CJ's Reel Southern Podcast #3 | Trophy Fishing, Summer Hatches, and the Dying Minnow Technique
Wet Fly Swing Fly Fishing Podcast
Dave Stewart
4.7 • 530 Ratings
🗓️ 11 June 2025
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Show Notes: https://wetflyswing.com/769
Sponsors: https://wetflyswing.com/sponsors
In this episode of CJ's Reel Southern Podcast, Chad covers early summer fly fishing in the Ozarks. He starts with a quick June fishing report, highlighting the transition from caddis to sulfurs on the White and Norfolk Rivers, and why high water during a sulfur hatch can make for surprisingly good dry fly action. Chad also touches on the opportunities for smallmouth bass and carp fishing during May and June, especially in the creeks and tributaries in the region.
We hear Chad's philosophy of trophy fishing—not just chasing giants, but understanding what a "trophy" means in each fishery. He shares insights into his dying minnow technique, a game-changing approach to streamer fishing that relies on vertical jigging and triggering strikes on the fall. Packed with storytelling, honest reflections, and practical takeaways, this episode is a guide to fishing smarter, respecting your local waters, and having a better mindset for trophy fish.
Show Notes: https://wetflyswing.com/769
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to CJ's Real Southern podcast. |
| 0:05.0 | I'm your host, Chad Johnson, Fly fishing guide, storyteller, and Southern Soul through and through. |
| 0:14.0 | From the front porch to the river banks, this podcast is going to be about connection, friends, and maybe learning a trick or two about |
| 0:23.2 | trophy fishing. So grab a sweet tea, tie on your favorite fly, and let's go fishing. |
| 0:31.3 | I am here with Morgan Gus of Diamond State Fly Shop to give us our monthly fishing report. |
| 0:39.4 | And guys, just before I bring him on, I want to make a small apology. |
| 0:44.6 | I am just getting into this podcast and realizing that with the editing and all, |
| 0:50.7 | that we're kind of a month behind on them, which means that your fishing reports have |
| 0:55.0 | been a month behind. We have given you April reports at the end of April. Good information. |
| 1:02.3 | Just late. Great information. Just a little too late for you guys to use it. So anyway, we'll push |
| 1:08.5 | on and what we're going to do is we're just going to skip May and we're going to jump right into June to just kind of get it on track. So that's what's going on |
| 1:15.4 | with that guys. And this is Mr. Morgan to bring us June's calendar. Yeah, well, May has been |
| 1:22.6 | great. Coming out of May, going into June. So we're going to start seeing that transition, especially |
| 1:28.0 | on the White River, Norfolk Rivers, we're going to start seeing that transition from Caddus to |
| 1:33.4 | solvers. That's going to be our big player in this area in those arcs right now. So with that, |
| 1:39.6 | usually we start to see a little bit higher water coming in as we start getting those summer months. |
| 1:45.4 | Those solvers tend to like it, and the dry fly fishing can be really, really good. |
| 1:49.7 | A lot of those fish tend to pot up. |
| 1:52.2 | We can see lower water in the morning, which actually I like. |
| 1:55.7 | It's not bad. |
| 1:57.2 | But just to hit a note on what you're saying, just so people know is, guys, when y'all see that high water during our sulfur hatch, don't freak out. |
| 2:07.7 | Like, we want that high water. They seem to come off better in the high water, right? I agree. I agree. I like that, like, if we did a little bit of low water in the morning, great nymphing, and then I like to see that push of water coming. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Dave Stewart, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Dave Stewart and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.