Marvin: Hey, folks, it's Marvin Cash, the host of the Articulate Fly,

Marvin: and we're back with another On the Salt with Captain David Blinken. David, how are you?

David: I'm good, Marvin. How are you doing today?

Marvin: As always, I'm just trying to stay out of trouble. You know,

Marvin: it's kind of interesting down here in the southeast.

Marvin: We've, you know, kind of on the other side of all this horrible weather we've

Marvin: had, it's kind of super cooled off and it's dried out. What are you seeing up in the northeast?

David: East well finally we've had our actually our second cold front in two weeks

David: but this one's really robust and uh with it is uh is finally coming some uh

David: striped bass from you know places far off i would assume very.

Marvin: Neat and and have the false albacore finally uh decided to show up in your neck of the woods.

David: No unfortunately not i

David: was in martha's vineyard uh for columbus day visiting friends

David: and there were some albies up there but but

David: they don't seem to be uh wanting to come to

David: at least uh the east end of long island this year

David: i know we have some in long island sound way west of here and they're up north

David: but they're everywhere but here and um it's not like this hasn't happened before

David: in 2012 uh we did we didn't have any false albacore either for that fishing season Interesting.

Marvin: So tell me a little bit more about the stripers you've been able to track down.

David: Well, we've been catching stripers both in Rhode Island and over at Fishers Island.

David: And now we have stripers finally filling in around Montauk and in the inner bays.

David: So that should uh really be exciting for us uh going uh you know down the home

David: stretch into november yeah.

Marvin: There you go just in time to get off the water put the boat away for thanksgiving right.

David: There you go well let's see uh i fish till around the 9th or 10th of november

David: here and then i take a group tarpon fishing in uh and uh campeche in mexico

David: for a few days so so that'll and then

David: there's Thanksgiving. So, yes, that'll be great.

Marvin: Well, there you go. Well, listen, I've got a striper question for you from Mitchell,

Marvin: and he wanted to get your thoughts.

Marvin: When you're fishing for stripers on the flats, do you prefer a fly color that

Marvin: blends in with the bottom?

David: Well, it's really interesting. It's kind of a yes question, and I'll tell you why.

David: When various baits are on different color bottoms, they try to hide themselves

David: by changing color and matching the environment they're in.

David: So, for example, when I'm fishing crab patterns over sandy bottoms,

David: I tend to fish a lighter colored crab.

David: But when I'm fishing crab patterns, and it could be just 10 feet to the left

David: over a grassy bottom, I will try to change that crab to something that's got

David: a little bit of olive or green in it.

David: And similarly, when I'm fishing baitfish patterns, you know,

David: baitfish can change color on a dime.

David: They'll be darker over a darker bottom and lighter over a lighter bottom.

David: So very often I might have rods rigged with a couple of different patterns as far as color goes.

David: But I do definitely try to match the color of the bottom or the color of the

David: environment they're in.

David: So if you were to look in my fly box, I may have a hundred of the same flies,

David: but they're tied in different sizes, different sizes and different hues.

David: So if you look at my fly box, it looks almost like a Pantone color chart.

Marvin: Very, very neat. And so, you know, I know that's the general rule,

Marvin: but if, you know, if the fish are being stingy, you know, do you then maybe

Marvin: add a little flash or do you go for contrast? Is there anything that you may

Marvin: want to change up there if the fish have lockjaw?

David: Well, interestingly enough, very often what happens is I'll tie my flies with

David: flash, but if I find the fish are not responding or not eating,

David: I'll sometimes pick all the flash out, especially on brighter days,

David: and have the fly be kind of as flat as possible without any sparkle to it.

David: And very often that's the ticket.

David: Um if if you were to look in my box you'll see a

David: lot of flies where where the flash has been plucked out and

David: you can just sort of see the ends of it where where it was tied in uh and and

David: that's really and that's really it um and then there are other times especially

David: in the fall where the flashier the fly the better but certainly in the spring

David: and summer uh i find less flash uh means more fish got.

Marvin: It yeah it's kind of interesting to tie them all with flash and then just pick

Marvin: out what you don't need and that way you don't have to carry multiple versions of the same fly right.

David: That's it that's it um and and i don't mind having flies without flash and and

David: uh you know they'll work all the time but certainly when the fish are being

David: a little bit picky a little tough uh getting getting rid of that flash can can

David: mean the difference between fish and no fish got.

Marvin: It and you know folks we love questions on the articulate fly you can email

Marvin: me or dm me on social media. As I always say, let's make David's life as easy as possible.

Marvin: And if we use your question, I will send you some articulate fly swag.

Marvin: And then we enter a drawing for a Royal Wolf line of your choice.

Marvin: And you know, funny, David, I guess two things before we started recording.

Marvin: One, you're going to go set your camera up and try to photograph the comet.

Marvin: But then we also started talking about Masters of the Fly. And you and Lu Yen

Marvin: are busy kind of planning what 2025 is going to look like.

David: Yeah, we are. And we're kind of looking at beginning of the season,

David: probably sometime around the middle end of January.

David: And we don't have dates yet, but as soon as we do, you'll be the first to know

David: and everybody else who's listening here.

Marvin: Very neat. And so if folks want to try to maybe find a day and,

Marvin: gosh, I mean, we're talking about you've got, what, three weeks left of guiding

Marvin: to get on your boat, what should they do?

David: They can go to my website, davidblinken.com, and they can just grab my phone

David: number and give me call or hit me up with an email at davidblankin at gmail.

Marvin: Well, there you go. Well, folks, as I always say, yo it yourself to get out

Marvin: there and catch a few. Tight lines, everybody. Tight lines, David.

David: Tight lines, all.