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

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

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

Marvin: As always, just trying to stay out of trouble. And you know,

Marvin: you are on the precipice of the shoulder season because you had a ski boondoggle

Marvin: this weekend, and you're going to be on the water in the next week to 10 days.

David: Oh, I can't wait. I've got a group going down to the Bahamas right in the beginning

David: of the second week of April.

David: I'm really looking forward to it. And my biggest thing is I got to get out and

David: do a little limbering up with my fly rod before I get down there.

Marvin: Yeah, but we know from all of the episodes we've done before this that all of

Marvin: your gear is washed, lines treated, the whole nine yards, boats ready to go

Marvin: and everything, right? right?

David: Oh my gosh. The bag is packed. Everything's ready to go. So I can just go on automatic.

David: All I got to do is throw a couple of pairs of socks in the bag and I'm ready.

Marvin: Yeah. And so the great thing is you come back and you're going to have your

Marvin: first guide trip of the year out on Long Island.

Marvin: What do you expect early season fishing?

David: Well, yeah, I'm hoping to see stripers. You know, we do have a problem with

David: the stripest population and I would personally love to see a moratorium I'm

David: not to be too political about bass,

David: but what I'm expecting to see is some smaller fish up in the estuaries as the water warms.

David: So I'll be, you know, going way up into creeks and estuaries and little river

David: systems, looking for stripers.

David: And, you know, if we have a warm spring, I think I'll be finding them out on

David: the sand earlier this year than usual.

David: So we'll just see how the spring goes. March, the past few years,

David: has tended to be a little colder than February, and that helps keep the water cool going into spring.

David: So it's anyone's guess. And then I'm looking for bluefish coming in around the

David: end of the second week, beginning of the third week of May.

David: And the past couple seasons, that has been a really fun part of our fishery, and it's been big fish.

David: So we go into those with 10-weight rods and shock tips and poppers and big squid

David: flies and have a lot of fun with them on the flats.

Marvin: Yeah, got it. And I assume that, you know, the reason that you're going to be

Marvin: fishing for striper so close and, you know, up in the estuaries is because I

Marvin: guess you have to wait for the, you know, the more the water warms up,

Marvin: the, I guess the more the, the, uh, the bait range is kind of out into the sound

Marvin: and out into the ocean. Right.

Marvin: So right now they're going where the water warms up pretty quickly.

David: Yeah and and there tends to be more bait up

David: in those creeks and estuaries early you know we'll be looking

David: for um uh um spearing uh

David: little crabs and uh grass shrimp and uh they like they like that cooler temperature

David: so the bass will be up in there and uh getting into our first full moon in may

David: uh you know we could very easily have a nice cinder worm hatch and and they

David: really like like to focus on those.

David: So, they'll stay up in the creeks and estuaries for that.

David: And then after that first cinderworm hatch, they'll start to wander around a

David: little more, especially as the water warms.

Marvin: Got it. And I would imagine too, you know, if spring up on Long Island is anything

Marvin: like spring down here in the southeast, it's going to be windy.

Marvin: You know, what should folks expect on the casting front there?

David: Well, you know, it depends on the time of day, it's really interesting.

David: Sometimes you wake up in the spring and there's a north wind and you just kind

David: of wait until like 10, 11 and it drops out.

David: But the nice thing about having a skiff and having so many different bits and

David: pieces of water on Long Island is I can always launch the boat in an area where

David: we have a really good amount of lee.

David: So the wind isn't always a problem in the springtime as much as it might be in the fall.

David: Uh so it gives us opportunities

David: to go hide um you know sometimes it shortens the day but um very often we'll

David: go we'll go into a lee and the fish are all just kind of stacked up in the league

David: because they don't want to be out in the noisy choppy water either so uh it

David: can make for some really fun interesting fishing got.

Marvin: It and of course later in the season you're gonna you know know,

Marvin: put your, uh, your travel host back on, you've got a couple of destination trips too.

David: Yes. So, so of course in April, I go to the Bahamas and then the end of April,

David: I go to Belize for permit.

David: And then in, um...

David: The beginning of august uh in november and december we're doing tarpon trips down in mexico,

David: and uh it's for for smaller tarpon which

David: is so much fun uh because you know

David: they jump like crazy you can get them to the boat pretty quick and you're

David: on to the next one and uh august is pretty

David: special because uh that trip

David: you can really get huge numbers of tarpon and and

David: it's a relative thing you know on any given day you can jump

David: 15 or 20 and you can land you know you know

David: half that and and that's a huge amount of fun

David: um and then in in uh the the november trip i said march i think but in the november

David: and december trips we tend to find the bigger tarpon come into mexico um you

David: know some some of them exceeding 50 pounds and and that's a lot of fun so uh

David: we look forward to all all those trips.

Marvin: Yeah, it sounds like it's going to be a good 2024 for you. And I want to thank

Marvin: our friends at Norvice for sponsoring the series.

Marvin: And I know Tim and the rest of the Norvice team are kind of winding up the travel

Marvin: schedule, but you know it to yourself to head over to www.nor-vice.com to check

Marvin: out the Norvice, everything that they have to offer.

Marvin: There might be a couple of shows left, maybe out West, maybe in Utah.

Marvin: If you check on the website and And you live out there, you might still have

Marvin: a chance to actually see the Norvice

Marvin: in action. Otherwise, you're going to probably have to wait until 2025.

Marvin: And, you know, I know everyone's been waiting. You know, we had two great prizes

Marvin: to kind of encourage people to listen and engage with us.

Marvin: And, you know, the first prize was a RISE Fishing Company rod.

Marvin: And that was from everyone that sent questions in. And we really appreciate that.

Marvin: And the winner of that prize is Brenner Johnson.

Marvin: And Brenner is a frequent question asker on lots of our shows.

Marvin: So congratulations, Brenner. You've got a Rise Fishing Company rod.

Marvin: If you'll reach out to me, I will get you in touch with David,

Marvin: and we'll get you in touch with the folks at Rise.

Marvin: And then, of course, the grand prize for all the questions that we use during

Marvin: the series is a Norvice tying system.

Marvin: And that grand prize winner is Brent Taylor. So congratulations, Brent.

David: Well, that's exciting. These two guys, uh, won all this stuff.

David: So, uh, so, uh, I hope they get a chance to use it a lot this year.

Marvin: Yeah, absolutely. That's a, it's going to make a, it's like,

Marvin: it's like having the fly fishing Easter bunny come to your house.

David: It kind of is. It's really exciting. I mean, uh, that the Norvice is going to

David: be a lot of fun to use and, and certainly the rise rod is going to be awesome.

David: Them and you know i hope those guys after they uh they land some fish with their

David: rod and flies uh you know record them on on the got one app.

Marvin: Yeah there you go and you know we were talking you know last i guess was it

Marvin: last weekend you had blind chocolate on for your last official event in masters

Marvin: of the fly but you're telling me that uh you and lou yin have some things planned

Marvin: to kind of keep the content coming kind of throughout 2024 yeah.

David: We're going to try to shoot some content over the summer and put it out as well

David: as have maybe one or two shows,

David: definitely one show over the summer with a guest, and hopefully it will be a casting show.

David: So we're looking forward to that and keeping everyone engaged throughout.

David: And next year will be our fifth year.

David: And, you know, we're also thinking, you know, finally of possibly,

David: you know, developing some things so you can show your colors,

David: like some hats or sweaters or something. So that might be coming.

Marvin: Yeah, schwag, as they like to say in the business. Yeah. Yeah.

Marvin: And so what should folks be on the lookout for on the Got One front?

David: Front well you know they're

David: always making improvements and i think ai is

David: going to be a big contributor to what's

David: going to be going on with got one and um and

David: uh you know when you photograph and record your fish

David: you know each fish has a unique scale and stripe pattern uh not unlike fingerprints

David: on a human hand so you know there's going to be a wonderful way to identify

David: your fish and certainly measuring your fish is going to be very important too and and um,

David: it'll you know one it'll help you you know

David: when you're when you're catching fish keeping track but

David: two if you want to open up your data to scientists um

David: and of course they don't they're not going to blab your spots or anything they

David: just need it for data collection it's certainly going to help those scientists

David: do their job so they can better understand um the needs of the various various

David: fisheries and what we can do to protect what we all hold so dear.

Marvin: Very, very neat. You know, folks, it's so great. I always get excited at the

Marvin: beginning of every fishing season.

Marvin: You know, get your gear ready, take all the advice we've given you,

Marvin: and have a great season on the salt in 2024.

Marvin: Tight lines, everybody. Tight lines, David.

David: You too.