Captain Matt's Blog

We are officially 29 days away from the start of Spring! It has felt like Spring the most of February so far. Although January wasn't terrible, its nice to see that month in the rearview mirror. January's cold nights kept rivers and streams in the low 40's water temp so the fish stayed pretty lethargic even with nice daytime temps. With these warmer temps this month rising water temps are starting to get these fish out of the Winter funk.

2022 is done and would like to thank everyone that has fished with me this past year! It was a good year for fishing in my opinion. I was fortunate enough to visit Brazil with a group of anglers twice in 2022 with Nomadic Waters. I'm taking 2023 with off from Brazil and returning February 9-17, 2024 with hosted trip to the Rio Negro, details to come

Its hard to believe the Holiday season is already here. We thankfully have received some much needed rain over the past couple weeks. Finished up with smallmouth bass fishing for the year since the cold temps and higher flows have arrived. I sure will miss them but as fast as Winter is approaching maybe Spring will arrive fast as well. Pretty much from here on out till March my main focus will guiding trout and musky. Since we have gotten this rain and cold temps musky fishing will be in full swing until they spawn in mid March.

I'm fresh off the plane from a incredible trip in Brazil with my friends Nomadic Waters. This was my 5th hosted trip with Nomadic Waters and my best trip with high fish numbers and high numbers of double digit sized peacock bass. I took 11 anglers on this trip, it was awesome to finally get this trip done after a two year break due to covid19. My group beat my 2018's group record by 200 fish. My group landed 1820 fish in 6 days! I'm not sure on numbers but the best Ive seen with 10 plus pound peacock bass caught. One angler caught 10 big fish in the 6 days with the largest being 15 pounds! One day my co angler and myself hooked 5 big fish and landed 4 of them with two of them being 13 pounds. I'm already making plans for next years trip, as of now I will have another early Fall 2023 and a February 2024. Should have dates set in the next month.

The past few weeks has been outstanding topwater fishing for smallmouth bass. The annual cicadas have started to die off from the cooler nights. Since a cicada is a easy to catch piece of protein, smallies are paying attention to the surface more and ready to inspect what just fell on the surface.

Hard to believe July is almost over but time flies when having fun. Its been a good Summer so far targeting my favorite freshwater fish the smallmouth bass. No matter their size every smallmouth fights with everything its got when hooked. Besides how hard they pull and jump, smallmouth bass fishing is simple. They eat on the surface or under so you only need a few good flies. Also their typically not leader shy so 10-15 pound leader is all you need.

Spring is coming to a close and it has been a great year on the water so far! I spent three weeks guiding two trips a day in Weldon, NC on the Roanoke river for migratory striped bass. This year was different than all my other previous years. The water stayed consistent majority of the run but the river flow was lower than years past. Wasn't a lot of fish high in the rapids due to the lower flow but there was some nice stripers. Most of my time there was fishing downstream finding huge schools of hungry fish. A couple mornings never left the sight of the ramp due to amount of striped bass feeding. Already looking forward to next year down there and thank you to all that came down to enjoy this awesome fishery!

Spring is in full swing here in central Virginia. Flowers and trees blooming far as the eye can see. The rivers have been especially beautiful with all the different colors. Maybe it comes with age but I have differently been looking at the scenery more than I used to. Besides all the pretty colors, the fishing really starts to heat up with warming water temps. Right now just a short drive from my home in Amherst County, VA I can go smallmouth bass fishing, striped bass, and trout. With all the variety of species to target one has to think a little harder on which one to pursue

Well it has felt like Spring the past few weeks but we got a hard reminder this weekend that Winter isn't over. Rain, snow, and high wind greeted us yesterday at Escatawba Farms for a fly fishing school with Tale Tellers fly shop. The ten anglers that signed up braved the cold and the wind to learn how to nymph, streamer, and dry fly fish for trout along with learning where trout like to hold in a river or stream. Although the air temps went from 60 to 20 degrees in a 12 hour period the fish still cooperated for the us

I returned home just a few days ago from another amazing trip to Brazil. Its been since November 2019 since my last visit there. It was a long two years but once aboard the mothership for 7 days on the Rio Negro I felt like I never left

Happy New Year! Its been awhile since I have done a blog but what better day to do it when its below 30 thirty degrees outside? You may have noticed the new website by now and this is one of the reasons I have been slacking on doing a post. Now that I have learned how to edit and create on the new site I'll get my butt in gear on keeping it fresh.

Fall has officially arrived. Warm weather is still hanging on with some cooler mornings requiring a vest or light jacket. With the cooler night temps the remaining annual cicadas will die off and with the cooler nights brings cooler water temps.

Its been a bump and grind over the past month with rivers lowering from the lack of rain. My 11 year old drift boat receiving more scratches each day. We have received some much needed rain this past weekend and more forecasted this week.

Well Summer is in full swing here in Virginia. Humidity, bugs, and hungry smallmouth bass have been keeping us busy on the area rivers.

I have been behind on keeping the blog up to date, I apologize. My Spring has been packed with trips, so no complaints other than sore shoulders.

Its been 15 days since I have had to wear thermals aka long johns, hallelujah! February was cold and wet, thankfully we have had a 15 day break from rain with temps in the 50’s to 70’s, its been glorious.

Well the groundhog got this one right, six weeks more of Winter. The past few February’s have been mild but not this one.