S7, Ep 68: East Tennessee Adventures: Navigating Summer Flows with Ellis Ward

Join The Articulate Fly fishing podcast host Marvin Cash for an essential East Tennessee Fishing Report with seasoned guide Ellis Ward, who delivers critical summer conditions updates for the Watauga River and the South Holston River.

Ward breaks down how recent afternoon thunderstorms are impacting freestone rivers while highlighting exceptional streamer fishing and mousing opportunities during the current recreation release schedule.

Learn the optimal timing strategies for navigating the Watauga's 1-6pm releases and the South Holston's 11-7 generation patterns, plus discover why low water mousing in clear conditions creates ideal bite windows for trophy trout.

Ellis shares actionable insights on capitalizing on sulphur and PMD hatches that are driving consistent dry fly activity on both rivers, while revealing his strategic approach to managing disjointed water schedules that extend fishing days from 4pm to midnight.

Whether you're targeting summer trout with streamers or preparing for the approaching fall musky season, this East Tennessee Fishing Report delivers the local knowledge and tactical timing advice serious anglers need to maximize their success on these premier tailwater fisheries.

To learn more about Ellis, check out our interview!

Related Content

S6, Ep 98 - Navigating Late Summer Waters and Mousing Tactics with Ellis Ward

S6, Ep 139 - Exploring East Tennessee's Changing Waters with Ellis Ward

S7, Ep 14 - The Streamer Playbook: Tips and Tactics for Targeting Big Trout in East Tennessee with Ellis Ward

S6, Ep 46 - Ellis Ward's East Tennessee Euphoria: Dry Flies and Midge Magic

All Things Social Media

Follow Ellis and Flyzotics on Instagram.

Follow Ellis on YouTube.

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...

Episode Transcript

(00:03):
Hey folks, it's Marvin Cash,the host of the Articulate Fly. We're
back with another EastTennessee fishing report with a man
himself, Ellis Ward.
Ellis, how are you feeling?Like the man himself. Marv, how are
you?
I'm just trying to stay cool.How are things in East Tennessee?
Busy, apparently. They are hotand I support your efforts staying

(00:29):
cool. It's been toasty withslightly less of the. Those cloudburst
heavens opening upthunderstorms. Just slightly less
though it's been. You normallydon't hear me talking about this

(00:50):
as though it's a bad thing,but we've just, we've been having
the same sort of circuit ofthese late afternoon big storms that
anyone fishing freestonerivers knows this dilemma. Someone
had sent me a, a decent reelyear or two ago where it's like summer

(01:12):
fishing and there's, you know,pebbles with a little bit of water
trickling and then the nextpicture is a raging muddy river and
then the next picture ispebbles with some water trickling
over it. So now we, we've beenable to shout out Ryan, we, we had

(01:32):
a, a long day and just dudewho came here and fished it a couple
years ago and having. Haven'tbeen able to fish with them since
then and he just, he got outhere actually from Charlotte for

(01:54):
a quick, a quick in and out,quick turnaround which when you're
streamer fishing in theafternoon, then mousing till three
o' clock in the morning fromCharlotte, it's, it's, it's worth.
Nice work, man. So we made ithappen. We've, we. It's. We've had

(02:16):
another handful of good days.Some first streamer fish, bunch of
first mouse eaters and yeah,kind of, kind of coming up on what
feels like the tail end ofthat summer stability. So not that

(02:39):
anything I talk about feelsremotely stable, but the, you know,
the sulfurs, the PMDs, theconsistency of the watage releasing
the South Holston's beengenerating a lot recently on, you
know, windows where you can beout there in low water and, and ride

(03:01):
that high water out in theafternoon or just starting high water
if you're starting later andlots of dry fly activity up top,
you know, sort of conditiondependent on, on how friendly they
are. But yeah, it's been realbuggy and lots of risers on, on both

(03:29):
rivers. I, I want to sayconsistently because it's, it's been
frequent. But yeah, these,these afternoon, afternoon storms
have just, they've thrown alittle bit of a wrench in that consistency.
But otherwise man, all the,all the pieces are there and I'm

(03:51):
just, I, I continue to lookforward to. I have a, a full week
and August is looking good.More mousing and streamer trips and
then we're right into muskies.
Yeah, absolutely. And soyou've got what you've got about
another month of those recreleases on the Watauga, right?

(04:11):
Yeah. And it is something thatI was joking before we started recording
that I just want things theway that I want them when I want
them and then when I don'twant them that way anymore. It would
be nice if they weren't thatway anymore. Low water mousing with,

(04:31):
with clear waters is reallythe ideal state. And one of the good
things about this 1 to 6pm forthe last 3 ish years it's just been
a lot of low water outside ofthe summer season. And so the one

(04:55):
to six, you know, six days aweek is sort of this. Oh, finally
we get some reliability onthat. Like it's been raining a lot.
They've been doing, you know,1 to 8 South Olson's been running
11 to 7. Like we, we've hadgood water and good windows both
low and high. So one of thepros to later August, September,

(05:23):
October is that it's stillplenty warm to be out until the wee
hours and we typically getlower flows. So there are a lot of
opportunities for mousing thatthey've come through all that.

(05:47):
Yeah. So I guess if you'vebeen, if they've been running one
to eight, you actually kind ofhave to, you know, one, it's light
later, but you're also kind ofeffectively have to start two hours
later to get the water youwant, right?
Yeah. So if they're running 1to 8 and, and we're planning to mouse

(06:08):
that trip sort of looks like a4ish to midnightish. Oftentimes for
whatever reason that stillfeels short just because ending when
like, you know, mousing's justsame as streamer fishing, same as

(06:29):
same as all fishing. You'rejust working with bite windows. And
so I always feel like I wantto, I want to leave everything on
the field, which would just beimpossible. No one would ever sleep.
But we do end up fishing. Youknow that, that 8pm Low doesn't get
down Middle river till, youknow, 11:30, 12. And starting a,

(06:56):
a game of hard work andpatience at midnight after fishing,
you know, more or less for thelast five, six hours, some of it's
real hot. It just, it turnsinto a really long day that's that's
a little disjointed. So I, Itend to get creative and just talk

(07:17):
with my anglers. We'll, youknow, we'll do a shorter run, then
drive back up and, and makesure that we're hitting, hitting
low stuff just up a littlefurther. But yeah, every, every day
has been different. I mean,part of the reason why I think I
love what I do.
Well, there you go. You knowfolks, we love questions on the articulate

(07:39):
fly. You can email me or DM meon social media, whatever is easiest
for you. And if we use yourquestion, I will send you some articulate
fly swag, which these daysalso includes some butcher shop stickers
we are drawing for some coolstuff from Ellis at the end of the
season. And Ellis, before Ilet you go, you want to let folks
know how to reach out to geton the guide calendar. If you've
got any bucktail updates,anything like that you want to share

(08:01):
with folks once you get thatout there too.
Yeah, elliswardflies.com iswhere you can find bucktail and best
way to reach me. Ask abouttrips. Book your mousing trip. Book
your fall muskie trip. My cellphone at 513-543-0019. I'm on Instagram

(08:28):
at Ellis War Guides. I thinkthat is all.
Well, there you go. Well folksas always say this time of year,
stay cool but you also it toyourself to get out there and catch
a few tight lines everybody.Tight lines. Ellis.
Appreciate it, Marv.