Marvin Cash: Hey, folks, it's Marvin Cash, the host of the articulate fly. And we're
back with another on the salt with Captain David Blinken.
David, how are you?
David Blinken: I'm good, Marvin. How are you doing this September
evening?
Marvin Cash: Uh, just trying to stay out of trouble. We're actually getting a couple inches of
rain out of this, uh, hurricane tropical depression that
moved its way up the gulf last week.
David Blinken: Yeah, that unnamed storm. I heard parts of the
Carolinas got 20 inches in one day.
Incredible.
Marvin Cash: But it's kind of amazing. I mean, not as much as we got, I guess
maybe six weeks ago with the other storm that came through and dumped like five
inches. But interestingly enough for the trout people, if you're
on the other side of the mountains in western north Carolina,
uh, west of Asheville, they've gotten almost no rain in the last two
months.
David Blinken: Incredible. We've had a pretty good drought too in September.
We're well below our normal. But, uh, all
that's going to change. We're going to get the remnants of that
Carolina storm on Wednesday, uh, through Friday.
So it, uh, should be interesting. No one's going to be
fishing for a few days. Tell you that.
Marvin Cash: Yeah. Which kind of works out because you were telling me the false albacore haven't
showed up yet.
David Blinken: No, they really haven't. Um. Um. I know there have been
some all through new. You know, up in eastern New England
and some down on the Jersey shore. And
um. Um. You know, if you go five
to 10 miles out here, you can find a
few mixed in with whales and bluefin tuna. But really
they're. It's not the inshore fishing that we
normally get. And, um. Um. The past two, three
years they've been in early. But
they haven't really stuck around. So I'm hoping
after this full moon, which is another big
fish mover, I hope, uh. Once the storm
clears, we, uh, find false albacore in our water
here. Hopefully.
Marvin Cash: Yeah. And so, you know, to kind of get ready for false albacore, you know.
What are your suggestions? Kind of on, uh, rod reel,
terminal tackle and flies?
David Blinken: Well, you know, um. Um. I think the
ideal setup or the ideal rod for false
albacore is ten weight. Uh. I don't like to go like eight or
nine weight because they are tough fighting fish. And
you know, it's kind of cruel to take a long time to bring
them in. So I like a ten weight. And uh. Uh,
my. My favorite line generally is a floating line because they
are surface feeders. But, um. Um. But I don't have
a floating line. Um. Um, I'll, I'll usually use, uh, uh,
like a sink tip, like a royal wolfen,
um, uh, uh, lost tip. And for my
floating line, it would be a royal wolf Bermuda short
because just want to be able to load the line quick
and, and, uh, uh, and get it out there. You don't always
have a lot of time when the fast alba cords are feeding. They're,
they're explosive and they're quick.
So, um, um, a line you can count on to load the rod
and shoot the line fast is, is pretty
ideal. And, um, um,
leader wise, I usually, I'm
usually either 20 or 25 pound,
uh, for my tippet. Um, they're not.
Albees are not particularly picky. I mean,
you do have those moments when they are. And maybe I'll drop down to
20. But, um, for the most
part, uh, you know, I'm fishing nine to ten foot leaders
and, uh, usually terminating at
20 or 25.
Marvin Cash: Got it. And then, you know, fishing what, poppers,
game changers, deceivers, things like that.
David Blinken: Well, yeah, um, a lot of people really dig
epoxy flies. I'm using, uh, I'm using
acrylic that you dry with uv,
uh, lights and or blue light.
And, um, you know, other things. Uh,
um, um, um. Johnny King's who
fly is really great. And I type why I called the
jellyfish that I tied a masters of the fly a few
seasons ago that you can look at.
The small, uh, klausiers are great bunny
flies. I mean, there's a lot, um, you know,
sometimes the albies will eat bigger things, um,
and sometimes lead smaller. I know people who only fish for them
with chartreuse deceivers, but probably smaller
ones. Um, but I like,
you know, slightly off white things like, uh,
creamy color or kind
of tan with maybe, uh,
a little bit of peacock curl down the back or just
a, uh, you know, little dark green flash.
Um, and uh, and uh, I like
splayed feathers on my flies a lot, especially for albies,
as opposed to feathers that are mended together as
a traditional, uh, deceivers. Uh,
have. And, um.
That's it. You don't need a lot. And occasionally,
um, you can get them on white or chartreuse,
uh, gurglers, which is a huge amount of fun.
Uh, one of my most favorite ways to get them when they're,
when they're looking up top, you know, throwing a gurgler
is a blast. And they'll, they hit them so hard, they come right
out of the water. It's fun.
Marvin Cash: Very, ah, neat. And, you know, it's funny, you were talking about looking for lines
that allow you to, uh, uh, to load and cast
quickly. You know, it is really kind of run and gun fishing and
kind of a slightly different amount of time pressure, uh, uh, than
some folks are probably used to, you know. Any tips for people to
kind of get that timing down to not false cast 20 times
before they get the fly out there?
David Blinken: Well, here's the thing. Try not
to run and gun, because
run and gun means your line gets tangled
up on the deck from the breeze of running and gunning. Try to
get an area where they keep coming up and
just set yourself up, up in a long
drift and wait till you can see the fish
starting to pop or wait till a group of them come up.
These false albums like Bonito, they. They're not up and
down. No, though they'll feed along certain
alleyways, especially if the bait's there,
and take your time with the cast. I mean,
when they are up, they're quick. But, but
you can. You can get yourself set up in a drift. I mean,
sometimes you're gonna have to move here and there. But I wouldn't,
I wouldn't run a gun. I might more,
uh, appropriately call it putter.
You know, putter around. And. And
then when you see a group of fish, you know, just
shut down and start casting. I think that's the
best way to do it. And, and, uh, I fish
albee's a couple different ways. I'll fish them very often out of my
skiff where we might pull around shallow water for
striper in the middle of the day. And then at the early part
of the day and the late part of the day, we'll, we'll alpi fish when. When
the light is no good. Um, um,
and fishing them out of the skiff is very nice because I'm fishing them
usually in the western bays where there's not a lot of
boats, so we can just take our time. And other times, I'm
fishing out of my larger boat out in the ocean.
And, um, you just. You go in areas where
you keep seeing these big schools, maybe rushing bait
or you look for baitball and just kind of hang around
and, you know, hope the, the albies will come up
through. And that's sort of my,
my basic set of tactics.
Marvin Cash: Yeah. So we'll say running, uh, gun, but with a zen
flare.
David Blinken: Yeah, yeah. And I got to tell you, a lot of.
I understand, um, um, how
the weaker warriors are. They want to get to the albees. First, they only have
a couple days a week to fish, and they run and come. But
it's, in a way, with all due respect to them,
and I respect the fact that they want to be out there fishing,
it can put the fish down running and cunning. It's
better if you just, you know, get to the fish
slowly and. And. And kind of
study the area. You're fishing really methodically, so you can
get to a group of albies and. And have them stay
up. You know, you might not be the first one there,
but, you know, you'll. You're gonna. You'll get your
shots, and if you don't run and gun, you have
a better chance of them staying up, you know, feeding,
feeding nicely on the bait, and it'll
give you a chance to get to them without having to
really rush your cast, so to speak.
Marvin Cash: Ah, got it. And, you know, folks, we love questions at the articulate
fly. You can email me or dm me on social media.
And actually, if you go to, uh, my Instagram profile, I
just added a link where you can actually records your question.
And we may actually play it, uh, on the
phishing report. Um, but we love questions. And
if we use your question, I will send you some articulate fly swag. And
they're going to enter a drawing for a royal wolf line of your choice.
And, uh, David, before I let you go, you want to let folks
know, uh, where they can catch up with you if they want to get on your boat.
Or you may. I can't remember if you've got any open
slots in any of your trips, uh, kind of this late fall
winter, but let folks know about those, too.
David Blinken: I have one open slot for a Mexico trip
leaving on November 9 for Tarpon. It's a four
day tarpon trip in compee, and it's a
great time here to go. We start seeing slightly larger
fish. Then, um, and people can reach me. They
could just go to my website at david
blanket.com, and, uh, my phone
number will be there. Or they could just email me at david
blanketmail.com dot. And,
uh, and, you know, we can. We'll try to slip
you in, and, uh,
that's the easiest way to, uh, get in touch with me.
Marvin Cash: Yeah. And then, you know, for folks that don't know, you're an Eagles fan, so
who knew?
David Blinken: Don't care. For us giants
fans take homage to that.
Marvin Cash: Yeah.
David Blinken: I don't know. Might have to. Might have to come down there and make fun of
your panthers.
Marvin Cash: Oh, well, I'm not a Panthers fan. I never have been.
Uh, but the, uh. That's a topic for the next
time. Time. Uh, but, folks, as I always
say, you owe it to yourself to get out there and catch a few. Tight
lines, everybody. Tight lines.
David Blinken: David, tight lines. Marvin.