S6, Ep 101: The Chocklett Factory: Fly Fishing Travels, Conservation and New Ventures
In this episode of The Articulate Fly, host Marvin Cash catches up with Blane Chocklett for another segment of The Chocklett Factory. Blane shares his whirlwind travel experiences, from visiting friends and fishing in Washington and Oregon to collaborating on a significant film project about Lefty Kreh with Flip Pallot. Blane discusses the evolving fisheries in the Pacific Northwest and the importance of sustainable practices, emphasizing his lifelong focus on warm water fisheries.
Blane also highlights his involvement with the American Saltwater Guides Association (ASGA), detailing their efforts in fish tagging programs and symposiums to promote healthy fisheries. He mentions upcoming events, including a symposium in Louisiana and a multi-species tournament in Maine, all aimed at supporting ASGA's mission.
The conversation shifts to the exciting developments at The Chocklett Factory, Blane's own company. He talks about the launch of new products like fly tying brushes and shanks, and the importance of quality and integrity in his design process. Blane expresses his gratitude for the support from his dealer network and outlines plans for upcoming classes and events, including a musky class with Mad River Outfitters and a smallmouth school with Schultz Outfitters.
Blane wraps up by sharing his love for family time, grilling and football and hints at more exciting projects and travels in the near future. Don't miss this episode packed with fishing insights and industry updates.
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Speaker:
Marvin: Hey folks, it's Marvin Cash, the host of the Articulate Fly.
Speaker:
Marvin: We're back with another chocolate factory with the man himself,
Speaker:
Marvin: Blaine Chocolate. Blaine, how are you?
Speaker:
Blane: I'm good, man. How are you doing?
Speaker:
Marvin: I'm just trying to stay out of trouble. You know, it's kind of funny.
Speaker:
Marvin: I don't think you've been in Blue Ridge for more than two weeks in the last three months.
Speaker:
Blane: No, I haven't, man. I've been on the road literally since the middle of February.
Speaker:
Blane: I bet I haven't been home. four weeks since February.
Speaker:
Blane: It's been a long, long traveling year, but it's been great.
Speaker:
Blane: It's been something I've needed to do with the whole chocolate factory and me
Speaker:
Blane: not guiding as much anymore.
Speaker:
Blane: It's freed me up to do a lot of the things I've been wanting to do.
Speaker:
Blane: One, go visit friends I haven't seen or we've been talking about fishing together.
Speaker:
Blane: One of those things is heading out west out to Washington and Oregon and got
Speaker:
Blane: to see Dave McCoy and we did a muskie school out there.
Speaker:
Blane: They have a really good tiger muskie fishery. So it was, you know,
Speaker:
Blane: with everything going on with here, like I told you in the past,
Speaker:
Blane: the fisheries are just changing and they're not what I grew up guiding on.
Speaker:
Blane: And I made a decision early on in my fly fishing career back in the 90s that
Speaker:
Blane: I was going to focus more on warm water fisheries.
Speaker:
Blane: And unfortunately, the Upper Pacific Northwest, they're in a position where
Speaker:
Blane: they're focusing on that now because their cold water fisheries are not doing well.
Speaker:
Blane: And they're trying to make sure that they have a sustainable fishery in the
Speaker:
Blane: future. So they're looking at starting to promote smallmouth bass.
Speaker:
Blane: They're warm water fisheries there. and they said it'd be better to call than
Speaker:
Blane: me because that's kind of been my bread and butter for my entire career.
Speaker:
Blane: So it was really nice meeting people out there, finally getting up in that part
Speaker:
Blane: of the world and fishing and seeing the tiger muskie fisheries that they have, which are fantastic.
Speaker:
Blane: So anybody out there that's been wanting to go to the Pacific Northwest,
Speaker:
Blane: I would highly recommend going and seeing.
Speaker:
Blane: What they have to offer because there's a bunch of tiger muskies,
Speaker:
Blane: He's beautiful, obviously proficient at the base of some of those beautiful
Speaker:
Blane: mountains that they have out there and Mount Rainier and some of the other ones.
Speaker:
Blane: And just, I don't think there's another place in the country you could see that
Speaker:
Blane: kind of scenery. Pretty, pretty amazing.
Speaker:
Blane: I got to Fish Oregon with a buddy there and did a shot demo and all that. And that was a good time.
Speaker:
Blane: And I was down in Florida a couple times.
Speaker:
Blane: Got to see Flip and we're doing a little short film. Well, it's not a short
Speaker:
Blane: film. It's a pretty big, significant film on Lefty.
Speaker:
Blane: And there's going to be more coming out on that. But Fly Fisherman and the company
Speaker:
Blane: that owns Fly Fisherman is going to be putting that on.
Speaker:
Blane: And Jay Nichols has all this video content that he did with Lefty.
Speaker:
Blane: And of course, who better to narrate it and tell that story than Flip?
Speaker:
Blane: So Jay and I went down there in March and spent a week with Flip and got a bunch
Speaker:
Blane: of really good stuff there.
Speaker:
Blane: So I'm excited about seeing that come to fruition because nobody deserves the
Speaker:
Blane: recognition and to tell his story more than Lefty did.
Speaker:
Blane: I mean, I think everybody that's in the fly community owes Lefty really everything
Speaker:
Blane: that they've been able to do in this sport because Lefty was the beacon.
Speaker:
Blane: It's like Flip says, Lefty was our internet before we had it,
Speaker:
Blane: which I think is a really cool way to say who Lefty really was Because if he
Speaker:
Blane: saw something, he was able to communicate it with people all over the world.
Speaker:
Blane: And nobody did it better than he did.
Speaker:
Blane: So I'm super excited about that one. So stay tuned for that.
Speaker:
Blane: Hopefully that'll come out here in the next year or two.
Speaker:
Marvin: Yeah, that's pretty neat. And then I know you've been doing some stuff with ASGA too.
Speaker:
Blane: Yeah, so doing a lot with ASGA. Yeah, I just had a meeting with them here just
Speaker:
Blane: before we got on here to do this.
Speaker:
Blane: So this can lead into some stuff later, but the chocolate factory,
Speaker:
Blane: we're going to do some stuff with ASGA, do some special runoffs of flies specific
Speaker:
Blane: to help raise money for ASGA projects.
Speaker:
Blane: And if you don't know who that is and what they do, it's American Saltwater
Speaker:
Blane: Guides Association, and they're the ones that get the science for the policymakers
Speaker:
Blane: to make sure our fisheries are healthy.
Speaker:
Blane: So we're doing tagging programs and we're doing symposiums and we're getting
Speaker:
Blane: ready to do one in September in Louisiana.
Speaker:
Blane: They're doing one up in, I think, the weekend before.
Speaker:
Blane: They're doing one up in Cape Cod for false albacore.
Speaker:
Blane: And we found out so much research by...
Speaker:
Blane: Getting funding and stuff we've put tags in them and pit tags and we were able
Speaker:
Blane: to do some telemetry where we found out that uh false albacore are all connected
Speaker:
Blane: the ones that are up in maine are.
Speaker:
Blane: Uh the northeast are also the same fish that are in
Speaker:
Blane: north carolina and florida and even into the gulf so we've
Speaker:
Blane: tagged fish up in cape cod and they you
Speaker:
Blane: know they'll go by buoys or wherever or get recaptured and
Speaker:
Blane: we're finding the same fish in the gulf so for
Speaker:
Blane: those that think that they were all separate fish or not and they've also done
Speaker:
Blane: dna samples that shows that these fish are also connected that
Speaker:
Blane: they're out they all have the same type of dna that means they all spawn in
Speaker:
Blane: the same area which is very interesting and that's why.
Speaker:
Blane: It's very important to have this this stuff
Speaker:
Blane: done because false albacore as much fun
Speaker:
Blane: as they are to fly anglers specifically they're looked
Speaker:
Blane: at as trash fish in the conventional world and they
Speaker:
Blane: don't have regulations on them anywhere so it's very important
Speaker:
Blane: for us to make sure that these fish are protected um that
Speaker:
Blane: we where we you know they're important to the pelagic
Speaker:
Blane: fish marlin and and you know all the giant
Speaker:
Blane: fish out there tunas they eat those and they
Speaker:
Blane: need those fish to to survive so not only
Speaker:
Blane: are they important to us as flying words but they're very important to
Speaker:
Blane: the the giant predators out in the out in
Speaker:
Blane: the big blue sea that uh predate on them so we
Speaker:
Blane: got to make sure that that fishery stays healthy we're doing
Speaker:
Blane: the same type of tagging program for cobia same tagging
Speaker:
Blane: program for um for jacks jacks
Speaker:
Blane: are not protected anywhere so we're trying to get um jacks new
Speaker:
Blane: regulations on jacks all over the all over
Speaker:
Blane: the north america from the gulf to the east
Speaker:
Blane: coast and uh so we're getting ready to do a film on that we're doing a symposium
Speaker:
Blane: in louisiana uh coming up mid to late september I'm also heading up to see my
Speaker:
Blane: buddy Tim Adams that owns Oxbow Farms and they're doing an all species tournament
Speaker:
Blane: up there and the funds go to.
Speaker:
Blane: Asga um so it's a i've never
Speaker:
Blane: been to maine so this will be my first trip up there see a
Speaker:
Blane: bunch of buddies i'm looking forward to that that's mid
Speaker:
Blane: september so i'm always on
Speaker:
Blane: the move but i'm also heading out to uh um in october to see one of my dealers
Speaker:
Blane: north 40 also house of flies they're they're putting on a dealer summit and
Speaker:
Blane: they became one of the chocolate factory dealers uh this past summer and they've been really great.
Speaker:
Blane: So my opportunity to meet all their employees and kind of teach their managers
Speaker:
Blane: and stuff all about the Chakra factory and all about my flies and designs.
Speaker:
Blane: And so they're more educated to their customer base out there.
Speaker:
Blane: So yeah, it's definitely not letting the grass grow under my feet this year, you know.
Speaker:
Marvin: Yeah, you may have platinum preferred status on Delta Airlines before it's all
Speaker:
Marvin: said and done. And, you know, I know with all that travel, you've also got some
Speaker:
Marvin: really cool announcements of some stuff that's coming out soon from the Chocolate Factory, too.
Speaker:
Blane: Yeah, I do. I know a lot of my friends and followers know this,
Speaker:
Blane: but there's a lot of people that don't realize.
Speaker:
Blane: Last July, I left Lyman Fishing Company and started my own company called the Chocolate Factory.
Speaker:
Blane: And it's been really an amazing experience to finally over 30 some years in
Speaker:
Blane: the industry to be able to have my own company and have a factory and working
Speaker:
Blane: directly with the people tying my
Speaker:
Blane: flies to know that we all have the same vision and we all have the same,
Speaker:
Blane: I guess, background where we understand what it takes to make these flies the way they should be.
Speaker:
Blane: And integrity to make sure that we put out stuff that's my designs.
Speaker:
Blane: I've fished it and know what it is and know how it's supposed to work and know
Speaker:
Blane: what the fish want to see because we've done the research and we've fished it, we've lived it.
Speaker:
Blane: And it's very important to me to make sure that the flies that I design hit
Speaker:
Blane: the market the way that my clients get to see these flies work on a daily basis
Speaker:
Blane: in my boat over the years.
Speaker:
Blane: And uh so that that's been
Speaker:
Blane: great and you know we're constantly tweaking things
Speaker:
Blane: and things are coming and um we finally
Speaker:
Blane: have the brushes getting ready to hit the market here in the next couple weeks
Speaker:
Blane: um which has been a long time goal of mine too with uh for years i've been wanting
Speaker:
Blane: to you know i've made my own brushes and stuff and it's just really nice to
Speaker:
Blane: finally have that come um also through all the shank designs that I've created over the years.
Speaker:
Blane: Um, they're finally going to come out the way I want them to be,
Speaker:
Blane: to, um, and be tested, make sure they, they do what they're supposed to do. Um, and.
Speaker:
Blane: Have the structure and and they're they're not going to be compromised in any
Speaker:
Blane: way it's very important to make
Speaker:
Blane: sure that happens too and um we want to we just want to make sure that,
Speaker:
Blane: you know what we do is going to be top-notch and i think i think the end result
Speaker:
Blane: and the people that's received and bought our flies so far are seeing that the
Speaker:
Blane: quality is as good as it could ever be or as good as i could ever make them
Speaker:
Blane: and you know there's been some hiccups down the you know,
Speaker:
Blane: during this whole process, because again,
Speaker:
Blane: I mean, we started this process late last summer.
Speaker:
Blane: I mean, I think our first flosser delivered, you know, the very end of 2023, the beginning of 24.
Speaker:
Blane: And, you know, it's, you know, the whole environment has been interesting.
Speaker:
Blane: It's a learning curve. You know, I've never dealt with the whole manufacturing and stuff overseas.
Speaker:
Blane: Overseas so um it's it's a time difference with me and my factory it's 12 hours so my meetings and,
Speaker:
Blane: zoom meetings or whatnot are usually like four or five o'clock in the morning
Speaker:
Blane: or 10 or 11 o'clock 12 o'clock at night you know so it's it's it's long days
Speaker:
Blane: but it's it's worth it because we're all on the same page we all the same goals
Speaker:
Blane: and we all all do what we do and um you know i was able.
Speaker:
Blane: Uh you know working with this factory um we
Speaker:
Blane: were able to you know give them fly rods from tfo and
Speaker:
Blane: fly lines from sa and all of our tires
Speaker:
Blane: fly or i've learned how to fly fish or catching fish on game changer flies over
Speaker:
Blane: there and that's important to me you know it's a family and i've always been
Speaker:
Blane: family oriented and i want every every company i work with i feel like we're
Speaker:
Blane: family and that's It's not going to be any different with the chocolate factory
Speaker:
Blane: and the chocolate factory dealers.
Speaker:
Blane: So stay tuned for a lot more stuff that's coming down the pipe.
Speaker:
Blane: I'm working on some VIP stuff with my customers. So stay tuned for that, too.
Speaker:
Blane: It's going to be a really interesting late to 2024 and really looking forward
Speaker:
Blane: to 2025 with, you know, new flies that are coming out and stuff I've been testing.
Speaker:
Blane: And I can't thank my small dealer network enough, like Mad River Outfitters,
Speaker:
Blane: Schultz Outfitters, TCO, Saltwater Edge, Fishhawk, Feathercraft, Hatch.
Speaker:
Blane: And we're going to add another flash up in Florida here soon.
Speaker:
Blane: And, you know, like I said, we added the North 40 and house supplies earlier this summer.
Speaker:
Blane: So it's it's uh it's growing man and it's uh as you know and you've kind of
Speaker:
Blane: been with me through this whole process it's uh we've come a long ways in a
Speaker:
Blane: very short period of time and uh couldn't be more excited about it you know
Speaker:
Blane: i can control everything and i know what i'm doing is the way it should be done yeah.
Speaker:
Marvin: It's got to be you know helpful to you know not only are the people tying your
Speaker:
Marvin: flies kind of fishing and learning to fish but the people that own that company
Speaker:
Marvin: are fishermen And that's got to really help the design process.
Speaker:
Blane: Oh, it's everything. If you don't fish, you don't know what the fly should do.
Speaker:
Blane: You don't know how it should act.
Speaker:
Blane: So how are you going to have any input on if it's right or wrong?
Speaker:
Blane: So you can't. So you have to have people that know what they're doing to put
Speaker:
Blane: out the product that needs to be put out, period.
Speaker:
Blane: And that's why I'm very happy with where I am right now. And it's going to just get better and better.
Speaker:
Marvin: Yeah, that's really neat. And so folks, remember, if you've seen Blaine's social
Speaker:
Marvin: media where he talks about, are you fishing real chocolate?
Speaker:
Marvin: You know, the only place to get those flies are from Blaine's,
Speaker:
Marvin: uh, online store or from those, you know, handful of dealers he mentioned.
Speaker:
Marvin: So, you know, check those out and, you know, it's funny, um,
Speaker:
Marvin: you know, you're, uh, you're running around.
Speaker:
Marvin: I know you've got some upcoming events, uh, in schools and stuff sliding into 2024, 2025.
Speaker:
Blane: Yeah, I do. Um, and I hope I didn't want to leave any of my dealers out.
Speaker:
Blane: I I think I missed in the fishhawk.
Speaker:
Blane: I hope I did. Make it sure I did. I didn't want to leave anybody out.
Speaker:
Blane: But, yeah, so we are doing some classes. Mad River, we're doing our second muskie
Speaker:
Blane: class coming up here, I think, beginning or middle of the winter in 2025.
Speaker:
Blane: So I'm really looking forward to that.
Speaker:
Blane: Got a great place here in Roanoke, Virginia, that we're going to be doing a
Speaker:
Blane: big mansion where everybody's going to be able to stay and we're going to do
Speaker:
Blane: the class. And then we're going to end up doing a couple of days guided trips with that.
Speaker:
Blane: And it's just going to be a great experience for everybody because I'm going
Speaker:
Blane: to give them my 30 years to.
Speaker:
Blane: Knowing what to do when and how um choosing the right lines for the right situations right flies,
Speaker:
Blane: uh seasonal changes everything you know what muskies want how how they live
Speaker:
Blane: where they are all those things we're gonna do that and it's gonna be a i think
Speaker:
Blane: it's gonna be a great experience you know you can't control the weather can't
Speaker:
Blane: control the water but what you can do is control,
Speaker:
Blane: your knowledge and and how you treat the people that come and make sure we have
Speaker:
Blane: a good time and And just hopefully when they leave, they feel like that they've
Speaker:
Blane: learned a whole lot about a fish, a fish of 10,000 casts.
Speaker:
Blane: And I feel like I've got a lot to offer in that. And I look forward to working
Speaker:
Blane: with Mad River in the future.
Speaker:
Blane: And we're also working with Virginia Trophy Guides, and they're helping out
Speaker:
Blane: with it as the guides for the other couple days, along with myself.
Speaker:
Blane: So I think it you know if you're looking
Speaker:
Blane: for a for a I guess something to do this winter and looking for a challenge
Speaker:
Blane: and looking to try to catch a fish of a lifetime you know I think this would
Speaker:
Blane: be a great opportunity to see what it's all about because if you can learn musty
Speaker:
Blane: fish and there's not a fish in anywhere,
Speaker:
Blane: in the world that you can't catch that's honestly believe that because these
Speaker:
Blane: fish that they are super demanding, as you know, Marvin,
Speaker:
Blane: not only mentally, but physically.
Speaker:
Blane: So musty fishing's not for the faint of heart, that's for sure.
Speaker:
Marvin: Yeah, I would agree with that. And where can folks find more information on
Speaker:
Marvin: the classes and all that kind of good stuff?
Speaker:
Blane: Yeah, they could pay attention to my social network, Virginia Trophy Guide's
Speaker:
Blane: social network, obviously Mad River's.
Speaker:
Blane: They can find everything on their website and their social media pages,
Speaker:
Blane: Facebook and Instagram.
Speaker:
Blane: And Mad River also has an unbelievable YouTube page, too, that they do a really
Speaker:
Blane: good job on, Brian Fleshing.
Speaker:
Blane: So Mad River Outfitters definitely want to go check that out.
Speaker:
Blane: And I'm also working on Smallmouth School for the spring with another good buddy
Speaker:
Blane: of mine, Schultz Outfitters.
Speaker:
Blane: So pay attention to that in the future. We're kind of working out the details.
Speaker:
Blane: So hopefully we can make that happen here early spring.
Speaker:
Blane: And yeah, you know, Smallmouth Bass has been a big part of my life too.
Speaker:
Blane: And I think, you know, Schultz, he's obviously the Smallmouth guy up in the Midwest.
Speaker:
Blane: And that's what he's known for. He's a good buddy and a very good dealer at the chocolate factory.
Speaker:
Blane: So if we can make this work out, I think it'll be a really good treat because
Speaker:
Blane: smallmouth bass are one of the best game fish there is that we have in this country.
Speaker:
Blane: And they're readily available to a lot of people in this country.
Speaker:
Blane: So I think there's a lot of opportunities there.
Speaker:
Blane: And specifically, we've targeted the biggest of the big. So that's what this
Speaker:
Blane: class is going to be focused on is learning and understanding big,
Speaker:
Blane: smallmouth bass and how to target them throughout the seasons.
Speaker:
Blane: So stay tuned for that one. We've got a little bit of a time crunch.
Speaker:
Blane: I'm trying to figure out the site dates with Schultz and my schedules and Virginia
Speaker:
Blane: Trophy schedules, but we're going to make that happen, pretty sure.
Speaker:
Marvin: Very, very cool. So with all this running around, have you been able to get
Speaker:
Marvin: any Traeger and Corona drinking in? No.
Speaker:
Blane: Okay. Yeah. Yeah, I have, you know, I've, uh, a big thing I've been doing,
Speaker:
Blane: uh, kind of my home away from home is, um, here in Virginia,
Speaker:
Blane: it's the Virginia coast.
Speaker:
Blane: And I was able to do some tagging for Cobia, um, and doing some triggering and
Speaker:
Blane: some, uh, Chesapeake Bay, uh, blue crabs and doing crab picking and crab cakes.
Speaker:
Blane: That's been a lot of fun, but yeah, here this next
Speaker:
Blane: couple of weeks i'm spending things tight because
Speaker:
Blane: i'm working closely with the factory and
Speaker:
Blane: coming out with the new products and designs and
Speaker:
Blane: all that kind of stuff so i'm staying here definitely
Speaker:
Blane: gonna be now the football season's coming
Speaker:
Blane: in looking forward to um the opening
Speaker:
Blane: weekend of college football again i definitely barbecue
Speaker:
Blane: all day and probably toss the plows with
Speaker:
Blane: tyler and you know the next day we're probably going to go do a float for the
Speaker:
Blane: small amount uh while we can still get them on top here so we're looking forward
Speaker:
Blane: to doing some hanging out with family for a while for sure and then i hit the
Speaker:
Blane: road again uh pretty hard here in about a couple weeks so,
Speaker:
Blane: um yeah you know it's all about family time and uh chilling and grilling you know yeah it sounds.
Speaker:
Marvin: Like uh probably barbecue wings corona and virginia tech football right.
Speaker:
Blane: Yeah yeah for sure Sure. That's the plan.
Speaker:
Marvin: Yeah. Well, listen, folks, as I always say, yote yourself to get out there and
Speaker:
Marvin: catch a few. Tight lines, everybody. Tight lines, Blaine.
Speaker:
Blane: Thanks. You too.
Blane Chocklett
Guide | Designer | Author
Blane grew up fishing the small mountain streams near his home in Blue Ridge, Virginia. As a youngster, he started a guiding service and, in the late 90s, opened Blue Ridge Fly Fishers in Roanoke, Virginia. Blane has worked for years to create patterns that have all the intricate nuances of flies with the strike-generating action of conventional lures. The Chocklett Factory currently produces many of his most popular patterns.
A decade ago, Blane returned to the river where he now owns and operates his guide service specializing in float trips for musky, smallmouth bass, stripers, trout and many other species. Blane also hosts trips internationally and in the United States.
Blane is the Southeastern Field Editor for Fly Fishermen. He is an advisor or brand ambassador for many of the industry’s top brands: Patagonia, Temple Fork Outfitters, Scientific Anglers, Costa, Yeti, Sightline Provisions, Renzetti, Adipose Boatworks and Hog Island Boatworks.
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