Captain
Ellis Ward
Member since March 2022
Johnson City, United States
- Background
- I am a full-time, year-round fishing guide in East Tennessee, based out of Johnson City. In 2018, I was working in healthcare finance consulting and living in DC. I had been there since 2011, after graduating with a degree in physics from Vanderbilt University. I worked hard to be where I was, but I was brutally unhappy with what I did for a living. I was stressed out and half-checked out when I was able to make it home to see my baby daughter before she was asleep. While my life was 'successful' on paper, it didn't amount to any form of happiness. I found fly fishing somewhat by happenstance after my stepbrother took me fishing for a few hours. I didn't catch any, got hailed on, and thunder stormed out. We broke a borrowed reel, and I was borderline hypothermic for the duration of our stumbling. I was also head over heels in love with whatever it was we just did! I fell in love with fishing because of everything surrounding the sport – the scenery, the drives, the solitude, the heart-wrenching line snaps, and knee-shaking personal bests or firsts. These days, I am excited about every day of work. I take the time to talk with clients extensively before every trip. I also spend a lot of time with my now-almost-5-year-old daughter, who loves fishing but cares very little about catching fish.
- Techniques
- I have dedicated years to understanding these rivers and the predator fish in them in order to provide a guided fishing experience that is truly unique. Our time on trout floats is spent fishing streamers while moving, and fishing dry flies in certain areas or when we see rising fish. We fish that way because, to me and anyone I have met, it is without question the most engaging, exciting, and rewarding way to approach a trout stream. That approach - streamers and dry flies - brings with it, or benefits from, a universal understanding of fish behavior. The techniques used with a fly rod, along with the subtleties within a presentation of would be prey, translate to nearly every type of fishing and fishery: inshore flats fishing for reds, musky fishing, smallmouth floats, blue line brook trout, off shore cobia, and most importantly, to the streams that many anglers will have access to on foot after leaving my boat. I tie all flies we use, save a few that have been given to me by fishy friends and clients. I continue spending time at the vise filling the boxes for the boat, experimenting with new patterns, tweaking old ones, filling commercial tying orders for musky flies and trout streamers. I offer fly and conventional fishing, provide all gear for both types of fishing, and enjoy trips with experienced die hards just as much as I enjoy days spent learning the fundamentals with new to fly fishing anglers.
Hey, I'm Captain Ellis Ward
Johnson City, United States
- Background
- I am a full-time, year-round fishing guide in East Tennessee, based out of Johnson City. In 2018, I was working in healthcare finance consulting and living in DC. I had been there since 2011, after graduating with a degree in physics from Vanderbilt University. I worked hard to be where I was, but I was brutally unhappy with what I did for a living. I was stressed out and half-checked out when I was able to make it home to see my baby daughter before she was asleep. While my life was 'successful' on paper, it didn't amount to any form of happiness. I found fly fishing somewhat by happenstance after my stepbrother took me fishing for a few hours. I didn't catch any, got hailed on, and thunder stormed out. We broke a borrowed reel, and I was borderline hypothermic for the duration of our stumbling. I was also head over heels in love with whatever it was we just did! I fell in love with fishing because of everything surrounding the sport – the scenery, the drives, the solitude, the heart-wrenching line snaps, and knee-shaking personal bests or firsts. These days, I am excited about every day of work. I take the time to talk with clients extensively before every trip. I also spend a lot of time with my now-almost-5-year-old daughter, who loves fishing but cares very little about catching fish.
- Techniques
- I have dedicated years to understanding these rivers and the predator fish in them in order to provide a guided fishing experience that is truly unique. Our time on trout floats is spent fishing streamers while moving, and fishing dry flies in certain areas or when we see rising fish. We fish that way because, to me and anyone I have met, it is without question the most engaging, exciting, and rewarding way to approach a trout stream. That approach - streamers and dry flies - brings with it, or benefits from, a universal understanding of fish behavior. The techniques used with a fly rod, along with the subtleties within a presentation of would be prey, translate to nearly every type of fishing and fishery: inshore flats fishing for reds, musky fishing, smallmouth floats, blue line brook trout, off shore cobia, and most importantly, to the streams that many anglers will have access to on foot after leaving my boat. I tie all flies we use, save a few that have been given to me by fishy friends and clients. I continue spending time at the vise filling the boxes for the boat, experimenting with new patterns, tweaking old ones, filling commercial tying orders for musky flies and trout streamers. I offer fly and conventional fishing, provide all gear for both types of fishing, and enjoy trips with experienced die hards just as much as I enjoy days spent learning the fundamentals with new to fly fishing anglers.
My Charter Listing
Johnson City
• 15 ft
•
2 persons
Instant Confirmation