S6, Ep 109: Albie Adventures and Angling Tips: Captain David Blinken's Guide

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.