S6, Ep 1: The Chocklett Factory with Blane Chocklett

EPISODE SUMMARY

Guest: Blane Chocklett - Guide, Designer, and Author at The Chocklett Factory (Blue Ridge, Virginia)

In this episode: Fly designer Blane Chocklett announces the launch of The Chocklett Factory, his independent fly tying company representing 30+ years of guiding and design experience. Topics include fly design philosophy based on fish behavior observation, quality control and sustainable packaging, product rollout strategy with select dealers, and conservation work with the American Saltwater Guides Association (ASGA) on striped bass and redfish fisheries.

Key fishing techniques covered: • Game Changer/Jerk Changer swimbait-style patterns for predatory fish • Hybrid flies combining materials for large profiles with castability • Finesse flies for clear water and spooky fish conditions • Match-the-hatch approach adapted for predatory species • Ultra-realistic baitfish imitations

Location focus: Blue Ridge, Virginia (home waters), East Coast striper fisheries (Chesapeake Bay, New Jersey, New York, Cape Cod), Louisiana (redfish conservation), upcoming travels to California, Washington, Oregon and Florida Keys

Target species: Musky, smallmouth bass, striped bass, trout, redfish, snook, and other predatory fish

Equipment discussed: Jerk Changers (initial product launch), Game Changer patterns, Hybrid flies (6-12 inches), Finesse Changers, Ahrex hooks partnership, custom tying brushes, baitfish patterns (shad, silversides, glass minnows, herring)

Key questions answered: • How do 30 years on the water influence fly design? • What makes The Chocklett Factory different from mass production? • Why is being on the water essential for fly designers vs. fly tyers? • What conservation issues are affecting striped bass and redfish?

Best for: Intermediate to advanced anglers interested in predatory fish, swimbait-style flies, fly tying innovation, fishing business models and fisheries conservation

**Marvin Cash:** Hey folks, it's Marvin Cash, the host of The Articulate Fly, and we're back with the first Chocklett Factory of 2024 with Blane Chocklett. Blane, how you doing?

**Blane Chocklett:** Good, man. How are you doing?

**Marvin Cash:** As always, just trying to stay out of trouble. You know, big news at the end of 2023, and 2024 is going to be a big year for The Chocklett Factory.

**Blane Chocklett:** It absolutely is, man. It's a dream come true. Super excited about this. It's really 30-plus years in the making. As everybody knows now, we finally launched The Chocklett Factory. I had an opportunity to be in full control over my brand and my flies and work directly with my tyers. It's something I've always wanted.

It's a big part of my life is always seeing fish and how they react positively and negatively to what you throw at them and understanding fish behavior. I've been able to design flies for all these years, 30-plus years. My dream was, even though I've had flies out on the market with different companies, my dream was always for people that purchase my flies, for them to see what I get to see and actually get to fish my flies. And that's finally going to happen. Couldn't be more excited about it.

**Marvin Cash:** Yeah, it's pretty cool. I know how important it's been for you. I mean, because you spend hundreds of days a year on the water and your flies have evolved. To be able to bring that to, I hate to say the average fly fishing angler, but basically the consumer, is a really big deal.

**Blane Chocklett:** It's a huge deal, man. That is, I mean, that's kind of going back to a little bit of what I was talking about here. People really don't understand what goes into really understanding behavior because I've been a guide for 30-plus years and traveling and seeing all types of different fish and fisheries. That's invaluable. You cannot reproduce that without blood, sweat and tears and being on the water and taking your beatings and whatnot.

That's how I've been able to design these flies all these years by being on the water, sweating, freezing to death, getting soaked by cold rain or being out in the snow. I mean, I've actually been in a lot of ice storms while I've been fishing as well. There's been days where I'm bailing the boat, drift boat or whatever, and trying to keep that thing from sinking. You cannot make up for that. There's no hiding it. You can't fake it.

To be able to have the quality flies I've always wanted and having the trust in someone that I know I can rely on and to make sure that what I believe in and what my mind's eye sees and my designs come to fruition, it only comes from doing it the right way and doing it on the water and working with someone that understands that and has done it as well. That's the only way you can truly make it happen. That's what The Chocklett Factory is all about.

It's taken me 30 years to get to this point, but I think it's going to be worth it in the end. I'm kind of getting on the back side of my career now. It's one of those things that I believe that all this hard work and sacrifices, there's been plenty of that over the years and disappointments and whatnot, but to be able to finally have this happen. That's why you're seeing what you see in the next months and years leading into this or moving forward.

You're going to see the care and the attention to detail because I believe when you have that opportunity to put a fly in front of a fish of a lifetime, you want to make sure that everything has already been taken care of. That was my job by being on the water all these years and being able to relay that to my tyers and having meetings sometimes twice a day and making sure that we go back and forth with my designs and my samples that I receive. Tweak this. This isn't right. Then it goes back to choosing the materials, the hooks that we're using.

I'm partnering with Ahrex, which is a huge deal to me too. Just making sure we have the best quality hooks that we can use and obviously the materials too. As we all know from the past couple of years, it's been not an easy thing to get the right materials and production. Everything has been kind of up in the air. For us to be able to pull this off, I could not be more excited, man. I really can't.

I'm sure we'll be talking about this as we move forward with some of these podcasts, but I just wanted everybody to know what really goes into The Chocklett Factory and why it's so important to me and what you're going to see moving forward. What you've seen in the first launches of this, these flies are going to be better than I can make them. If not as good, they're going to be better.

The first flies that hit the market so far are the Jerk Changers, and they are. I mean, when you see them and you feel them and you fish them, you're going to know why I've been talking about it like this and why I've originally called these flies Game Changers.

**Marvin Cash:** You know, and it's interesting too, because I kind of, you know, as we're talking, you and I have talked multiple times and I've had this conversation with other people too, that you don't have to be on the water to be a good fly tyer. But you have to be on the water to be a good fly designer because the whole purpose of that is solving fishing problems.

**Blane Chocklett:** A hundred percent. There's a lot of excellent custom tyers out there that are doing my flies and they're doing a great job at it. I don't take anything away from them. They've been doing it for years and that's kind of the way I wanted this to be. But these are directly me and my flies and my dream.

It does take that. It takes that knowledge and it takes someone to put in, like I said earlier, blood, sweat and tears. I designed them, so nobody knows the fly better than me, right? For me to be able to directly put these, put the input into them towards my tyers and that goes with the brushes, all the products that are going to be relaunched too. But for me to be able to do that with my team and directly communicate that with them and go through several tweaks, then we got to change this. This isn't quite right. This is too long. It's too dense. It's not dense enough. I mean, all these little things all that goes into that knowledge, right? Like what you just said.

You have to be able to do it to be a designer. For me, it was always Bob Popovics. I've told this many times in a lot of conversations. Bob said a great fly always comes from problem solving, and it's true. You cannot create a new pattern without being on the water and solving a true problem.

All these flies that I've created all these years, and I've created a lot of bad ones. I mean, I've been on the vise many days and many nights trying to figure out how I can make this fly swim a certain way. What is that thing that made the fish not trigger on the fly? You can't do that without being on the water and you can't do that without understanding the fish that you're targeting.

You have to catch them. You have to get denied countless times and then finally have that success. That is truly what makes a great fly is knowing what the fish wants, knowing what they don't want. You can't just, I don't think you could truly make a new fly, a new great pattern, an iconic pattern like these flies or Surf Candies or Clousers or Deceivers without putting that time in on the water and understanding fish behavior. That's what makes a great designer by taking those lumps and beatings and having those moments of success. That's what it takes.

**Marvin Cash:** Yeah, and, you know, kind of the corollary of all of that is, you know, since you're not making Big Macs, you've got a very deliberate rollout on the flies. It's really kind of like you're making fine wine, right? So, you know, your initial launch, you have, I don't know, what is it? Is it four retail outlets in addition to yourself?

**Blane Chocklett:** Yeah, I have four initially because we have a small team that we have to build. It's going to take a long time to train new tyers, right? I want it to start slow. I want to have a core group of dealers that I've been working with for years and I've known and that are friends within the industry.

Like Bad River Outfitters, Schultz Outfitters, the Fishhawk in Atlanta, TCO Fly Shop up in Pennsylvania. We're working with Feather-Craft and we're working with Saltwater Edge right now and talking to a couple other dealers to bring them in slowly and then understanding that we're all in it together. We're a team, a family. Chocklett family has always been a huge part of my life and that is who I am. Those that know me know that.

I think for me it was very important to have a small-knit community that was all in on what I've been trying to do all these years. These, I consider these shops or retailers family to me. Like I said, trust is a big deal and I trust them. They trust me and we're in it together because we understand what we're trying to do and we understand what we're going to move forward doing.

We want to change the game. Not to be funny about it, but it's true. That's what I want to do. Moving forward in my life, moving away from guiding, I want to do more in conservation. I want to do more in design and leave a mark in that way, make the fishing and fly fishing industry better than what it was for me and do my part on that.

I think that's important moving forward with these dealers too and bringing some in as we grow and not over-promising and under-delivering. I'm not going to compromise the quality of these flies because they're custom. Basically, it's not mass production. Even though we're going to have higher volumes of flies being released, a lot more than a lot of these great custom tyers could do, but they're one person, right? But we're going to have 20 of me doing these daily, right?

As any tyer knows, if they've tied these flies, it takes a long time to get good at them. So the attention to detail is going to matter. Even the packaging. I want to make sure that the flies, when they leave my team, that they show up to me just like they left them and then hit the retailers and the consumers just like they left the vise. The only way you can do that is to have the packaging that these flies are coming in.

We're being very conscious about the environment. I want to make a difference in that too. I mean, I can't tell you how bad I feel when I get all these tying materials and whatnot and it's all plastic. Working with YETI and Patagonia and Costa, that's what we're doing on a daily basis is trying to make the world a better place as we obviously sell products and whatnot.

It's important to me to make sure I'm doing it in a sustainable way and a thoughtful way. I feel like we're going to try to be leaders in the industry. This is one way of doing that, not only delivering the best flies in the world, but they also deliver them in a way that doesn't hurt the environment and it's sustainable and recyclable.

**Marvin Cash:** Yeah, it's super cool. And I know, you know, your first launch were the Jerk Changers. Are you able to kind of share with us what folks should expect to see coming out next from The Chocklett Factory?

**Blane Chocklett:** Absolutely. Yeah, we have my larger flies, which I've always called the hybrids because just the materials that go into the big hybrids from 6 to basically close to 12-inch flies and everything in between. The bigger baits, the big predatory fish that feed on them. I call them hybrids because, and we're going to come out with the brushes that go with all these patterns of mine that I've created over the years. We've scoured different areas within the marketplace to find these materials to make the casting and make the flies look more realistic.

So the hybrids are a combination of materials that allows us to have that larger profile, the swimability that we want, but also make it castable. And that's what the hybrid is all about. Realism, swimability and castability. To me, that's kind of been the, like you said earlier, it was a problem I was trying to solve years ago. The hybrids, I think, are the best flies that I could produce to have all those triggering and attracting qualities that these big predatory fish want. So that's one of the next flies that will be hitting the market.

Then, obviously, to me, the most important fly would be the finesse flies. The finesse flies are just a way of me describing them that clear water, super spooky fish, the most discriminating of fish. I call them finesse because of that, because these are ultra-realistic. They look, act and swim like the real thing. That's what a Game Changer should be. It's a swimbait-style fly and it does all those things that you want.

But a lot of fish in super clear water or fisheries fished over quite a bit, you got to have the exact bait that they want to feed. It's just like learning trout fishing in the beginning. Match the hatch. This is a match-the-hatch type of fly. You're going to see flies that look exactly like a shad, exactly like this and that.

Another thing that I'm going to be doing with this company is I'm going to be able to do custom flies for certain fishing situations. Silversides, glass minnows, herring, you name it, for different types of fishing conditions. That's kind of the route I want to go. People travel all over the world. There's different baits and different scenarios that happen in those places. I'm going to make sure that we can cover those spots, working directly with dealers and myself.

I've got plans to do some things in the future directly with my customers and my support group, which we can, I'm sure Marvin, you and I will talk about that leading into the 2024 season. But this whole thing is going to be a pretty cool deal. Like I said, it's 30 years of looking at the industry and looking at the fish and looking at fly designs and whatnot. I feel like I've been there and seen a lot of different things. I feel like the way I'm going to approach this is going to be a big deal.

The flies, going from the hybrids and then to these Finesse Changers and all the other flies that are going to be launching, and a lot of new patterns that I haven't talked about yet that are going to be in the new book. So I'm super excited about that. I know the dealers I've shown and friends I've shown are really excited about what the world's going to get to see here and leading up in the next few months.

**Marvin Cash:** Yeah, super cool. And I guess the best way, right, for folks to kind of, you know, you've got your own social media channel. I know you like Instagram, but you've also created a new Instagram channel for The Chocklett Factory, right?

**Blane Chocklett:** Yes. Yeah, The Chocklett Factory on Instagram. Please go check that out, like it, follow it because we're going to, that's where you're going to find the release of new products and whatnot and videos, hype reels, just information going forward on the business and working on a new website for all that. The current website that we have, it's Blane Chocklett Fishing, right? You can check it out there too.

But we're going to have a lot more stuff coming here. As soon as I get off this podcast, I've got a lot of work to do on that side of stuff, taking photos, put it on the website and be able to give it to dealers. Right now, packaging and all that. Every package that you get of ours, it's going to have a story about the fly. Or if it's a brush, it's going to tell you my thought process on the brush and what you could use it for other than my flies if you wanted to use it for other things.

So all that stuff's been thought out. I feel like we're going to try to help people that support us by giving them information that I've failed at or been successful at over the past 30-plus years of being in the fly fishing industry.

**Marvin Cash:** Yeah. And I know some of that is kind of taking you off the traditional show circuit, but I do know, because I'll see you up there, is that you will be at Schultz's Bobbin in the Hood. I think it's the first weekend in February. Are you, do you have any other engagements that you want to let folks know about?

**Blane Chocklett:** Yeah, I'm going to be at Saltwater Edge. I think the weekend of the 19th, 20th and 21st, he's having a very similar event up there. Peter Jenkins and Saltwater Edge in Rhode Island. Great shop. They've been around for a long time. He's a partner with me and ASGA, as far as us trying to help the fisheries on the East Coast and Gulf Coast areas.

So Peter and I have been kind of working together past year and a half on the conservation side, but he also became a partner with The Chocklett Factory. He saw what Schultz was doing with Bobbin in the Hood and decided to bring back something he used to do years ago and doing this big fly tying event on that Saturday and doing some private classes on Sunday, I believe. So I'm excited about that.

A couple of the other dealers I'm working with, we've been talking about me coming and visiting and doing some stuff there. As we do more launches, you'll see me posting things like that. It's another reason to follow The Chocklett Factory on Instagram and whatnot to see what we're going to be doing and where I'm going to be.

I'm going to be traveling a lot over the spring, heading out West, doing a tour of California, then Washington and Oregon. Then I'll be in the Keys a little bit. I'm going to be a little bit everywhere here. It's going to be a busy 2024 for me for sure.

**Marvin Cash:** Yeah. It's a good Johnny Cash song in there somewhere, right?

**Blane Chocklett:** Yeah, about it. That's right.

**Marvin Cash:** So, you know, you briefly mentioned your work at ASGA with Peter. And I know we recently, I don't know, gosh, within the last, I don't know, week to 10 days, the comment period on Addendum 2 just closed. Is there anything you want to share on the striper front or any of the other conservation work that you've been working on?

**Blane Chocklett:** Yeah, I do. I really would like to reiterate what I've tried to say in short little public announcements with people and how important it is to take five minutes when we throw something out there and you see it. Stop what you're doing and go sign it because I can promise you we're not doing this because we're just trying to create a lot of fire. I mean, there is smoke. Where there's smoke, there's a fire. A lot of these fisheries and fish are not doing well.

A lot of people are saying, well, it's been the best striper season, striper fishing in the past couple of years in certain areas and up and down the East Coast. Well, specifically in New Jersey, New York and up in Cape Cod and spots. But if you step back and really look at it, you're not seeing recruitment. We've had very poor recruitment in the Chesapeake Bay for a long time. Chesapeake was the backbone of the striper population. We're just not getting smaller fish. The spawns have been terrible.

The striper fishery, believe it or not, whether you want to believe it or not, is not doing well. Even though we have a lot of really big fish around, there's no small fish. I saw that here in my home waters where I was catching all these big smallmouth for a long time and just not getting a lot of numbers. Those are warning signs. If you're not getting small fish and all you're getting is the year classes that are left, it's going to take a very big spawn and a very good spawn. We haven't had those conditions for many years now. You get to the end of their lives and they don't have, you don't have any recruitment, then what do you have? You don't have any.

So it's important to protect the fish that we have currently. We've tried to put it in place. We're trying to get laws passed to where these fish are protected to where they can have a future because we got to have these smaller fish coming in to replace these fish that are moving out, right? So that's why we did that Addendum 2 and we're still fighting to make sure that we can change certain laws that are already in place and whatnot to make sure that everybody is being treated fairly. Commercially and recreational anglers. I mean, recreational anglers are a big part of the problem.

A lot of times people think that ASGA is looking at commercial. That's not true. We're actually trying to police what us as recreational anglers are doing because we're the bigger problem in this a lot of times. You'll see it. You'll see the dock shots whether it be for stripers or down specifically in Louisiana, which I went down with ASGA to speak in front of their House committee on the redfish down there. It's just ridiculous to think that you could kill all these big numbers of fish and then brood fish too and think that it's going to be sustainable.

The fisheries are getting smaller, not bigger. I've seen that, and that's why I joined ASGA. It's important to me. I've made money off of fish for 30-plus years. It's very, very important to me that I can at least leave the fisheries as good as they were when I was starting out. I would like to see them better, but I definitely don't want to see them worse because I've got a young son that loves fishing and I want to make sure he gets to see things that I've gotten to see in my career and not just me telling him stories about well, you should have seen this and that.

That's important and that's part of that Addendum 2. Leading moving forward, we're going to be moving into Florida doing stuff with snook with ASGA and continuing to fight the good fight in Louisiana. We were a little disappointed in the original decision that they made, but we continued to fight and we're getting some headway on some changes there still.

So Tony, who's director there and kind of my coach and kind of tells us where to be and gives us some pep talks, I mean, he just tells me all the time, it's not about victories. It's just about getting a first down. That's kind of what, unfortunately, that's what conservation is all about. It's just trying to get a first down and eventually getting a touchdown. Hopefully we win in the end, but it's just all about getting the next, it's three yards and a cloud of dust. You know what I mean? So that's kind of what we're doing.

It's been an eye-opener and very disappointing, to be honest, to see how common sense, as Lefty always said, isn't so common. It really just blows my mind that the science is out there, and that's what ASGA is all about, is providing science for the powers that be to make good decisions. Even though you provide the best science that you can that definitely points in a direction and then see them go another direction, it just is frustrating, but we're going to keep fighting.

It's very important that people that do listen to this, if we put something out there, we really need you to do it. You need to tell everybody because the more support we get, and I've seen it, the more support we get, the harder it makes for those that are looking out for special interests, that aren't looking out for the best interests of fisheries, it makes it harder for them to make those decisions that aren't in the best interest of the fish and the fisheries. So please go do that. I know we greatly appreciate it and our kids will, I promise you that.

**Blane Chocklett:** I'm in it for the long haul, and everybody that's part of the ASGA crew is, and it's working countless hours. I mean, I know Tony works 16, 18 hours, almost 18 hours every day, man. I don't know how he does it, but I know he needs all the help he can get, and I know we do too as anglers.

They make it, I mean, Cody, who helps put all this stuff together on social media, it literally, we make it as easy as possible. Click the link, click this, click that, and you're done. It takes less than five minutes, and it could change fisheries forever.

**Marvin Cash:** Yeah, absolutely. And as we kind of wind down, first of all, I want to congratulate you and tell you how happy I am for you because I know how important this has been to you.

**Blane Chocklett:** I appreciate it, dude. It has. It's been a long row, and I've had your support. Being able to talk to you for hours at a time, kind of kicking ideas, and you're giving me good suggestions, man. I greatly appreciate your friendship and support, man, for sure.

**Marvin Cash:** Yeah, I appreciate it. Yeah, it's been, you know, it's been one of the great things is to, you know, doing The Articulate Fly and being around the industry is to become friends with you and other folks. I think it's great. And, you know, 2024 is going to be a great year. I want to wish everybody a happy new year. Happy new year, Blane.

**Blane Chocklett:** Thanks, you too, man. Hey everybody, go look to Marvin. He's trying to do something special in the industry. If you haven't checked it out, pay attention to what he puts out there because he's helped me a lot. So I know he can help all those people that are in the industry. He can help you like he's helped me. So go listen to what he's got to say.

**Marvin Cash:** He's smart. He's much smarter than I am.

**Blane Chocklett:** That's not true. We just have different talents, that's all.

**Marvin Cash:** Yeah. Well, I super appreciate that. And everybody, you know, look forward to touching base with you guys on the show circuit. You know, Blane, I know we'll be talking before then, but I'm looking forward to hanging out with you in Michigan in February with Schultz.

**Blane Chocklett:** Yeah, man. Me too. And happy 2024 to you and everybody else. Tight lines, everybody. Thank you, everybody.