S6, Ep 1: The Chocklett Factory with Blane Chocklett

Marvin Cash: Hey, folks, it's Marvin cash, the host of the articulate fly. And we're back with the first chocolate factory of 2024 with blaine chocolate. Blaine, how you doing?

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

Marvin Cash: As always, just, uh, trying to stay out of trouble and, uh, you know, big news at the end of 2023. And, uh, 2024 is going to be a big year for the chocolate factory.

Blane Chocklett: It absolutely is. Mandev, uh, the dream come true. Super excited about this. Um, it's really 30 plus years in the making. Um, as everybody knows now. Finally launched the chocolate factory. I, um, had an opportunity to be in full control over my brand and my flies and work directly with, uh, my tires. It's, uh, something I've always wanted, and it's, um. You know, it's a big part of my life is always seeing fish and how they react positively and negatively, what you throw at them, and understanding fish behavior. I get to be able to design flies for all these years, 30 plus years. I've always. My dream was, even though I've had flies out on the market, um, 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 mean, I know how important it's been for you. I mean, because you spend hundreds of days a year on the water and, um, you know, your flies are involved to tide, to be able to bring that to, I hate to say the average fly fishing angler, but, you know, basically, the consumer is a really big deal.

Blane Chocklett: It's a huge deal, man. Um, and that is. I mean, that's kind of going back to a little bit of what I was, uh, talking about here.

Marvin Cash: Um.

Blane Chocklett: 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. Um, that's invaluable. You can't reproduce that without blood, sweat and tears and being on the water and taking your beatings and whatnot. And. And that's how I've been able to design these flies all these years, by being on the water, sweating, um, freezing to death, getting soaked by cold rain or being out in the snow. I mean, it. Or ice. Actually been in a lot of ice storms while I've been fishing as well. And there's been days where I'm m. You know, bailing the boat, drift boat or whatever, and trying to keep that thing from sinking and uh, you know, just, you cannot, you can't make up for that and there's no, there's no hiding it and there, you can't fake it. And to be able to have the quality flies I've always wanted and having the trust and someone that I can know, I can rely on and to make sure that what I believe in and what my uh, minds, eyes, teas 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. And um, that's what the chocolate factory is all about. And it's taken me 30 years to get to this point, but um, I think it's going to be worth it in the end. And I'm getting on the backside of my career now and um, 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 and that's why you're seeing what you see in the next months and years leading into this, uh, or moving forward, you're going to see the care and the attention to detail. Because I believe uh, 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. And that was my job, by being on the water all these years, you know, and being able to relay that to my tires and having meetings sometimes twice a day, um, and just making sure that we go back and forth with my designs and my samples that I receive and you know, tweak this, this isn't right. Um, and then it goes back to choosing the materials, the hooks that we're using. I'm partnering with Arx, which is a huge deal to me too, and you know, just making sure we have the best quality hooks that we can use. That's, that's a, and obviously the materials too. And um, as we all know from the past couple years, it's been not an easy thing to get the right materials and I, you know, production and the whole, everything has been kind of uh, up in the air and you know, for us to be able to pull this off, I uh, could not be more excited, man, I really can. And we, I'm sure we'll be talking about this, we move forward with some of these podcasts but I just wanted everybody to know what really goes into this chocolate 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. The flies are going to be better than I can make them. If not as good, they're going to be better. And the first flies that hit the market so far, 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 that why I've been talking about it like this and why, um, I originally called these flies game changers, you know, and.

Marvin Cash: 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 know, you don't have to be on the water to be a good fly tire, but you have to be on the water to be a good fly designer because the whole purpose of that is solving fishing problems 100%.

Blane Chocklett: Uh, there's a lot of excellent, um, custom tires out there that's doing my flies and they're doing a great job at it and uh, not taking anything away from them. They uh, uh, they've been doing it for years and uh, uh, that's kind of the way I wanted this to be is, but these be directly me in, in my flies and my dream. And it does take that, it takes, it takes that knowledge and it takes someone that put it, you know, like I said earlier, blood, sweat and tears and you know, I designed them so nobody knows to fly better than me, right. So, um, for me to be able to directly put these, uh, put the input into them towards and that's, 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 tweak, 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, ass. Um, and you do you have to be able to do it to be a designer. For me, it was always on, ah, Bob Popovix, 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. And you cannot create a new pattern without being on the water and solving a true problem. Um, um, and all these flies that I've created all these years, and I've created a lot of bad ones. I mean, I've. I've been on. I've been on the vice 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? And 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 had that success. And 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. A new fly, a new great pattern, uh, an iconic pattern like beef flies or surf candies or clousers or deceivers without putting that time in on the water and understanding fish behavior. And that's what makes a great design or designer, by taking those lumps and beatings and. And, uh, 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 know, you've got a very deliberate rollout on the flies, and it's really kind of like you're making fine wine. Right. So, you know, your initial launch, you have, I don't know, is. What is it? Is it four retail outlets in addition to yourself?

Blane Chocklett: Yeah, I have, um, four initially because we have a small team that we have to build, and it's going to take a long time to train new tires. And, um, I want it start slow, and 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, um, the Fishhawk in Atlanta, um, tco fly shopping up in Pennsylvania. Um, we're working with Feathercraft. Um, and we're working with saltwater edge right now and talked 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, and that's truck. And family has always been a huge part of my life. And, you know, um, that is who I am, and those that know me know that. And I think for me, it was very important to have a small knit community that was all in on, um, what I've been trying to do all these years. And these, I consider these shops and are retailers family to me. And 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, not to be funny about it, but it's true. That's, that's what I want to do. I want to moving forward uh, in my life, you know, moving away from guiding. I want to do more in conservation. I uh, want to do more in design and leave a mark and that way make the, make the uh, fishing and fly fishing industry better than what it was. Ah, for me um, and do my part on that. And 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. And I'm not going to compromise the quality of these flies because it's going to their custom basically it's not mass even though we're going to have higher volumes of flies being release a lot more than I said a lot of these great custom tires could do there. But they're one person. Right. But we're going to have 20 of me doing these daily. Right. And um. Then. But as you know, any attire knows it's tied. These flies, it takes a long time to get good at them. So the tension to detail is going to matter. And even the packaging. I want to make sure that the flies, when they leave my team that they show up me just like they left them and then hit the retailers and the consumers just like they left the vice. And the only way you could do that is have the packaging that the flies are coming in and we're being very conscious about the environment. And uh, you know, 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 tie in materials and whatnot and all plastic, you know, and working with Yeti and Patagonia and Costa and, and that's what we're doing on a daily basis, just 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. And I uh, feel like we're, we're going to try to be leaders in the industry and, and this is one way of doing that. Not only delivering the best lives in the world, but they also deliver them in a way that it doesn't hurt the environment and it's sustainable and recyclable.

Marvin Cash: Yeah, it's super cool. And I know your first launch were the jerk changers. Are you able to share with us what folks should expect to, uh, see coming out next from the chocolate factory?

Blane Chocklett: Absolutely, yeah. Um, we have my larger flies, which I've always called the hybrids, because, um, just the materials that go into the big hybrids, from six to basically close to twelve inch flies and everything in between, um, the bigger baits, you know, the big predatory fish that feed on them. Um, 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. And we've searched different areas within the marketplace to find these materials to make the casting and make the fit flies look more realistic. So the hybrids are a combination of materials that allows us to have that larger profile, that swim ability that we want, but also make it castable. And that's what the hybrid is all about. Realism, swim ability and castability. And that's, to me, that's kind of been the. Like you said earlier, it was a problem I was trying to solve years ago. And 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. And so that's one of the next flies that would be hitting the market. And then obviously, to me, the most important, uh, fly would be the finesse flies. And the finesse flies are just a way of me describing them that. That clear water, super spooky fish. Um, the most discriminating of fish. I'd called him finesse because of that, because they're. These are ultra realistic. They look, act and swim like the real thing. And that's what a game changer should be. It's a swim bait, foul fly, and it does all those things that you want. But a lot of fish in super clear water, or fishers, fished, uh, 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. Map the hat. And this is a match the hatch type of fly. And you're going to see, you're going to steep lies, look exactly like a shad, exactly like this and that. And 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. You know, silver, um, sides, blast minnows, um, herring, you name it. Uh, for different types of fishing conditions and, you know, um, that's kind of the. Kind of the route I want to go. And, you know, people traveling all over the world, there's different baits and different scenarios that happen in those places and I'm going to make sure that we can cover those spots. And, you know, working directly with dealers and myself and I've got plans to do some things in the future with, with, directly with my, my customers and my support group, um, which we can. I'm sure, Marvin, you and I will talk about that leading into the 2024 season. You know, um, but these, this whole thing is going to be a pretty cool deal. It's, you know, like I said, it's 30 years of looking at the industry and looking at the fish and looking at fly designs and whatnot and feel like I've been there and seen a lot of different things. And I feel like the way I'm going to approach this is going to be a big deal. And the flies and going from the hybrids and then to these finesse changers and all the other flies that I'm going to be launching and a lot of new patterns that I haven't talked about yet that's going to be in the new book. So, um, im super excited about that. And I know the dealers ive shown and friends have shown are really excited about what the worlds 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 for folks to kind of, you know, youve got your own social, uh, media channel. I know you like Instagram, but youve also created a new Instagram channel, uh, for the chocolate factory, right?

Blane Chocklett: Yes. Yeah, the chocolate Factory. The chocolate factory on Instagram. Please go check that out. Like it? Follow it. Um, because that's where you're going to find the release of new products and whatnot and, um, videos, hype reels, just, um, information going forward on the business, um, and working on a new website, uh, for all that. And the current website that we have, it's Blaine chocolate fishing. Right. Um, you could check it out there, too, but we're going to have a lot more stuff coming here as soon as I get off, uh, 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 and writing out packaging and all that. You know, every package that you get a virus, it's going to have a story about the Flydenne 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. Um, so all that stuff's been thought out, and 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 over the past 30 plus years of, uh, being in the fly fishing industry.

Marvin Cash: I know some of that is kind of taking you kind of off the traditional show circuit, but I do know, um, because I'll see you up there is, ah, you will be at Schultze's bobbin in the hood. I think it's the first weekend in February. Uh, do you have any other engagements that you want to let folks know about?

Blane Chocklett: Yeah, I'm going to be at Saltwater, Ed, uh, I think, uh, the weekend of the 19th, 2020 1st. Um, he's having a very similar event up there, uh, Peter Jenkins in the saltwater edge in Rhode island. Um, great shop. Um, they've been around for a long time. He's a partner with me and Asga, as far as us trying to help them help the fisheries on the east coast and gulf coast areas. Um, so Peter and I have been kind of working together past year and a half on conservation side, but he also became a partner with the chocolate factory, and he saw what Schultz was doing with Bob in the hood, decided to bring back something, uh, he used to do years ago, and, uh, doing this big tide event on that Saturday and doing some private classes on Sunday, I believe. Uh, so I'm excited about that. Um, and a couple of the other dealers I'm working with, we've been talking about, uh, me coming and visiting, doing some stuff there. And as we do more launches, you'll see. You'll see me posting things like that. It's another reason to follow the chocolate factory on Instagram and whatnot, um, to be. See what we're going to be doing and where I'm going to be. And, um, I'm going to be traveling a lot over the spring, heading out west, um, doing a tour of California, then Washington and Oregon, and then I'll be in the keys a little bit. We're going to be a little bit everywhere here. You know, it's going to be a busy 2024 for me, for sure. Yeah.

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

Blane Chocklett: Yeah, that's right.

Marvin Cash: So, uh, you know, you briefly mentioned your work at ASGa, um, with Peter. Um, and I know, we recently, I don't know, gosh, within the last, I don't know, week to ten days, uh, the comment period on addendum two just closes there. Anything you want to share, uh, on the striper front or any other, 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, um, public announcements with people on how important it is to take it five minutes when, 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, there's smoke, and where there's smoke, there's a fire. And there are a lot of these fisheries and fish are not doing well. You know, a lot of people are saying, well, been the best striper season stripers fish in the past couple years in certain areas and up and down the east coast. Well, especially specifically in New Jersey, New York, and, um, up in cape codding spots. But if you, if you step back and really look at it, you're not seeing. You're not seeing recruitment. And we've had very poor recruitment in the Chesapeake Bay for a long time, and Chesapeake was the backbone of the striper population, and we're just not getting. We're not getting smaller fits. The spawns have been terrible. And 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. Um, and I saw that here in my, in my home waters, um, where I was catching all these big ball mouth for a long time and just not getting a lot of, lot of numbers, you know, and, um, those are warning signs, you know, if you're not getting small fish and all you're getting is these year classes that are left, it's going to take a very big spawn and a very good spawn. And we haven't had those conditions for many years now. And, um, 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. And we tried to put it in place. Um, 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 the fish that are moving out. Right. So that's why we did that. Addendum two. And we're still fighting to make sure that we can change certain, certain, uh, laws that are already in place and whatnot, to make sure that, um, everybody is being treated fairly, you know, commercially and recreational anglers. I mean, recreational anglers are a big part of the problem. Um, you know, so people a lot of times think that Asghead not doing, they're kind of like looking at commercial side of things, not us. And we're always, we're actually trying to police what us as recreational anglers are doing because we're, we're the bigger problem in this. And a lot of times, and you'll see it, you'll see the dock shots, whether it be for stripers or down specifically in Louisiana, at which I went down with AsGa to be in front of their house committee on the redfish down there. And, um, it's just ridiculous to think that you could keep killing all these big numbers of fish and then a brood fish, too, and think that these, it's going to be, stay sustainable, you know, uh, the fisheries are getting smaller, not bigger, you know, and it's. I've seen that, and that's why I joined Asga. And it's important to me to not only I've made, so I've made money, and I've made money off of fish for 30 plus years. It's important, 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, um, I definitely don't want to see them worse. And 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 them stories about, well, you should have seen this and that, you know. Um, and that's important. And, you know, that's part of that addendum, too. And, you know, 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. Um, we were a little disappointed in the original, um, decision, uh, that they made, but we continue to fight and we're getting some headway on some changes there still. So it's, uh, Tony, who's director there, and kind of my coach and kind of tells us where to be and gives us the pep talks. I mean, he just taught, he tells me all the time. It's not about victories. It's just about, uh, getting a first down. And that's, that's kind of what kind of. Unfortunately, that's what conservation is all about, is just trying to get a first down and eventually getting a touchdown and hopefully we win in the end, but it's just all about getting the next, you know, it's a three, three yards in a cloud of dust, you know what I mean? So it's kind of what we're doing. It's been an eye opener and very disappointing, to be honest. Um, 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 to be to make good decisions. And 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, uh, we're going to keep fighting and it's very important that people that do listen to this. If we put something out there, we really need you to do it and you need to tell everybody, you know, because the more support we get, and I've seen it, the more support we get, the, the harder it makes for those that, uh, 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 promise you that.

Marvin Cash: Yeah. And I think it's an important thing too, and you kind of touched on it is, you know, the, the people that are doing this every day, they're not a lot of them and they don't have all the financial resources they need. And so, you know, it's really important when you see those call to actions and, you know, I know Asga, just like tu and other groups, they make it pretty easy for you to basically, you know, add your name to the call. There's almost always a post, but, you know, spend that little bit of time, right. Because you're helping, you know, people that, you know, to your point, like, you know, you go to work every day and you don't generally get a touchdown and um, you know, it's um, you know, winning a football game, uh, the old school NFC east way, uh, three yards in a cloud of dust is a long haul, right?

Blane Chocklett: It is. And I'm in it for the long haul. And everybody that's part of the ASGa crew is. And working countless hours. I mean, I know Tony works 16, 18 hours, almost 18 hours every day, man. And I don't know how he does it, but I know, I know he needs all the help he can get. And I know we do, too, as anglers. And it really, I mean, they make it, um, Cody who puts all this stuff, helps put all this stuff together on social media. It literally, we make it as easy as possible. Click the link, put, you know, 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, you know, I, you know, as we kind of wind down, you know, 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, uh, appreciate it, dude. It has. It's been a long row and, you know, I've had your support and being able to talk to you for hours at a time, kind of kicking ideas and you giving me good suggestions, man. It's. 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, uh, you know, doing the articulate fly and being around the industry is to, uh, become friends with you and other folks. And I think it's great. And, you know, 2024 is going to be a great year, and I want to wish everybody a happy new year. Happy new year, Blaine.

Blane Chocklett: Thanks. You, too, man. Hey, everybody go look to them. Marvin, you know, he's. He's trying to do something special in the industry, if you haven't checked it out, to 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. Help, help me like, you know, he helped you like, he's helped me. So go. Go listen to what he's got to say. Smart. He's much smarter than I am.

Marvin Cash: That's not true. We just have different talents, that's all. Yeah, it's all. I super appreciate that. And everybody, you know, uh, look forward to, you know, touching base, uh, with you guys on the show, circuitous. Uh, Blaine, I know we'll be talking before then, but I'm looking forward to, uh, hanging out with you in Michigan in February with Schultzy.

Blane Chocklett: Yeah, man, me, too. And, uh, happy 2024 to you and everybody else.

Marvin Cash: Tight lines, everybody.