Latest / The Articulate Fly / S6, Ep 22: On the Salt with GotOne

Transcript

S6, Ep 22: On the Salt with GotOne · 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 Got One with Captain David Blinken.
• 0:10
  Marvin: David, how are you doing?
• 0:12
  David: I'm great, Marvin. How's it going this late February?
• 0:16
  Marvin: You know, it's kind of almost officially spring here in the southeast.
• 0:19
  Marvin: I mean, it's crazy. I probably saw my first robin three or four weeks ago.
• 0:23
  Marvin: The red buds are blooming.
• 0:24
  David: The daffodils.
• 0:25
  Marvin: Are up it was almost 80 degrees today.
• 0:27
  David: Oh my gosh i don't think the robins ever left the northeast i see them from
• 0:32
  David: time to time where the weather warms up and all i know is there's a bright red
• 0:37
  David: spot on my calendar for march 10th because that's when daylight savings time
• 0:41
  David: begins so i'm like counting the days yeah.
• 0:44
  Marvin: It gets to get you to shift away from uh show season and tying to actually think
• 0:48
  Marvin: about getting back on the water.
• 0:49
  David: Oh yeah yeah and we got stuff to talk about regarding that as as as we get into our chat tonight.
• 0:57
  Marvin: Yeah, and it's interesting. You know, last time we talked about cleaning fly
• 1:00
  Marvin: lines, but I think an even more important topic we were talking before we started
• 1:04
  Marvin: recording was kind of getting ready for the upcoming season.
• 1:09
  David: Oh, yeah. I mean, I'm sort of a creature of habit, so I kind of have a checklist
• 1:15
  David: of stuff I like to make sure I have that I can't do without.
• 1:21
  David: You know, there's always a couple of things you forget, and you're like,
• 1:24
  David: darn it. But there's those important things that you can never forget.
• 1:27
  David: So I kind of have the checklist and then I've got two bags that are always packed.
• 1:31
  David: I got my freshwater bag and I got my saltwater bag.
• 1:35
  David: So as long as the checklist is set and I've got those bags ready,
• 1:41
  David: I can just grab and go and not worry about forgetting things.
• 1:44
  David: You know, the right reels, the right lines, which fly boxes I'm going to go grab.
• 1:50
  David: And that's kind of me. I'm a creature of habit. So there's, you know,
• 1:54
  David: getting into those habits, setting an intention,
• 1:57
  David: so to speak, for how I'm going to approach the beginning of the season so I
• 2:03
  David: don't, you know, leave out some of the most important piece of equipment is really important to me.
• 2:09
  Marvin: Yeah, it's funny you say that. So I guess my system is, and I'm surprised,
• 2:14
  Marvin: you know, I've talked to the guys at Umpqua, I'm shocked that they stopped selling
• 2:16
  Marvin: these, but they said no one wanted to buy them.
• 2:18
  Marvin: I have a huge, big plastic tub with one of those skirts on the outside of it
• 2:23
  Marvin: that holds all the tools and all the goodies.
• 2:24
  Marvin: And everything goes in there except for boots and waders and rods.
• 2:30
  Marvin: And I have actually, despite having nicer boot and wader bags,
• 2:36
  Marvin: I actually like an Ikea bag just because it's big and easy to deal with.
• 2:40
  Marvin: And that's kind of my system. So everything goes in the tub.
• 2:43
  Marvin: I do a little bit of seasonal changing. So, like, you know, I've taken out the
• 2:46
  Marvin: stocking cap and the gloves and the chemical hand warmers and,
• 2:49
  Marvin: you know, maybe put back some sunscreen and things like that.
• 2:52
  Marvin: But that's kind of how I get ready for the year.
• 2:54
  David: I dig it i love the big blue ikea bags you
• 2:57
  David: can fit like two weeks worth of stuff in one of those
• 3:00
  David: and you're ready to go yeah you can always add more
• 3:03
  David: i mean that's great and the other thing you're talking about buckets i mean
• 3:07
  David: even though they're not a sponsor like a little shout out to yeti and cool because
• 3:11
  David: they have these great five gallon plastic buckets and you can put lids on them
• 3:16
  David: or not and you can just throw everything in there and just kind of leave it
• 3:19
  David: in the garage and and just grab it when you're ready.
• 3:21
  David: You're right fresh on one bucket and salt on the other.
• 3:26
  Marvin: Yeah, it's an amazing thing. But I mean, I think that process thing is a huge
• 3:29
  Marvin: deal because I think that, you know, first of all, you don't want to leave,
• 3:32
  Marvin: you know, things out that are important like boots and waders and reels.
• 3:37
  Marvin: But the other thing is the easier it is for you to get out on the water and
• 3:42
  Marvin: not have to think about it, the better it is.
• 3:44
  Marvin: I mean, literally, if someone called me, I could be out the door in like 10
• 3:47
  Marvin: minutes with all of my stuff.
• 3:49
  David: Oh my God. It is so important. I mean, so, so this, here's my system. So I have my checklist.
• 3:57
  David: I have, um, uh, the rod, uh, rod cases by either like fish pond or Patagonia,
• 4:03
  David: wherever you prefer using.
• 4:06
  David: I've got my six whole water rods in one and six freshwater rods in the other.
• 4:12
  David: So, you know, I always go with extra rods cause I'm always worried I'm going
• 4:15
  David: to break one. I never do, but you never know.
• 4:18
  David: And if a friend joins you, you want a spare stick.
• 4:20
  David: And then I got my reels and my flies and my leaders, my tippet.
• 4:26
  David: Um i keep my extra sunglasses and my
• 4:28
  David: rod case and and a buff and gloves and
• 4:32
  David: all that stuff and then and and and
• 4:35
  David: that's where i keep sort of the hard goods and then
• 4:38
  David: the soft goods are just like like uh like
• 4:41
  David: you said a little uh ikea bag or
• 4:44
  David: or just a small duffel that you
• 4:46
  David: just keep stuff in and you know but here's the important thing when you get
• 4:52
  David: back from fishing at the end of the the day just don't leave it scattered make
• 4:56
  David: sure you get it back in there so that so that when you're you know so that when
• 5:02
  David: you go back to get the bag again and you go fishing again,
• 5:06
  David: everything's there don't say to yourself well let me take this box of flies
• 5:10
  David: out and you know because i gotta add some more flies if you add those flies
• 5:14
  David: don't forget to get it back in the bag,
• 5:17
  David: you know so the end of the day is almost as important as the beginning of the
• 5:20
  David: day to make Make sure that stuff is on the ready as soon as you want to go.
• 5:24
  Marvin: Yeah, I actually will confess that I've been to Montana with empty rod tubes before.
• 5:30
  David: Oof, that hurts, doesn't it? I had a rod a number of years ago.
• 5:37
  David: It was a broken rod, and it was in the seam, like a little slip case is the good rod.
• 5:43
  David: And I said to myself, well, I'm going to send this back to the manufacturer
• 5:46
  David: when I get back, you know, so they can replace this tip section or whatever it was.
• 5:51
  David: I put the wrong rod into the right case and I show up at the destination.
• 5:59
  David: Of course, I had an extra rod, but I show up at the destination and I'm missing
• 6:03
  David: the rod I really wanted to have. So there it goes.
• 6:06
  Marvin: Yeah. And I would say, folks, you know, the important thing is not to have David's
• 6:10
  Marvin: process or my process, but to have a process and make it your process.
• 6:15
  David: Absolutely. I mean, we all do it, you know, you got to do it the way that it suits you.
• 6:20
  David: And, and, and I would just say to everyone, find that process so you don't make
• 6:27
  David: those mistakes that we've all made.
• 6:29
  David: Um, you know, preventative maintenance, so to speak.
• 6:32
  Marvin: Yeah, 100% and got an interesting question for you, David, from Brent,
• 6:36
  Marvin: and he wanted to get your thoughts on getting started on the saltwater for someone
• 6:42
  Marvin: who is primarily fished freshwater.
• 6:44
  David: Water well you know friend
• 6:48
  David: if you're just like dabbling i would say
• 6:51
  David: in the beginning see if you can borrow something and just you know give it a
• 6:56
  David: go and see what it's like but if you're really committed maybe in the beginning
• 7:00
  David: you know inside first of all you got to figure out what species you're going
• 7:04
  David: to go for and you know you'll talk to a million people and find what rod so
• 7:08
  David: i'll say striped bass, for example,
• 7:11
  David: because it's my area of greatest expertise.
• 7:15
  David: If you're going to have one stick for stripers, maybe grab a nine weight.
• 7:19
  David: And in the beginning, while you're trying to figure it out, don't go expensive
• 7:25
  David: or better yet, go online to one of the auction sites and get used equipment.
• 7:32
  David: Equipment um you can get you know you can get you know twelve hundred dollars
• 7:36
  David: of what was twelve hundred dollars a couple years ago you could pick it up for
• 7:42
  David: you know maybe six seven hundred dollars now rod reel line everything you need
• 7:47
  David: so i would say in the beginning.
• 7:51
  David: Be conservative about your approach and take your time to learn the equipment
• 7:58
  David: and to get familiar with whatever rod you want to use.
• 8:02
  David: And then you can go and say, all right, I want a hardy rod and reel.
• 8:09
  David: And you go and you buy that or you want another manufacturer's rod and reel,
• 8:14
  David: you go and buy that. that.
• 8:16
  David: After you played with different tapers, both in line and rods,
• 8:22
  David: and of course, there's many different real brands out there.
• 8:28
  David: It's like anything. It's like golf clubs. You got to swing a couple of sets
• 8:32
  David: before you figure out which the right one is.
• 8:35
  Marvin: Yeah. I would say, too, to your point, there's no reason in spending money on
• 8:40
  Marvin: gear that's not going to make a difference where where you are at that,
• 8:43
  Marvin: you know, point in your journey in the sport, right?
• 8:47
  Marvin: You know, take that money and spend it on instruction or fishing with a guide
• 8:51
  Marvin: like you, David, or someone else, because, you know, that's going to help you
• 8:54
  Marvin: get better a whole lot faster than starting out with the most expensive gear on the market.
• 8:59
  David: Yeah. I mean, if you're just going to go saltwater fly fishing,
• 9:03
  David: you know, now and then, you know, don't buy the gear.
• 9:07
  David: You know, if you can fly cast, you know, five, you know, six and seven weights
• 9:13
  David: for trout, you're going to be able to fly cast, you know, seven,
• 9:17
  David: eight, nine weights for stripers or bonefish or something.
• 9:21
  David: And again, it goes back to what we talked about a couple weeks ago.
• 9:24
  David: Go practice, then get a guide and do it and see how much you like it before
• 9:30
  David: you really make that big investment into equipment. equipment.
• 9:35
  Marvin: Yeah, certainly before you buy a boat, right? Yeah.
• 9:39
  David: Well, you know, you know, the two happiest days in a boat owner's life is right.
• 9:43
  Marvin: I do not.
• 9:45
  David: Uh, the day he buys his boat and the day he sells his boat.
• 9:47
  Marvin: Yeah, there you go. And for folks that are, uh, you know, on the salt,
• 9:51
  Marvin: I mean, what's part of your kind of spring process on the boat front?
• 9:56
  David: Well, my boat's wrapped up right now. I've got a nice cover on it.
• 10:01
  David: I'm going to uncover it. I'm going to charge the battery. I'm going to start
• 10:05
  David: the engine. I'm going to fill the gas tank.
• 10:08
  David: I'm going to put some stuff in the gas tank that might help burn off carbon.
• 10:13
  David: So I use Yamaha. So I'll use some ring-free and just make the engine happy. happy.
• 10:18
  David: Then before the first client even gets near me, I'm going to scrub the whole
• 10:23
  David: boat down and get all that winter dirt off it.
• 10:25
  David: And that's what I'm going to do. And then the next thing is,
• 10:28
  David: because my rods live on the boat all summer long, is I'm going to make sure,
• 10:33
  David: as I did it at the end of the season, make sure the rods are still clean and
• 10:37
  David: not full of winter cobwebs.
• 10:39
  David: Going to get those on the boat, all the flies and get the boat set up.
• 10:42
  David: So, you know, I can just sort of go on automatic and not worry about what rods are there for clients.
• 10:50
  David: I can worry about the guiding portion.
• 10:52
  David: And it's funny, I'm kind of regimented. So I keep the right-hand retrieve rods
• 10:58
  David: from the right side of the boat, the left-hand retrieve rods on the left side
• 11:02
  David: of the boat, from Port and Starboard.
• 11:05
  David: And I keep the sinking lines and the bottom two racks and the floating lines on the top two racks.
• 11:10
  David: So I know where everything is. So if a client's asking me for a particular rod,
• 11:14
  David: I can tell them right away and they're not jumbled up.
• 11:16
  David: And that's me. And I know it's a little bit, you know, it's a little bit,
• 11:21
  David: you know, for lack of a better term, it's a little OCD on my part.
• 11:27
  David: But that's, you know, that's kind of where I am.
• 11:30
  David: I have to make sure everything is in its place so I can worry about the guiding
• 11:36
  David: and not worry about, you know, where the equipment is.
• 11:38
  Marvin: Yeah, I can certainly dig it. And, you know, anything on the trailer front that
• 11:43
  Marvin: folks should think about?
• 11:44
  David: So you definitely want to make sure if you didn't repack your hubs in the fall,
• 11:52
  David: definitely repack your hubs.
• 11:54
  David: Make sure the tire pressure is good.
• 11:58
  David: Make sure your bunks are in good working order, whether or not you have roller
• 12:03
  David: bunks or you have fabric bunks.
• 12:06
  David: You want to make sure there's no tears in that um because uh if there is or
• 12:11
  David: if the rollers aren't working or you're missing a roller you can you can you
• 12:14
  David: know put a pretty good dash in your hull,
• 12:16
  David: so that's important you want to make sure your trailer tongue
• 12:19
  David: isn't good operating order in your
• 12:22
  David: jack which is probably what your trailer's
• 12:25
  David: been sitting on all winter so just give it all
• 12:28
  David: good going over um um and
• 12:31
  David: hopefully everybody who's been using their trailer and saltwater washed it down
• 12:35
  David: thoroughly before the winter so there was no corrosion and you know if you have
• 12:42
  David: an older trailer I would definitely check check it for corrosion and make sure
• 12:46
  David: it's not affecting the integrity of the trailer.
• 12:51
  Marvin: Yeah, got it. And of course, you know, make sure you have a valid fishing license.
• 12:55
  David: Well, that's really important. And renew your license plate.
• 12:58
  David: You know, in New York, every year we get a little sticker we have to put on
• 13:01
  David: the plate that says our trailer's good to go. So you got to make sure of that.
• 13:06
  David: And the other thing, and I left it out, is definitely hook it up and make sure
• 13:11
  David: your left and right turning signal are in good working order.
• 13:14
  David: That is like super important. That's a very quick ticket.
• 13:19
  David: It so uh just sticking your
• 13:22
  David: hand out the window just doesn't work yeah like
• 13:25
  David: driving home tonight there was there was
• 13:28
  David: a cattle trailer in front of me it had like i don't know six head
• 13:31
  David: of cattle in it and uh the guy slows
• 13:34
  David: down to make a turn no brake lights no
• 13:37
  David: turn signal and uh and then i noticed that
• 13:40
  David: his trailer was listing to the left so uh
• 13:44
  David: so you know clearly uh he had
• 13:47
  David: a uh a broken leaf spring or or or or
• 13:50
  David: missing a shock in the trailer so uh yeah
• 13:54
  David: uh you definitely want to make sure everything
• 13:57
  David: is good good working order because uh you know
• 13:59
  David: your boat's on there and uh you know something you
• 14:03
  David: know you we've all seen it before we've seen trailers that
• 14:05
  David: have thrown wheels on the highway and that's because uh somebody did not make
• 14:11
  David: sure their their uh you know their hubs were properly packed or they didn't
• 14:16
  David: they didn't wiggle the tires to make sure that their hubs were in good operating order yeah so.
• 14:23
  Marvin: Uh you know folks we love questions at the articulate fly you know remember
• 14:27
  Marvin: email or dm me uh make make david's life easier and if we use your question
• 14:32
  Marvin: i will send you some articulate fly schwag and then remember we've got two great
• 14:36
  Marvin: promotions um you know for everyone that sends in a question we're going to
• 14:40
  Marvin: have a drawing for a rise fishing company Rod.
• 14:43
  Marvin: And then if we select your question on the series, we will draw among those
• 14:47
  Marvin: folks and the winner will get a Norvice tying system and a good time to give
• 14:52
  Marvin: a shout out to our friends at Norvice for generously sponsoring the series.
• 14:58
  Marvin: And you know, folks, if you head over to www.nor-vice.com, you can see their
• 15:03
  Marvin: remaining shows for the season.
• 15:05
  Marvin: I know on the East coast, I'm pretty sure they're going to be in Lancaster.
• 15:09
  Marvin: They're going to be in Michigan, but if you go to the website,
• 15:11
  Marvin: you'll see some of the later show season shows that kind of happen out in the West.
• 15:17
  Marvin: And David, what's going on in the Masters of the Fly universe?
• 15:21
  David: Well, I think it's March 17th. I think that's the Sunday.
• 15:27
  David: We have our last show with Blaine Chocolate who is,
• 15:30
  David: Just a master fly tire, and he's going to be doing the game changer,
• 15:36
  David: I'm pretty sure. And we're really psyched about it.
• 15:38
  David: So definitely tune in. It's going to be great.
• 15:42
  David: I mean, we had Jason Taylor on last night, and he is just incredible.
• 15:47
  David: That'll be up on the website and on YouTube in a few days.
• 15:52
  David: And if you didn't get a chance to see Joe Blados, that is up and running on
• 15:58
  David: our YouTube channel right now. He is the originator.
• 16:01
  David: He is the OG of the crease fly, which is an amazing fly that all of us here in the Northeast use.
• 16:09
  Marvin: Got it. And have you got any kind of good Got One app beta testing stories you
• 16:13
  Marvin: want to share with us before we break for the evening?
• 16:16
  David: No, no, but I can tell you LuYan is headed down to the sheepy tournament,
• 16:23
  David: I think down in Louisiana. Louisiana, and a bunch of people are going to be
• 16:27
  David: learning how to use it. And it's just been so great.
• 16:30
  David: And people should, you know, look at any, if you've been using the Got One app,
• 16:36
  David: if you haven't done the updates in the past few weeks, you should really do it.
• 16:40
  David: So, or I should say in the past couple of months, you should do it.
• 16:44
  David: It's really, it's just incredible how useful this app is. So give it a go, everyone.
• 16:51
  Marvin: Work yeah and you know folks uh kind of a great time right spring is right around
• 16:55
  Marvin: the corner you know if the weather's still not great where you are you know
• 16:58
  Marvin: watch some of the recordings of masters of the fly or check out one of the new
• 17:01
  Marvin: episodes you know head to a fly tying show or tie a few flies and if it's nice
• 17:05
  Marvin: where you are you owe it to yourself to get out on the water,
• 17:08
  Marvin: tight lines everybody tight lines david you too.