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?
I'm good, Marvin. How are you doing this September evening?
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.
Yeah, that unnamed storm. I heard parts of the Carolinas got 20 inches in one day. Incredible.
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.
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.
Yeah. Which kind of works out because you were telling me the false albacore haven't showed up yet.
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.
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?
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.
Got it. And then, you know, fishing what, poppers, game changers, deceivers, things like that.
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.
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?
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.
Yeah. So we'll say running, uh, gun, but with a zen flare.
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.
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.
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.
Yeah. And then, you know, for folks that don't know, you're an Eagles fan, so who knew?
Don't care. For us giants fans take homage to that.
Yeah.
I don't know. Might have to. Might have to come down there and make fun of your panthers.
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, tight lines. Marvin.