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S6, Ep 103: Navigating Northeast Winds and Night Fishing Tips with David Blinken · The Articulate Fly

• 0:03
  Marvin: Hey folks, it's Marvin Cash, the host of the Articulate Fly.
• 0:06
  Marvin: We're back with another On the Salt with Captain David Blinken. David, how are you?
• 0:11
  David: I'm good, Marvin. How are you doing this week?
• 0:14
  Marvin: As always, just trying to stay out of trouble. And it's kind of funny,
• 0:16
  Marvin: you were lamenting the north-northeast wind, and I was saying that it made me
• 0:20
  Marvin: happy down here in the south because it was dropping the temperature and lowering the humidity.
• 0:25
  David: Well you know all the crowds have cleared out
• 0:28
  David: from uh the east end of long island now and i
• 0:30
  David: want to get some serious fishing in with some clients
• 0:33
  David: and of course the first thing that happens is we get a northeast wind so uh
• 0:38
  David: you know but we'll we'll uh you know this time of year it occasionally happens
• 0:43
  David: and it sort of turns around midday and comes south and then we can fish it just
• 0:48
  David: means you know delaying our start that's about it really yeah.
• 0:52
  Marvin: I got it and i think the the last time we spoke, you were hopeful that you'd
• 0:55
  Marvin: start seeing false albacore. Has that been the case?
• 0:59
  David: They've been spotty. They've been up in New England, the Jersey Shore,
• 1:04
  David: and in western Long Island.
• 1:08
  David: You hear reports of them here and there.
• 1:12
  David: I just got a report literally minutes before we got on air of albies over in Long Island,
• 1:20
  David: I should say Rhode Island, probably around around watch hill and uh uh they
• 1:25
  David: should if they're there they should be uh they should be in montauk and gardener's
• 1:30
  David: bay any second so i'm hoping when i get out there tomorrow i'm going to be greeted
• 1:34
  David: by a bunch of uh hardtails yeah.
• 1:37
  Marvin: There you go and so were you chasing stripers or blues today.
• 1:40
  David: So we were sight fishing for stripers today which was
• 1:43
  David: a lot of fun uh i'll uh i'll send along a photo later but uh you know we got
• 1:49
  David: a couple of nice bass and in the upper 20 inch range and uh then uh when uh
• 1:55
  David: that turned off we went and turned our sights on bluefish and had some fun with
• 1:59
  David: them as well so you know all in all it was a nice day yeah.
• 2:03
  Marvin: Well there you go we got a question for you from brenner and he was interested
• 2:06
  Marvin: in getting your thoughts on you know if you're going to fish at night in the
• 2:10
  Marvin: salt what can you do to improve your odds.
• 2:13
  David: Well, there's a number of things you can do to improve your odds,
• 2:17
  David: but I would tell you this.
• 2:19
  David: Before you start fishing a night spot, fish it in the day.
• 2:24
  David: And the reason why is you want to look at it both at high and low tide,
• 2:28
  David: get an idea of which way the water's moving and how it's moving through the
• 2:32
  David: area you're going to be fishing at night.
• 2:34
  David: The other important thing is, the other important reason why you're going to
• 2:40
  David: fish during the day is so that at night, after getting to know during the day,
• 2:45
  David: when you're walking around those spots, you don't fall into a hole.
• 2:49
  David: I mean, that's, you know, the worst possible thing ever.
• 2:52
  David: So, you know, improving your odds is getting to know the place and the tides,
• 2:58
  David: getting to know the topography.
• 3:01
  David: And then of course we can talk about
• 3:03
  David: fly selection and um i mean
• 3:07
  David: it's it's such a broad question um if
• 3:11
  David: you're using swimming flies um you know you can use uh a lot of people like
• 3:17
  David: black flies because it makes a nice profile at night i myself like to use white
• 3:23
  David: flies i've had a lot of luck using just straight white flies they really they
• 3:27
  David: kind of stand out especially especially if there's a little bit of light.
• 3:32
  David: Other things that are fun to use are things like gurglers or sliders or poppers.
• 3:39
  David: And, you know, they don't need to make a lot of noise.
• 3:42
  David: They just need to make maybe just a very subtle V-wake on the water.
• 3:47
  David: You're not really ripping it at night, but it's more of a nuanced kind of fishing.
• 3:52
  David: So these are some things to think about.
• 3:56
  David: Of course, being very familiar with your equipment. that
• 4:00
  David: is another important way to improve your
• 4:03
  David: chances understanding what a cast feels like and knowing
• 4:06
  David: how far you're throwing so um uh
• 4:10
  David: my night fishing line at the
• 4:13
  David: 60 foot mark has a little bump in it that i've done just by tying some thread
• 4:18
  David: and gluing it so i actually have an idea of how far i'm throwing to my target
• 4:24
  David: area so i have my little I have that little wrap of thread on the line at around my 60-foot mark.
• 4:31
  David: And, you know, if you're fishing smaller areas, you could have your little tie-it-on
• 4:37
  David: piece of thread at, let's say, your 40 or your 50-foot mark.
• 4:41
  David: Because at night, the last thing you want to do is turn on a light that can
• 4:45
  David: potentially scatter the fish and give them a warning.
• 4:49
  David: And if you are going to use a light, the best thing to do is have a red lens over your light.
• 4:55
  David: It won't be seen or perceived by the fish as easily as, let's say,
• 5:02
  David: a white, blue, or green, or even a yellow light.
• 5:05
  David: So I would say if you're going to have a headlamp or something, have a red lens over it.
• 5:11
  David: And, of course, try not to shine it on the water.
• 5:16
  David: And, of course, going back to the topography, you know...
• 5:23
  David: If you really know your topography well, let's say you're fishing the deeper
• 5:27
  David: spot in the nighttime, you might want an intermediate line.
• 5:31
  David: I tend to fish more floating lines because I feel like in the evenings,
• 5:36
  David: the fish are looking up at bait.
• 5:40
  David: Unless it's sand eels, which bury in the sand every night, right at dusk.
• 5:45
  David: And then when they're doing it, they tend to do it close to the low tide mark,
• 5:50
  David: close to shore at the low tide mark. If you're fishing in a Bay or an estuary,
• 5:54
  David: um, and in those situations, I'm definitely using a floating line, very slender flies.
• 5:59
  David: And I tend to fish, uh, you know, that particular situation is really great
• 6:07
  David: at twilight, like an hour before sunset to,
• 6:09
  David: you know, an hour after sunset, and then kind of have a dead period very often
• 6:15
  David: once it gets perfectly black.
• 6:19
  David: And then all of a sudden you'll notice an hour into the darkness,
• 6:23
  David: things start to pick up again.
• 6:25
  David: So, you know, just being aware of all these situations, being aware of the area
• 6:29
  David: you're fishing by scoping it out during the day, both at high and low tide and
• 6:34
  David: getting to know the currents.
• 6:36
  David: And then, you know, your fly selection and line selection,
• 6:39
  David: all these things, you know, culminate together to really
• 6:42
  David: give you a successful outing and one
• 6:46
  David: last thing especially if you're fishing the northeast is every
• 6:50
  David: fish you reel in is a bluefish um and
• 6:54
  David: i'm saying that more metaphorically because if you're
• 6:57
  David: going to lip a fish at night and uh you think
• 7:00
  David: you're just catching stripers um you could
• 7:03
  David: be in for a really um unfortunate surprise so
• 7:07
  David: really carefully look at each fish you bring in
• 7:10
  David: on the fly even if it's with 15 pound test you can land a bluefish um so really
• 7:16
  David: make sure you know what animal that is on the end of your line so you don't
• 7:20
  David: you know hurt yourself uh really badly um and that really kind of covers it
• 7:27
  David: in our short little form here yeah.
• 7:29
  Marvin: Any thoughts by the way on kind of moon phase or anything like that in your neck of the woods.
• 7:35
  David: Um you know moon
• 7:38
  David: phase is really interesting um i personally
• 7:42
  David: don't like fishing the full moon during the day
• 7:45
  David: i find it a day before the full to a day after
• 7:48
  David: the full is really bad but that being said when i'm night fishing under a full
• 7:53
  David: moon that very often is proven to be very good and uh just a really quick story
• 7:59
  David: um the summer my daughter was born i was in martha's Vineyard fishing under
• 8:05
  David: a full moon at Lobsterville Beach.
• 8:06
  David: And I was just out there flipping a seven weight, getting little schoolie stripers.
• 8:11
  David: And lo and behold, I caught the biggest striped bass of my life on a fly rod
• 8:17
  David: that evening under the full moon.
• 8:20
  David: It was about 47 inches long.
• 8:22
  David: And that was a pretty neat moment for me.
• 8:27
  David: So that's my full moon story.
• 8:32
  David: But during the day, full moons tend to be my least productive.
• 8:38
  David: But at night, full moons have been very generous.
• 8:42
  David: And new moons can be great as well. But I think the full moon will also allow
• 8:49
  David: you to see fish swirling and eating bait that hasn't buried into the sand for the evening,
• 8:55
  David: as long as you can get at the right angle and there's no clouds.
• 8:59
  Marvin: Yeah, got it. And you know, folks, we love questions on the Articulate Fly.
• 9:02
  Marvin: You can email them to us or DM us on social media, whatever is easiest for you.
• 9:06
  Marvin: And if we use your question, I will send you some Articulate Fly swag,
• 9:10
  Marvin: you know, a drawing for the Royal Wolf line of your choice.
• 9:13
  Marvin: And I guess, David, before I let you give everyone housekeeping details,
• 9:18
  Marvin: we should give a shout out to our friend Steve Ramirez because his last book
• 9:22
  Marvin: in the casting series, Casting Homeward, got released over Labor Day weekend.
• 9:26
  David: Yeah, it did. And I really strongly suggest everyone buy it because Steve doesn't
• 9:34
  David: just write about fishing.
• 9:35
  David: Steve writes really about the experience in his life and how things relate.
• 9:41
  David: It's such a fun way to read a book that isn't so hyper-focused on one particular thing.
• 9:50
  David: It's really, when you read Steve's books, you're actually seeing what Steve
• 9:55
  David: is saying instead of reading it. It's really, he writes beautifully.
• 9:58
  Marvin: Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, David, if someone wants to get on the bow of
• 10:02
  Marvin: your boat, what should they do?
• 10:04
  David: They can go to my website, davidblinken.com or northgladsguiding.com.
• 10:10
  David: And they can also email me at davidblinken at gmail.
• 10:14
  Marvin: Well, there you go. Well, folks, as I always say, you owe it to yourself to
• 10:17
  Marvin: get out there and catch a few. Tight lines, everybody. tight lines David tight lines Marvin.