S6, Ep 131: From Montauk Stripers to Campeche Tarpon with Captain David Blinken

Hey, folks, it's Marvin Cash, the host of the Articulate Flower, back with the final on the Salt of the season with captain David Blinken.

David, how are you, Marvin?

I'm great.

How are you doing tonight?

Just trying to stay out of trouble.

And, you know, it's interesting you were telling me that you actually got to stack five, and you could have potentially had seven days on the water in the row, which hasn't happened in a while.

No, we.

The weather in the northeast this year has been so windy.

I mean, we.

We literally lost two and a half weeks straight where we could not get out and fish.

I mean, back in mid to late September, and now it's been like, you know, three days on, two days off kind of thing.

But we just.

We just were able to put a string of days together for the first time, which is great.

And for a number of reasons.

One, the stripers have finally come to Montauk for the fall migration, and it's been pretty darn spectacular, I must say.

Yeah, that's great.

And I guess on the not spectacular side, you were saying there were some public hearings that didn't go quite as well as you would have hoped.

Yeah.

If you go to the American Salt Water Guides association and listen to their podcast from last week, the one that starts with circus music, you will hear about the circus at the AFMFC and how completely inept they are.

And I don't know why they call it fisheries management.

With respect to them, it really should be fisheries mismanagement, but I won't go much further.

But that'll give you an idea of what I think of the afmfc.

So listen to the American Saltwater Guides association podcast from a couple days back.

That'll tell you.

And we could really use donations to help further our cause of, you know, protecting our fisheries so that we can continue to enjoy them and have a robust population of fish going forward.

Yeah.

And so just the short version.

Was it that they didn't do anything, or did they not go far enough or did they do the wrong thing?

It looks like they're kicking the can down the road.

And that's a big mistake because right now, the numbers, as they look, will be.

By the time we get to 2027, there will be.

We're going to be virtually without stripe bass altogether.

So the slot limit that's been provided the past few years directly targeted the single largest cohort of striped bass, which was the 2015 year class.

Now they're starting to grow out of that.

But as these fish get bigger and start to age out, they become, you know, they become fewer and fewer of them.

And with fewer fish being spawned in the Chesapeake and the Hudson each year, this becomes a very dangerous scenario.

Got it.

And I guess to be a little bit more positive, we can shift gears and talk about tarpon.

Oh, my gosh.

Uh, I can't wait.

Uh, on, on the 9th of, on the 9th of November, I head down with a nice little group, Tarpon Fishing Inc.

PJ and that's going to be so much fun.

I'm going down again on December 5th.

So, you know, the full tarpon fishery down there can be spectacular.

That's usually when the bigger fish arrive.

Um, bigger fish for, for campeches like 40 to maybe 60 pounds.

And you know, the average fish we usually get down there is like 15 to 20, but we get some nice, nice ones in the 40 to 50 pound class every, every fall down there.

It's a lot of fun.

Yeah.

And so, you know, this time of year, is it less wind or more wind?

I certainly know it's not as hot, right?

It's not as hot.

And you know, the wind is.

Wind is an interesting thing.

You know, the prevailing winds are like the easterly southeasterly and anything from that direction and it's good.

And even on a breezy day, we're fishing up against the mangroves, which is in the lead.

So even on the windier days, as long as we're, you know, since we're fishing the mangroves, which has, have a western exposure, we're actually in really good shape as far as catching fish.

And, you know, the wind really is not a factor when we're down there.

But if a cold front does drop down out of the United States, it usually keeps us off the water until that front hair is abated.

Got it.

And so, you know, this time of year, you know, why don't you let folks know a little bit about kind of, you know, tackle and approach well down there.

Generally when we're fishing up inside the mangroves, it tends to be slightly smaller fish.

And we're using eight weights and floating lines and, you know, usually breaking strength for about 30 pound.

Test with smaller tarpon, you can do that.

And we're fishing flies anywhere from like 10 to 10 and 2 0.

And I have two favorite color patterns.

I love purple.

It doesn't even need to be purple and black, just solid purple.

I love.

And I really like sort of a creamy color off white cream.

And my third favorite is orange and yellow and orange and yellow.

In the tannic waters of Campeche.

Really stands out to the tarpon.

They love it.

So that's that.

And then.

Yeah, and then we're fishing nines and tens, ten specifically for the bigger fish in nine weights because we fish gurglers to the tarpon up in the mangroves.

And it's a hoot.

Yeah.

Well, there you go.

And then you'll go back in December and I guess you'll come back, you'll have Thanksgiving turkey, you know, wash the boat and tarpon, and you'll be kind of done for the season.

Right, Kind of done for the season until.

Unless people want me to put together trips for them, you know, in January, February, done for the season.

And then April, we head to the Bahamas and everything starts all over again.

And when do you start doing your snow dance?

I actually have meetings at the ski School on November 16, welcoming all the new staffers and explaining to them how we train them and stuff like that.

And then we have our big meeting on snow up in Vermont just four days before I head to Mexico on December 5th.

Well, there you go.

And folks, this is our last on the salt of the season.

And so I took all of the questions and dumped them into the Google random number generator and pulled out a name.

And the winner of the Royal Wolf line is Amir Mugal.

And Amir, I will reach out to you and we will get you connected with the folks at Royal Wolf and you can get the line of your choice.

Yeah, that would be great.

Or, or if you just, you know, let us know which y win you want, we can take care of that and be the go between for you too, I think.

Could we, could we do that, Marvin?

Yes, I can, David.

Just want to.

Want to make it easier for them, but congratulations on getting the line.

Those are great line for all I use.

Yeah, absolutely.

Well, you know, David, it's always, it's always fun to.

To hang out with you on the Internet and do these.

And I'm sure we'll have another series of these coming up soon.

And you know, folks, it's getting chilly and you know, however you like to catch fish.

I, you know, always say that in February when you're not fishing and you're looking out the window at the snow, you're going to regret not being on the water in the next few weeks.

Tight lines, everybody.

Tight lines, David.

Tight lines, Marvin.