Join Marvin Cash on The Articulate Fly fishing podcast as Ellis Ward delivers an outstanding East Tennessee Fishing Report from the boat ramp, showcasing why the Watauga River and South Holston River are firing on all cylinders despite recent hot weather.
Ward, an experienced East Tennessee guide, shares exceptional dry fly fishing success stories including multiple browns over 18 inches and consistent action that's been "unusually good" for both seasoned anglers and first-time dry fly fishers.
Learn how recent rainfall and subtle water clarity changes are actually enhancing fish behavior and reducing spookiness, creating prime conditions for afternoon and evening trips.
Ellis reveals his strategic approach to seasonal transitions, explaining why July and August focus on guaranteed water releases six days a week on the Watauga, while September and October shift toward mousing and musky fishing opportunities.
Discover practical insights about reading changing water conditions, capitalizing on limestone-tinted "fishy green" water and timing your East Tennessee fishing adventures for maximum success. Whether you're planning a guided trip or fishing independently, this report provides actionable intelligence for making the most of these exceptional summer conditions.
To learn more about Ellis, check out our interview!
Folks, it's Marvin Cash, the host of the Articulate Fly. And we're back with another East Tennessee Fishing report with Ellis Ward. Ellis, how are you?
Ellis Ward:
I am doing better than normal, Marv. How are you?
Marvin Cash:
I'm getting there. You know, it's kind of funny, right? You know, as I.
People may not know this, but, you know, I try to work on technology setups that work for guys that are on boat ramps in the dark, like you are right now, and it's actually working out, knock on wood, pretty well.
Ellis Ward:
Yeah, man, you've, you've done a lot of cool stuff. I think that a lot of which people know about, a lot of which is, is under the radar.
But it's cool that you're, you're reaching people and producing this podcast with someone who is sitting on a boat not quite at the ramp yet.
Marvin Cash:
Yeah. Which is kind of funny. So, folks, that's why I don't use, like, people will be like, are you using Riverside? Or something like that.
And it's like, you know, if I was in a studio situation all the time with guests that were at home, it would be great.
But, you know, when you have people out in the field doing the work and they're at a boat ramp, you may or may not have a good enough cell service to run a tool like that. So that's enough behind baseball.
You know, you were telling me that despite the fact that it's been pretty damn hot in the mid Atlantic and it's been cooler probably in the last three or four days, that the fishing's been unusually good.
Ellis Ward:
Yeah. I am going to interrupt our regular scheduled program to just give you credit because, you know, I don't think I do it often enough.
I'm calling from, you know, I'm calling into something that you're recording and other times I'm using the mics that I use for YouTube stuff on my computer, and I have, you know, I'm connected to the Ethernet. And so, like, every time we talk, I'm giving you a curveball.
So I, I, it just something that I think I certainly appreciate and people should know about. Yeah.
Marvin Cash:
We don't even have to talk about scheduling entropy.
Ellis Ward:
No, we don't have to. We will, but save that for non, non fishing report time. That's, that's a good one. Yeah, dude, it's been, it's been really good.
Dry flies to action has been great. Just while we were talking before recording, I think I missed one or two and got a couple follows. And, you know, the, the trips have been fantastic.
Shout out. TJ and his son Baden got him his first fish on a dry fly. A bunch of other eats. TJ Whacked them. Bill came for a couple days and just.
It's just fun taking people out and showing them the, I don't know, the non cookie cutter version of, of the Wataga. And so to a certain extent, to help the South Holston.
And, and so, you know, sometimes that means fishing odd hours and, and swinging for some home runs and maybe not making contact, but I continue to just love what I do and the people that find me and, and our time on the boat and then. Yeah. When we're moving big fish and, and seeing. Oh yeah, Clayton, dude. I mean, we had a day on the South Holston.
You got two fish over 18 and we lost count of browns that we caught on dry flies. Like, it's just both rivers have been fishing really good and I, I do anticipate that will continue for the next month or two.
And importantly, for the purposes of.
Of booking and thoughts there, like September, October, I, I really start pushing towards mousing and muskie and, and part of that is just the regularity. So you come here for streamer fishing and we have low water for seven days straight.
And you know, I, after this last year and kind of starting a few years ago, made a very concerted effort to make sure that that was a viable product. It is, it's. It's hard work and, and our odds start to go down a little bit. So July, August, we.
We have water on the Watauga six days a week and their afternoon evening trips. I like to like what I'm doing right now. I'm.
I'm just chilling, waiting for the water to drop out, which happens where I am at about dark and then I'm going to be mousing for a couple hours. So running trips like that and this time of year is just.
It's a lot of fun and it feels like everything's been settled in for a couple weeks, maybe a month plus now. And get here while the getting's good.
Marvin Cash:
Yeah. I tell you, like watching your stuff on Instagram, you got that like awesome fishy green water too.
Ellis Ward:
Yeah. So there's. I.
I've put in at the dam now a few times way up top, which I, I have historically gravitated a little lower part partially because our tributaries have just been. I mean, dude, we. We got one of these again today.
ve, you know, I'm gonna guess:
Even from all the way up at the top, when it's high, there's just. You're not counting pebbles and prior to Helene, you're counting pebbles.
In high water, you can see the bottom of the river in 4 or 5ft of water that's moving. You can see the different colored rocks and different sizes and all that. That same piece of water, you really can't make out the bottom.
It's still got that limestone fishy grain to it. And then the rest of the river has. This has also been happening on the South Holston because there's a couple creeks that. That make this happen.
We just get hit so hard and this has been happening, happening three, four days a week for the last few weeks. We're getting hit so hard that just all the little ag creeks, the banks start bleeding. Any.
Anything that's clay starts, you know, putting out that latte color and relative to. Even when they're running water. And it's, you know, historically speaking, it's just gin clear. That drop in clarity, we.
We can still track our flies pretty deep, but that drop in clarity really adds a lot of bitiness. So it just. It takes away from the spookiness. It's. It's a substitute for cloud cover in certain ways, if you want to think about it like that.
So, yeah, I think that's certainly adding to it. It's. It's dropped out enough and it's clear enough to where in high water. You know, the. The bugs are fully ripping, which they weren't for a while.
And it's. Yeah, it's both rivers.
Marvin Cash:
Yeah. Well, there you go. And you know, folks, we love questions on the articulate fly.
You can email me or DM me on social media, whatever is easiest for you. And if we use your question, I will send you some articulate fly swag. And also throw in a couple butcher shop stickers too.
We've got a few of those left until I run another batch and we'll learn. You're drawing for some cool stuff from Ellis at the end of the season.
And Ellis, before I let you go get your mouse on, you want to let folks know where to find you, how to get on the boat. Haven't talked to you about bucktails in a while. All that kind of good stuff.
Ellis Ward:
Yeah, I got some bucktails up on elliswardflies.com I'll be getting a bunch more into a couple different shops in in the next month or two but pushing more chips and resources towards on the water stuff and tying to replace flies that you know, we that's the inverse royal we lose. Otherwise there might be some musky lures, maybe some flies. Elliswardflies.com there's pictures, information on trips, etc.
Best way to contact me, talk about fishing trips, whatever. I had a dude, Sean. What up Sean?
Call me today and he's asking me for some information about a bait casting setup and you know he fishes fly and he ties and all that but like you pick up on listening to me talk here YouTube stuff @Ellis Ward fishing that I like all fishing. And so baitcaster from Muskie we ended up talking for 30 minutes and like I love those conversations.
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Marvin Cash:
Well, there you go. Well folks as always say you owe it yourself to get out there and catch a few tight lines everybody. Tight lines. Ellis.
