S7, Ep 31: Nut Jobs and Quesadillas: A Spring Fishing Update with Brendan Ruch

In this episode of The Articulate Fly, host Marvin Cash catches up with Brendan Ruch for the latest Ruch Report. Despite sitting in a damp truck and facing some chilly weather, Brendan reflects on an exciting three weeks of fishing. He discusses the recent high water conditions and how they impact fish behavior, as well as the anticipated smallmouth spawn in the coming week or so.

The duo dives into Brendan's successful outings with clients from Schultz Outfitters, where they enjoyed some fantastic days on the water. Brendan shares insights on fishing tactics during varying water conditions, emphasizing the importance of hitting multiple spots as water levels fluctuate. Listeners will also hear about Brendan's latest fly creation, the Nut Job, which combines elements from several popular patterns and has proven effective in clear water.

As the conversation unfolds, Brendan unveils an exciting contest for listeners to win a Ruch Angling hat by showcasing their own Nut Jobs on social media. With plenty of practical advice and a shared enthusiasm for the sport, this episode is a must-listen for anglers eager to gear up for the season ahead.

To learn more about Brendan, check out our interview.

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hey, folks, it's Marvin Cash,the host of the Articulate Fly. We're
back with another Roosh reportwith the man himself, Brendan Rusch.
Brendan, how are you?
I'm doing well, sitting in adamp, cold truck right now, not on
the water today. And yeah,things have taken a little bit of

(00:21):
a turn, but things have beengreat for three weeks. So it was
about time for, you know, alittle, little turn in the weather.
Yeah. But on a positive note,you got a belly full of quesadilla,
right? Yeah.
Fajita quesadilla, lasmargaritas. You gotta check it out
if you're ever in beautifulSouthampton, Pennsylvania.
Well, there you go. And so,you know, as we were, as we were
talking, you know, yourweather has started to turn. You've

(00:44):
got a front coming throughthat's gonna knock you off the water
for a few days. But you'reprobably, you know, we were saying
probably a week or so fromseeing spawning bass, historically.
Yeah, I think, I mean, thisweek's really cooling things down.
Some bodies of water areexperiencing high water events right
now. Nothing crazy, but youknow, high and brown and cold. So

(01:07):
that might push spawning backon a few of the, the rivers around
me. Some of the, the smallerbodies of water aren't experiencing
that high water, so they mightbe pushed to the spawn a little bit
faster.
Well, there you go. And so,you know, for your awesome three
weeks on the water, what wereyou seeing?
It started out with high waterand very predictable fish hanging

(01:31):
on, you know, just hangingwhere you think they'd be hanging
in high water. Eddies, seams,mid river structure. As the water
started to drop out, the, youknow, the fish were less concentrated.
So you're hitting as manyspots as you can, like as many likely
spots. Kind of like, like I'dbe in a pool for three hours just

(01:52):
like hitting every good spotor, you know, big boulder I knew
of in that pool. And, youknow, eventually we're getting consistent
eats off of each spot, butjust not, you know, we're not picking
up like three fish in the spotlike we were when, when the flows
were twice the size. Um, butyeah, I had, I had some people who,
you know, listen to this andparticipate in Log Jam. Live out

(02:15):
from southeast Michigan andnorthwest Ohio. And we had some killer
days, four good days withthose guys. Yeah, a very strong start
to the, to the season for us.
Oh, very cool. So you saysoutheast Michigan. Any boys from
Schultz Outfitters?
Schultz Outfitters. Customers.Yeah. Yeah. So they were, they, they
came out as, you know, clientswell, very cool.

(02:37):
And we got a question for youfrom Rodrigo. He wants to know when
are we going to see some morestep by step patterns? And thanks
for hooking me up on theacronym. And he also, he also wanted
to know if you have any newflies in the works.
Yeah. So the, the next step bystep video is going to be for how
I'm tying the, the nut jobnow. And that's going to come out

(03:01):
this week on The SchultzOutfitters YouTube channel. We filmed
that back in early February.And I don't have, like, patterns
in the works. I do have asingle nut job, which I've, I've
given him the, the recipe for.But, yeah, I might, I might make
like a little blog post orsomething or just like an Instagram

(03:21):
post with the, with the singlerecipe. So it's pretty simple. It's
the same steps, just a littlebit different. Different framework
for that. But that fly's beendoing well for me on the clearer
days.
Yeah. And just for, you know,folks that don't know, I know a ton
of people do because I'mseeing it all over the Internet.
But why don't you describeyour, your invention for everybody?

(03:43):
So it's less of an inventionand more of just combining all the
aspects of like, I guess, fourpatterns that I really like, fishing
and tying. So you've got likecircus Peanut Bly boy, Lafus Brush
head deceiver, and thenPinchkowski's Bad Hair Day. So took

(04:05):
the craft fur from the badhair day as like the, the veil using
prop, kind of like a leggy boywith obviously a bunch of legs. And
it's on that like, shank hook,hook platform with a mono bead connection.
So took that from, you know,tying and fishing the Lavkus Brush
head deceiver for the last,like, five years. And all of those

(04:27):
patterns are pretty much on apeanut platform, I would say. So
it's got a big marabou tailsimilar to how Russ ties his peanuts
and how Mike ties the leggyboy. So, yeah, it's a combination
of all those things and it'sbeen working really well. I think
Austin down in Virginia haslike four fish over 20 on nut jobs.
I've got three. Yeah, it'sjust, it's been producing and it's

(04:51):
just a little bit easier forpeople to cast.
Yeah. And you were telling me,too, it also solves the problem between,
you know, Covid and bird flu,making feathers insanely expensive.
Yeah. Yeah. It's nice to burnthrough a patch of craft fur and
know that there's going to becraft fur tomorrow if I go to the
fly shop. So that's. That'sone nice thing about it. But feathers

(05:13):
are still coveted, you know,in my heart. So I don't know. Every
time I tie a fly, I'm like,well, that's one less fly I'm getting
out of this saddle.
Yeah, I know. They've gotawesome hen saddles at TCO and State
College. Cause I. Every timeI'm up there, I usually end up buying
about a half a dozen.
Yeah, George usually keeps agood inventory there. And obviously

(05:34):
the hen saddle plug is goingto be Mike and the boys in southeast
Michigan at SchultzOutfitters. They've. They seem to
get their hands on a lot of them.
Yeah, absolutely. And, youknow, so, folks, we love questions
on the articulate fly. You canemail me or DM me on social media.
If we use your question, Iwill send you some articulate fly
swag. And that very well mayinclude a sticker for the new butcher

(05:55):
shop podcast. And actually, torecord this, I just took a break
from editing my interview withTommy lynch, which should drop later
this week, and we take a deepdive into the drunk. But, Brendan,
you wanted to have aninteresting kind of our first ever
Roosh report pattern promo.You want to tell folks about it?

(06:17):
Yeah, I think, like, therehave been a lot of people tying nut
jobs for the last, like,couple months once that Eric's video
dropped. And it's really coolto see. And I would like to, I don't
know, give. Give someone aroof angling hat. So if. If you want
to make a post, you know, witha nut job that you tied and tag me

(06:41):
and the articulate fly, andthen I will choose a winner, and
then I'll ship you a rougeangling hat of your choice.
That's cool. So that evenincludes the dad hat, right?
Oh, yeah, we got dad hat, fullmesh, flat brim. And then I might
have a rope hat left.
There you go. And you mighthave sweatshirts, too, right?
Yeah. Depending on what sizeyou are. I think I have to do another.

(07:03):
Another order of those. But,yeah, I do have. I do have hoodies.
And if you would be interestedin a hoodie, just reach out and I'll
get you on the next order.
Oh, well, there you go. Andbefore I let you go and digest your
quesadilla and stream Netflixor whatever you young kids do in
the evening, why don't you letfolks know kind of how to reach out,
find you book a day and allthat kind of good stuff.

(07:23):
Yeah. So I've got maybe threedays left in May. So you can reach
out to Brendan Roush onInstagram, Brendan Rush on Facebook,
Roosh Angling on Facebook, andyou can shoot me an [e-mail]
that's R U.
C H. Oh, well, there you go.Well, folks, as I say, you know,

(07:43):
it's pretty much warmed up allover the country at this point. You
owe it to yourself to get outthere and catch a few. Tight lines,
everybody. Tight lines, Brendan.
Take care, guys. Thanks, Marvin.