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S6, Ep 123: On the Salt with David Blinken: Striper Strategies and Fly Tactics · The Articulate Fly

• 0:03
  Marvin: Hey, folks, it's Marvin Cash, the host of the Articulate Fly,
• 0:06
  Marvin: and we're back with another On the Salt with Captain David Blinken. David, how are you?
• 0:12
  David: I'm good, Marvin. How are you doing today?
• 0:14
  Marvin: As always, I'm just trying to stay out of trouble. You know,
• 0:16
  Marvin: it's kind of interesting down here in the southeast.
• 0:18
  Marvin: We've, you know, kind of on the other side of all this horrible weather we've
• 0:21
  Marvin: had, it's kind of super cooled off and it's dried out. What are you seeing up in the northeast?
• 0:26
  David: East well finally we've had our actually our second cold front in two weeks
• 0:32
  David: but this one's really robust and uh with it is uh is finally coming some uh
• 0:38
  David: striped bass from you know places far off i would assume very.
• 0:44
  Marvin: Neat and and have the false albacore finally uh decided to show up in your neck of the woods.
• 0:48
  David: No unfortunately not i
• 0:51
  David: was in martha's vineyard uh for columbus day visiting friends
• 0:54
  David: and there were some albies up there but but
• 0:57
  David: they don't seem to be uh wanting to come to
• 1:00
  David: at least uh the east end of long island this year
• 1:03
  David: i know we have some in long island sound way west of here and they're up north
• 1:08
  David: but they're everywhere but here and um it's not like this hasn't happened before
• 1:13
  David: in 2012 uh we did we didn't have any false albacore either for that fishing season Interesting.
• 1:21
  Marvin: So tell me a little bit more about the stripers you've been able to track down.
• 1:25
  David: Well, we've been catching stripers both in Rhode Island and over at Fishers Island.
• 1:35
  David: And now we have stripers finally filling in around Montauk and in the inner bays.
• 1:44
  David: So that should uh really be exciting for us uh going uh you know down the home
• 1:51
  David: stretch into november yeah.
• 1:53
  Marvin: There you go just in time to get off the water put the boat away for thanksgiving right.
• 1:57
  David: There you go well let's see uh i fish till around the 9th or 10th of november
• 2:03
  David: here and then i take a group tarpon fishing in uh and uh campeche in mexico
• 2:08
  David: for a few days so so that'll and then
• 2:11
  David: there's Thanksgiving. So, yes, that'll be great.
• 2:14
  Marvin: Well, there you go. Well, listen, I've got a striper question for you from Mitchell,
• 2:17
  Marvin: and he wanted to get your thoughts.
• 2:19
  Marvin: When you're fishing for stripers on the flats, do you prefer a fly color that
• 2:24
  Marvin: blends in with the bottom?
• 2:27
  David: Well, it's really interesting. It's kind of a yes question, and I'll tell you why.
• 2:35
  David: When various baits are on different color bottoms, they try to hide themselves
• 2:41
  David: by changing color and matching the environment they're in.
• 2:45
  David: So, for example, when I'm fishing crab patterns over sandy bottoms,
• 2:51
  David: I tend to fish a lighter colored crab.
• 2:53
  David: But when I'm fishing crab patterns, and it could be just 10 feet to the left
• 2:57
  David: over a grassy bottom, I will try to change that crab to something that's got
• 3:04
  David: a little bit of olive or green in it.
• 3:06
  David: And similarly, when I'm fishing baitfish patterns, you know,
• 3:10
  David: baitfish can change color on a dime.
• 3:12
  David: They'll be darker over a darker bottom and lighter over a lighter bottom.
• 3:17
  David: So very often I might have rods rigged with a couple of different patterns as far as color goes.
• 3:26
  David: But I do definitely try to match the color of the bottom or the color of the
• 3:32
  David: environment they're in.
• 3:34
  David: So if you were to look in my fly box, I may have a hundred of the same flies,
• 3:40
  David: but they're tied in different sizes, different sizes and different hues.
• 3:48
  David: So if you look at my fly box, it looks almost like a Pantone color chart.
• 3:53
  Marvin: Very, very neat. And so, you know, I know that's the general rule,
• 3:56
  Marvin: but if, you know, if the fish are being stingy, you know, do you then maybe
• 4:00
  Marvin: add a little flash or do you go for contrast? Is there anything that you may
• 4:04
  Marvin: want to change up there if the fish have lockjaw?
• 4:07
  David: Well, interestingly enough, very often what happens is I'll tie my flies with
• 4:14
  David: flash, but if I find the fish are not responding or not eating,
• 4:20
  David: I'll sometimes pick all the flash out, especially on brighter days,
• 4:24
  David: and have the fly be kind of as flat as possible without any sparkle to it.
• 4:32
  David: And very often that's the ticket.
• 4:34
  David: Um if if you were to look in my box you'll see a
• 4:37
  David: lot of flies where where the flash has been plucked out and
• 4:40
  David: you can just sort of see the ends of it where where it was tied in uh and and
• 4:45
  David: that's really and that's really it um and then there are other times especially
• 4:49
  David: in the fall where the flashier the fly the better but certainly in the spring
• 4:53
  David: and summer uh i find less flash uh means more fish got.
• 5:00
  Marvin: It yeah it's kind of interesting to tie them all with flash and then just pick
• 5:02
  Marvin: out what you don't need and that way you don't have to carry multiple versions of the same fly right.
• 5:07
  David: That's it that's it um and and i don't mind having flies without flash and and
• 5:14
  David: uh you know they'll work all the time but certainly when the fish are being
• 5:18
  David: a little bit picky a little tough uh getting getting rid of that flash can can
• 5:23
  David: mean the difference between fish and no fish got.
• 5:26
  Marvin: It and you know folks we love questions on the articulate fly you can email
• 5:29
  Marvin: me or dm me on social media. As I always say, let's make David's life as easy as possible.
• 5:34
  Marvin: And if we use your question, I will send you some articulate fly swag.
• 5:37
  Marvin: And then we enter a drawing for a Royal Wolf line of your choice.
• 5:40
  Marvin: And you know, funny, David, I guess two things before we started recording.
• 5:43
  Marvin: One, you're going to go set your camera up and try to photograph the comet.
• 5:46
  Marvin: But then we also started talking about Masters of the Fly. And you and Lu Yen
• 5:50
  Marvin: are busy kind of planning what 2025 is going to look like.
• 5:54
  David: Yeah, we are. And we're kind of looking at beginning of the season,
• 5:58
  David: probably sometime around the middle end of January.
• 6:02
  David: And we don't have dates yet, but as soon as we do, you'll be the first to know
• 6:06
  David: and everybody else who's listening here.
• 6:09
  Marvin: Very neat. And so if folks want to try to maybe find a day and,
• 6:12
  Marvin: gosh, I mean, we're talking about you've got, what, three weeks left of guiding
• 6:15
  Marvin: to get on your boat, what should they do?
• 6:18
  David: They can go to my website, davidblinken.com, and they can just grab my phone
• 6:24
  David: number and give me call or hit me up with an email at davidblankin at gmail.
• 6:28
  Marvin: Well, there you go. Well, folks, as I always say, yo it yourself to get out
• 6:31
  Marvin: there and catch a few. Tight lines, everybody. Tight lines, David.
• 6:35
  David: Tight lines, all.