S7, Ep 51: The Art of Adaptation: Embracing Summer Fishing Challenges with Mac Brown

In this episode of The Articulate Fly, host Marvin Cash reconnects with Mac Brown for another insightful installment of Casting Angles. The duo discusses the transition from cooler weather to the sweltering heat of summer, highlighting the challenges trout anglers face as the fishing season evolves. With high water conditions and the recent opening of delayed harvest waters, they explore alternative fishing options, including panfish and bass, while emphasizing the importance of skill development even when conditions are less than ideal.

Listeners will gain valuable tips on honing essential fishing skills such as casting, line control and knot tying—skills that can be practiced year-round regardless of fishing success. Marvin shares his insights on the significance of process in fishing, encouraging anglers to focus on the little victories that contribute to overall improvement. The conversation also touches on the excitement of upcoming cicada hatches and the potential for chasing warm-water species like carp.

This episode is packed with practical advice and engaging discussions that will inspire anglers to make the most of their time on the water this summer.

All Things Social Media

Follow Mac on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.

Support the Show

Shop on Amazon

Become a Patreon Patron

Subscribe to the Podcast

Subscribe to the podcast in the podcatcher of your choice.

Advertise on the Podcast

Is our community a good fit for your brand? Advertise with us.

In the Industry and Need Help Getting Unstuck?

Check out our consulting options!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hey, folks, it's Marvin Cash,the host of the Articulate Fly. We're
back with another CastingAngles with Mack Brown. Mac, how
are you?
I'm doing great. How youdoing, Marvin?
As always. Just trying to stayout of trouble. And, you know, it's
kind of funny. I think thelast time we talked, it was still
kind of cool and nice and wewere all hopeful for kind of a longer

(00:21):
trout season. And, you know,it's raining where you are, but I
mean, it's what it's been inthe 90s down here in the Piedmont
for, I don't know, the lastweek to 10 days. So we're getting
ready to trudge right into thedog days of summer, I think.
Oh, yeah, I think we are too.It's. We've been blessed with rain
pretty much every day. Andyeah, we went straight from that
cold weather to rain and morerain. So the water's pretty much

(00:46):
high and dirty right now here.
Yeah, I mean, I guess, Iguess. Is it. I guess was it last
weekend that DH burned off oris it next weekend?
What is today? Yeah, it wasSaturday. Yeah, it opened up this
past Saturday. I'm sorry. Iwent by there actually an afternoon.
It was. It was pretty chaoticthere in the morning.

(01:07):
Yeah, I mean, but you know, wewere. We figured it'd be a good thing
to talk about how, you know,obviously if you're going to fish
for trout, it's going to getharder as the summer goes on. You
can always go chase panfishand bass. But, you know, one of the
things to kind of alwaysremember is that it's really not
all about catching fish. Andthere are all kinds of things you
can work on when the fishingis not optimal, like it is in the
fall or the spring, that willmake you a better angler in general

(01:30):
when the conditions improve.
That's right. Yeah. Justlooking at the. Looking at a lot
of the skill sets that youneed for when it is good. I mean,
I think you could even do alot of these classes and things for
skill set based kind ofeducation in the middle of September
and August when it's hot, youknow, for trout, just because teaching

(01:52):
them, you know, like the corecomponents of casting and line control,
hook set, playing fish,landing fish. That's what we call
the five components. Alwaysover the years and teaching the classes
at Western and even with likethe Team USA kids, we talk about
that always with the clinics,you could teach those. Those things
regardless of what the weatheris or how good or bad it is. So then

(02:15):
you start Looking into thosethings and, and, and just the little
wins, like, you know, catchingpanfish in the heat of the summer
for warm water fish, you know,you still got like cast and drift
and what if they can't tie aknot and they learn a new knot? What
if they have. I mean, it justgoes on and on and on, as you know.
So there's a lot of wins withthat. It has nothing to do with,

(02:37):
you know. Did you catch thebig one, Marvin, for Instagram? Yeah.
I mean, so much of it isprocess. Right. And so I kind of
think about that sort of stuffin terms of, you know, you kind of
want to come up and you cankind of, you know, modify your gear
configuration, you know, asyou go along, but you kind of want
like your nippers in the sameplace every time and things like

(02:58):
that so that you don't wastetime when you're on the water. I
mean, that's a, that's a hugething that you can work on. You know,
as you mentioned, you can workon knots. Knots is a big deal. And
you can tie those at home evenwhen you're not on the water. But
you know, also too, just thatprocess when you get to the water
about, know, observing andfishing, you know, if you're fishing
upstream, you're going to fishclose to far and back to front and

(03:18):
things like that.
Oh yeah, yeah, that's right.And just there's so many of those
things that it really makes upthe, you know, when you add all those
little things up, it kind ofmakes up the big full picture. And
in a way that's a, that's a,that's a lot of the fun part of the
beauty of the, I guess, of thesport, you know, the lot of the mystique

(03:41):
to people that are new. Butit's not really that much mystique,
is it? Once you get into itand are doing it some. And also it's
good time. Marvin too. I meantto say this to you before we started
about a shout out for. ToMichael, Michael Bradley and Team
USA for their, you know, hetook third in the world last week

(04:01):
in Czech Republic. That justhappened last week since we spoke.
And then Team USA took thirdover there in the Czech Republic
too.
Yeah, that's super cool. I sawhis post on, I think it was on Facebook
where he was holding thetrophy up and about how proud he
was not just for himself but,you know, for all the people that
have supported him in hiscompetitive fishing journey.

(04:22):
Yeah, that was a, that was acool thing. I mean, he's. He's been
on a roll for a long time andit's starting to really, you know,
pay off for him, too. So Ithink that's really a. So it's a
really cool journey to see.See how it's all coming to. Coming
to fruition for them.
Yeah, absolutely. You know, tokind of come back to what we were

(04:43):
talking about before, too. Youknow, one of the great things is
if you, if you'retraditionally a trout angler on the
fly, if you go chase otherspecies on the fly during the summer,
it's going to make you abetter trout angler. And this goes
back to Matt, kind of what youwere talking about earlier and, you
know, a kind of a talk thatI've done at the fly fishing show
and other places about troutfood. And you. And you just change
the fish name. Right. And. Andyou start out that it's really, you

(05:05):
know, what's the forage doing,what are the conditions and what's
the fish doing? And then youbasically incorporate that. And that'll
make you more successful over time.
That's right. Yeah. We'relooking for the cicada. I mean, we're.
We're hoping to find somecicada hatches this summer again
and chase some grass carp.That's what I'm looking to do mostly

(05:25):
in the middle of summer. Asfar as for around here, I'm. I'm
probably going to head outwest for a little bit just for some
R and R and vacation time withthe kids and. But when we're here,
that's what I'm going to lookat. Chasing more is carp.
Yeah, I had some, some friendsof the podcast. They were actually
in Madison, North Carolina,and they said the cicadas were everywhere.

(05:48):
Oh, wait a minute. Where's. Iwas thinking Madison County. Now,
where is Madison, NorthCarolina, Marvin?
It's in your neck of thewoods. It's somewhere in western
North Carolina.
It must be the county then.Cause Madison's what I grew up next
to in Greenville, Tennessee.Madison county would be Hot Springs
and the Laurel, you know, westof Asheville. I'm wondering if that's

(06:10):
it. Yeah, I have to find thatout because that'd be good to know.
Some reason we always getmissed. You always see these things
on the Internet. And I made apost last year of the cicadas at
a big elm tree that was rightnext to our front yard. My aunt took
and sent to us. And there wasliterally millions of cicadas. So
many cicadas, you Couldn'teven see a blade of grass. That's
how big it is in the Ozarks ofMissouri. And here they talk about

(06:34):
it and you'll hear like onethe whole season. When it's supposed
to be epic, we'll hear one ortwo and it's like never see one.
But we just don't have them,like for some reason. Swain county,
next to the national parkwhere I live, we always get, you
know, disappointment when theytalk about the bid at big, epic Cicada
Hatch, because it's nothinglike the years when I worked New

(06:54):
Zealand, like where you seethem everywhere. Like here there's
just. They're very, verysparse here. There's other places
that do much better with them,for sure. But the hatch here has
never really happened since85, that I've seen lots of them,
you know.
Yeah, and you were mentioningtoo, before we started recording
that you're getting ready tolaunch your wet fly class with Davey

(07:15):
Watten later in the fall. Right?
Yeah, I'm going to put that.I'm thinking that'll be a project
later this week to get thatput out there and get it marketed
and start putting it up there,sharing it and that kind of good
stuff. So, yeah, we're excitedto. To head down there and you know,
that's where I first flew afly in a river. That's the first
river I ever put a fly in.When I was little, my granddaddy

(07:38):
had a house there next toFlippin in a little town called Oakland,
Arkansas. And yeah, so we'vebeen going there really a big part
of my growing up years, youknow. And then it's funny, going
back there a lot as an adultbrings back a lot of memories.
Yeah, absolutely. Do you havethe dates so people can kind of keep

(07:59):
them in the back of their mindand look for the social media posts
and stuff on your website?
Yeah, I've thought the dateson the site underneath specialty
classes. I don't know them onthe top of my head. I really don't
because there's so many otherschools and casting schools and other
schools going on this fall.But they can find it out there and
I'm sure it'll be. It'll beout on Instagram, Facebook and all

(08:21):
that good stuff later in the week.
Got it. And of course, youknow, as you mentioned, no classes
until the fall. But you areguiding and you've got folks that
guide for you as well. Ifyou're booked, you want to let folks
know kind of how to reach out,find you and all that kind of good
stuff.
Yeah, sure. The. The easiestway is just hit the website MacBrownFlyfish.com
and that works best. SometimesI'll find a, you know, a post that

(08:44):
somebody that I didn't knowmessaged me on Facebook from three
months ago. I don't look atthat stuff very often on social media,
so best way to do it, it'slike either call me, text me, or
send an email. But a lot ofthese different things like LinkedIn
messages and Instagrammessages, just too much overwhelming
to try to look at all thatstuff all the time. I don't look

(09:05):
at it much. So definitelyemail or text or. Or call, you know?
Yeah. How do you feel aboutcarrier pigeons?
Go back to them, maybe. Maybethat way you'd know. Hey, I got a
message. You know, that mightbe a good thing. Marvin.
Yeah. What's your ham radiocall sign? Maybe people can hit you
up that way.
Oh, yeah. You catch me on theradio. We've been doing a lot of

(09:26):
HF at night. Hey, it's AlphaIndia 4 Juliet Lima's my ham call
sign.
Well, there you go, folks.Well, you know, as I say, this time
of year, you owe it toyourself to get out there and catch
a few tight lines, everybody.Tight lines, Mac.
Tight lines. Marvin.