some prefrontaltalk or barometer talk too. But last
year was just like the dayafter the, the crest of a, you know,
everything was blown. And Imean this year there were some of
(03:03):
these businesses where we'retalking, you know, Campden and Bedeville
and the, you know, Irvine,Kentucky, small, small towns. And
it's, it was a week after likecatastrophic, not Helene level, but
(03:25):
man, you're looking aroundtrees, it's 10, 12ft up in the air.
Like I'm excited the numberof, you know, part of me, part of
me hurts. A little bit for youknow I know Dave's put on a great
event for two years in a rowand hasn't complained at all. And
(03:49):
it's just like the conditionswere just not favorable and but that's
part of the fun is but I meanthat's and the beauty of that tournament
is it's, it's the. The mainstems Middle South North Fork and
then you know the the combinedaltogether. But then like we fished
(04:09):
a little bit of the main stembut it's all these tributaries that
you're talking about thesecreeks that I'm taking a jet boat
up for 30 minutes on a fullrip. It's 8, 10, 15ft deep with 20
foot holes and there's lowhead dams throughout the river like
(04:30):
you see on the James and youknow I have a jet and like in. In
those conditions that'sarguably not the right tool for the
job. There's so much muskywater around there that there's probably
better access with a rafteryou know slipping a canoe down a
hill and yeah 428 miles ofMuskie holding water is is pretty
(04:58):
cool. So I think you know anumber of guys were there number
of teams were there up to aweek prior and I just. I'm excited
for the years to come and itjust. It feels like something that's
just going to keep gettingbigger and and that's after two years
where there was I mean reallycatastrophic flooding like the week
(05:22):
prior for both. So it's manthe potential there is just so high
and it's already so fun. So itwas another good year. I will ungracefully
move on to the Tog and theSouth Holston actually producing
(05:45):
bugs which is I don't sound asexcited as I am or as I was there.
There are days where theconditions the the atmosphere, the
cloud cover, the barometerwater levels. All that stuff is.
(06:06):
Is telling me there's going tobe a blanket blue wing hatch and
dry fly fishing in the snowand you know like all this stuff
over the last five years andit's just been because of. The only
thing I can attribute this tois the the amount of still like very
fine particulate from Heleneis reading haven't interviewed the
(06:30):
bugs yet but reading to thebugs you know still too dangerous
to to try to get up just likethey're not going to come up in a
whole lot of water but thiswith a couple warmer days and I think
you know all these plants,insects, fish can can feel the the
day's lengthening it was just,just popping off. I mean if there's
(06:55):
ever a. We're worried aboutthe number of fish in this tail water
it's like well now they'retail water fish and they're. Their
job is to not die. You go outon a day like Friday with some sections
of the river that aren't evengood dry fly stretches. Just popping
(07:17):
bank to bank the entirestretch moving water, flat water.
Little caddis blue wings, youknow, big blue wings. Little blue
wings. We got checking rocksand seeing the, the daisy chains
of cat.
The.
The big Cattus and seeing acouple of those fluttering around.
Sulfur's are right around thecorner. Like it's. That was. That
(07:41):
was a much needed. Okay. Thisis still here because it's been a
lot of bug free days and a lotof work on the streamer front which,
which is always good but andyou like those little hour or two
breaks fishing to risers. Soyeah things are feeling pretty springy
(08:06):
if you will. And so it's.Especially with the temps, it's feeling
like.
That'S right around the cornerand ironically it is. And shifting
gears even one more time foryou got a question from Marty Maves
and he wanted to get yourthoughts on you know, kind of what
you look for in the creeks andrivers in East Tennessee for spring
(08:28):
smallmouth.
Yeah, so I, I'm just going toattack this a couple different ways
and also do so somewhatlightly just because I, I've spent
a lot of time fishing forsmallmouth throughout my life and
(08:48):
in East Tennessee. But that'sjust an area where you know, musk,
muskie and. And brown trouthave been my focus. But for so, so
first just approaching youknow, water. I would say that if
you're just blue lining youcan go from the, the major rivers
(09:16):
that you know, have smallmouthin them and you know we'll just say
the French Broad and theNolichucky for example. And then.
And from there you startlooking for you know this would be
like my, my blue linetrajectory. If, if you are looking
(09:37):
on a. On maps where you havethe ability to look at elevation
changes and you know find.Finding any of the like satellite
imagery where there's youknow, lots of structure and riffly
stuff and drops in elevation.Those, those are assuming you're
(10:00):
going out in the. The righttime frame which we'll get to. I
would say those are goodplaces to target and you know, up
up from there in thetributaries or just like near those
zones. And then the next wouldbe you know, looking at those tributaries
(10:24):
and, and finding like near themouths and, and not terribly far
up them but finding some ofthose that are are starting to approach
the you know, upper 40s, low50s temperatures and, and, and look
(10:45):
for I mean in a lot of theseplaces, man you're going to see,
you're going to see Catusstart going. You're going to see,
you're going to see food,you're going to see crawdads, you're
going to see Shad schooling upif there's, there's certain you know,
stretches of creek that'll becoming into these TVA managed not
(11:12):
not tailwater propers but likepart of the, the tail water reservoir
system throughout the tva. Sosections of the Clinch, sections
of the Holston proper, youknow, not to give away too many spots
but like there's, there's somuch water around here that, that
(11:36):
I think people you know youtend to look at the Nola Chucky or
the French Broad or the Doe orthe Wholesome proper and you know
I'm, I'm not going to give anyother names because so many people
have their favorite spots thatare, that are not any of those. And
(11:57):
same with trout man. I I, youknow I'm in Jonesboro about 10 minutes
from Johnson City and just a a10 minute drive down the road I was,
I took my 6 year old and justblind casting dry flies and getting
wild rainbows and like thatthat it's a pretty small mountain
(12:21):
stream, spring fed and likethat's a trout stream but you know,
looking for some of thosebigger ones that are attached to
to these larger rivers. Thoseare going to have some fired up smallmouth
pretty soon and, and ifthey're too skinny, go down near
where the mouth is and there'sthere there truly is so much water
(12:45):
just in, in East Tennesseethat spend a little time on Google
Maps and, and then just go youknow, go out a couple times and if
it's not on, you know, knowmaybe give it a day or two and after
it's on for a bit and youstart seeing them pair up, pack it
in.
Well, there you go. Well youknow folks, we, we love questions
(13:07):
on the articulate fly. You canemail me DM me on social media, whatever
is easiest for you. And if weuse your question I will send you
some articulate fly swag. Andwe are drawing for some cool stuff
from Ellis at the end of theseason and you know Ellis like we
always do, we want to know youknow how, how to reach out to get
on your guide calendar. Statusof the you should be coming up probably
working since we're in Lentnow. You should be working on your
(13:29):
Easter egg colors for yourbucktails. All that kind of good
stuff on the bucktail front, too.
Yes, sir. I was actually doinga little bucktail work today just
to make sure that I'm, I'm notdoing too much of one thing. Bucktail
will be available at EllisWard Flies. I'll keep everyone updated
(13:53):
on that via Instagram. Andthat is at Ellis Ward Guides. And
best way to to reach outbucktail fishing. You know, talking
(14:14):
to me about crawdads and theFrench bra, whatever you want. My
cell phone at 513-543-0019.
Well, there you go. Well,folks, as I always say, since it's
warming up now, particularlyin the Southeast, you know, if you're
somewhere cold, tie flies, goto a fly fishing show. But for the
folks in the mid AtlanticSoutheast, you owe it to yourself
to get out there and catch afew. Tight lines, everybody. Tight
(14:36):
lines, Ellis.
Appreciate it, Marvin.
Hey folks, it's Marvin Cash,the host of the Articulate Fly. We're
back with another EastTennessee fishing report with Ellis
Ward. Ellis, how are you?
I am doing well, Marv, how are you?
And as always, I'm just tryingto stay out of trouble. And you're
hot. Back from the, what isit? The Eastern Kentucky Muskie Classic.
(00:22):
Kentucky River Muskie Classic.You're pretty darn close and yeah,
fresh freshly from that tofour trips and some days with both
my four month old son and sixyear old daughter. So we are all
(00:49):
over the place.
Interesting. And you're stillon the wagon, right?
Barely, barely. Sort of justgetting dragged, but I got a couple
fingers stuck in between the boards.
Well, we'll hang in there. Soyou know what, tell us, give us a
30,000 foot recap of theMuskie Classic. I would imagine it
was a lot of gas station food,crappy weather, but some fish were
(01:12):
caught and I imagine, youknow, as we're starting to warm up,
things are looking better onthe South Holston and the Watauga
as well.
Yeah, so I, I had my jet boatknocked off of my trailer on the
way to the tournament andwhile I was moving it got swiped
(01:36):
and shout out to the 1976Aluma Weld and the Suzuki 2 stroke
4028 jet position correctly,might I add. Despite sparks flying
and that car putting a decentgash into the side of the boat, we
(01:58):
were able to fish for twodays, really hard one. The second
day we were blasting through alog jam trying to get up into some
clear water and spoiler alert,the muskies were not there. We did
end up seeing two, but nothingto the boat. Kind of the same story
(02:20):
for a number of people. Andit's, you know, one of the, one of
the forks was I, I think thisyear was a better turnout and, and
the water generally speakingwas better. But last year we were
there like I know we had thisconversation last time about, ended
(02:42):
up being about some prefrontaltalk or barometer talk too. But last
year was just like the dayafter the, the crest of a, you know,
everything was blown. And Imean this year there were some of
(03:03):
these businesses where we'retalking, you know, Campden and Bedeville
and the, you know, Irvine,Kentucky, small, small towns. And
it's, it was a week after likecatastrophic, not Helene level, but
(03:25):
man, you're looking aroundtrees, it's 10, 12ft up in the air.
Like I'm excited the numberof, you know, part of me, part of
me hurts. A little bit for youknow I know Dave's put on a great
event for two years in a rowand hasn't complained at all. And
(03:49):
it's just like the conditionswere just not favorable and but that's
part of the fun is but I meanthat's and the beauty of that tournament
is it's, it's the. The mainstems Middle South North Fork and
then you know the the combinedaltogether. But then like we fished
(04:09):
a little bit of the main stembut it's all these tributaries that
you're talking about thesecreeks that I'm taking a jet boat
up for 30 minutes on a fullrip. It's 8, 10, 15ft deep with 20
foot holes and there's lowhead dams throughout the river like
(04:30):
you see on the James and youknow I have a jet and like in. In
those conditions that'sarguably not the right tool for the
job. There's so much muskywater around there that there's probably
better access with a rafteryou know slipping a canoe down a
hill and yeah 428 miles ofMuskie holding water is is pretty
(04:58):
cool. So I think you know anumber of guys were there number
of teams were there up to aweek prior and I just. I'm excited
for the years to come and itjust. It feels like something that's
just going to keep gettingbigger and and that's after two years
where there was I mean reallycatastrophic flooding like the week
(05:22):
prior for both. So it's manthe potential there is just so high
and it's already so fun. So itwas another good year. I will ungracefully
move on to the Tog and theSouth Holston actually producing
(05:45):
bugs which is I don't sound asexcited as I am or as I was there.
There are days where theconditions the the atmosphere, the
cloud cover, the barometerwater levels. All that stuff is.
(06:06):
Is telling me there's going tobe a blanket blue wing hatch and
dry fly fishing in the snowand you know like all this stuff
over the last five years andit's just been because of. The only
thing I can attribute this tois the the amount of still like very
fine particulate from Heleneis reading haven't interviewed the
(06:30):
bugs yet but reading to thebugs you know still too dangerous
to to try to get up just likethey're not going to come up in a
whole lot of water but thiswith a couple warmer days and I think
you know all these plants,insects, fish can can feel the the
day's lengthening it was just,just popping off. I mean if there's
(06:55):
ever a. We're worried aboutthe number of fish in this tail water
it's like well now they'retail water fish and they're. Their
job is to not die. You go outon a day like Friday with some sections
of the river that aren't evengood dry fly stretches. Just popping
(07:17):
bank to bank the entirestretch moving water, flat water.
Little caddis blue wings, youknow, big blue wings. Little blue
wings. We got checking rocksand seeing the, the daisy chains
of cat.
The.
The big Cattus and seeing acouple of those fluttering around.
Sulfur's are right around thecorner. Like it's. That was. That
(07:41):
was a much needed. Okay. Thisis still here because it's been a
lot of bug free days and a lotof work on the streamer front which,
which is always good but andyou like those little hour or two
breaks fishing to risers. Soyeah things are feeling pretty springy
(08:06):
if you will. And so it's.Especially with the temps, it's feeling
like.
That'S right around the cornerand ironically it is. And shifting
gears even one more time foryou got a question from Marty Maves
and he wanted to get yourthoughts on you know, kind of what
you look for in the creeks andrivers in East Tennessee for spring
(08:28):
smallmouth.
Yeah, so I, I'm just going toattack this a couple different ways
and also do so somewhatlightly just because I, I've spent
a lot of time fishing forsmallmouth throughout my life and
(08:48):
in East Tennessee. But that'sjust an area where you know, musk,
muskie and. And brown trouthave been my focus. But for so, so
first just approaching youknow, water. I would say that if
you're just blue lining youcan go from the, the major rivers
(09:16):
that you know, have smallmouthin them and you know we'll just say
the French Broad and theNolichucky for example. And then.
And from there you startlooking for you know this would be
like my, my blue linetrajectory. If, if you are looking
(09:37):
on a. On maps where you havethe ability to look at elevation
changes and you know find.Finding any of the like satellite
imagery where there's youknow, lots of structure and riffly
stuff and drops in elevation.Those, those are assuming you're
(10:00):
going out in the. The righttime frame which we'll get to. I
would say those are goodplaces to target and you know, up
up from there in thetributaries or just like near those
zones. And then the next wouldbe you know, looking at those tributaries
(10:24):
and, and finding like near themouths and, and not terribly far
up them but finding some ofthose that are are starting to approach
the you know, upper 40s, low50s temperatures and, and, and look
(10:45):
for I mean in a lot of theseplaces, man you're going to see,
you're going to see Catusstart going. You're going to see,
you're going to see food,you're going to see crawdads, you're
going to see Shad schooling upif there's, there's certain you know,
stretches of creek that'll becoming into these TVA managed not
(11:12):
not tailwater propers but likepart of the, the tail water reservoir
system throughout the tva. Sosections of the Clinch, sections
of the Holston proper, youknow, not to give away too many spots
but like there's, there's somuch water around here that, that
(11:36):
I think people you know youtend to look at the Nola Chucky or
the French Broad or the Doe orthe Wholesome proper and you know
I'm, I'm not going to give anyother names because so many people
have their favorite spots thatare, that are not any of those. And
(11:57):
same with trout man. I I, youknow I'm in Jonesboro about 10 minutes
from Johnson City and just a a10 minute drive down the road I was,
I took my 6 year old and justblind casting dry flies and getting
wild rainbows and like thatthat it's a pretty small mountain
(12:21):
stream, spring fed and likethat's a trout stream but you know,
looking for some of thosebigger ones that are attached to
to these larger rivers. Thoseare going to have some fired up smallmouth
pretty soon and, and ifthey're too skinny, go down near
where the mouth is and there'sthere there truly is so much water
(12:45):
just in, in East Tennesseethat spend a little time on Google
Maps and, and then just go youknow, go out a couple times and if
it's not on, you know, knowmaybe give it a day or two and after
it's on for a bit and youstart seeing them pair up, pack it
in.
Well, there you go. Well youknow folks, we, we love questions
(13:07):
on the articulate fly. You canemail me DM me on social media, whatever
is easiest for you. And if weuse your question I will send you
some articulate fly swag. Andwe are drawing for some cool stuff
from Ellis at the end of theseason and you know Ellis like we
always do, we want to know youknow how, how to reach out to get
on your guide calendar. Statusof the you should be coming up probably
working since we're in Lentnow. You should be working on your
(13:29):
Easter egg colors for yourbucktails. All that kind of good
stuff on the bucktail front, too.
Yes, sir. I was actually doinga little bucktail work today just
to make sure that I'm, I'm notdoing too much of one thing. Bucktail
will be available at EllisWard Flies. I'll keep everyone updated
(13:53):
on that via Instagram. Andthat is at Ellis Ward Guides. And
best way to to reach outbucktail fishing. You know, talking
(14:14):
to me about crawdads and theFrench bra, whatever you want. My
cell phone at 513-543-0019.
Well, there you go. Well,folks, as I always say, since it's
warming up now, particularlyin the Southeast, you know, if you're
somewhere cold, tie flies, goto a fly fishing show. But for the
folks in the mid AtlanticSoutheast, you owe it to yourself
to get out there and catch afew. Tight lines, everybody. Tight
(14:36):
lines, Ellis.
Appreciate it, Marvin.
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