S6, Ep 27: On the Salt with GotOne
Join host Marvin Cash as he welcomes Captain David Blinken to another salty episode of The Articulate Fly. As the countdown to spring begins, David shares his anticipation for guiding clients on his skiff and reflects on the joys of late-season skiing. With daylight savings just around the corner, they discuss the perks of longer days and the transition from snowy slopes to coastal tides.
As the conversation flows, David delves into the essentials of a beginner's fly box for Northeast saltwater fishing. He advocates for simplicity, suggesting a small selection of versatile flies—bucktails, clousers, deceivers and perhaps a popper—will serve novice anglers well without overwhelming them with choices. David emphasizes the importance of presentation over variety and assures listeners that, with the right approach, the fish will bite.
Addressing a listener's question, David recommends bluefish as an ideal beginner species, offering tips on tackle and techniques to handle their notorious bite. He also touches on other accessible species for those fishing the southern coasts.
As the show draws to a close, Marvin reminds listeners of the exciting giveaways—a Rise Fishing Company rod and a Norvise—and thanks Norvise for their generous sponsorship. David shares updates on the final episode of "Masters of the Fly" and the innovative fishing app GotOne, hinting at upcoming developments.
Whether you're itching to hit the water or still bundling up for winter, this episode is packed with insights to prepare you for the upcoming fishing season. So, tune in, get your questions ready and, as always, tight lines!
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Marvin: Hey folks, it's Marvin Cash, the host of the Articulate Fly,
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Marvin: and we're back with another On the Salt with Got One with Captain David Blinken.
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Marvin: David, how are you doing?
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David: I'm doing great. I'm counting the days to when I can get on the back of my skip
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David: and start pulling clients around. I'm psyched.
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Marvin: Yeah, and you've got less than 24 hours before daylight savings time,
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Marvin: So it ought to be good, right?
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David: I know. I can't wait. I love the longer days. I know everyone doesn't like losing
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David: that hour of sleep, but hey, go to bed early.
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Marvin: There you go. And I guess, you know, the only bummer is it probably means your
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Marvin: ski season is winding down, right?
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David: It's winding down a little, but, you know, I kind of live for March and April skiing.
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David: I think it's the best skiing of the year. A lot of people kind of after February,
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David: you know, wax the skis and put them away. way.
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David: But those of us in the business, March and April is kind of where it's at.
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David: It's some of the best skiing of the season.
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Marvin: And do you like it because it's not crowded and you don't have to bundle up?
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Marvin: Because I would imagine right when it's colder, you probably have better powder, right?
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David: I'll tell you something. March can have some incredible powder.
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David: And as long as you're skiing it while it's falling in the create,
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David: as soon as the sun hits it, it can turn into mashed potatoes.
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David: But no, I just love, I love March powder. But the other thing about March and
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David: April is you get corn corn snow.
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David: And I know a lot of people don't like it, but skiing the corn,
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David: there's nothing like it. It's just so smooth and groovy.
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Marvin: Oh, neat. And of course, you know, as we were getting close to spring,
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Marvin: that kind of means new beginnings.
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Marvin: And we thought it would be an interesting idea to kind of talk about a,
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Marvin: uh, kind of a beginner fly box for fishing the salt in the Northeast.
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David: Yeah, you know, a beginner fly box is so interesting because,
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David: you know, people are on the web looking at all these complicated flies and,
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David: you know, they're really fun and stuff like game changers and beast flies and
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David: stuff. And those are just incredible flies.
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David: But really, just you want to keep it simple.
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David: You want to have a couple of bucktails
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David: and clousers and some deceivers and maybe a popper and you're set.
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David: And that's going to cover most everything you do.
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David: Um in in in the early
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David: stages of your fly fishing life and uh
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David: you know maybe carry a couple
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David: of shock tips around or or some wire leader for when the bluefish show up but
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David: uh you know keeping it simple is sort of sort of always been a motto of mine
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David: uh when i open up my fly box i probably have I have four patterns just tied
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David: in different sizes and colors, and that's really it.
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David: I just try to keep it simple. And for all the beginner saltwater fly anglers
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David: out there, I would say keep it simple so you don't have to be pondering, what fly should I use?
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David: The fish are going to eat them. It's just about presentation and getting it
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David: in front of them, and you'll be rewarded.
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Marvin: Got it. And so, you know, on the popper front, do you like poppers with lots
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Marvin: of different faces or do you just kind of, you know, pretty consistently stick
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Marvin: with kind of that flat popper face?
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David: Well, you know, you know what? If you're going to use a popper or a popper like
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David: thing and you can buy all different things, I would I would maybe get a very
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David: thin popper with sort of a flat face or an angled face.
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David: Or the one I like the most because I think it's the most versatile is just get a Gurgler.
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David: Um, and, and all the commercial, uh, fly tying entities and stores,
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David: they're all carrying gurglers. They're really easy to cast.
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David: They're not heavy. They make a lot of noise and fish just gobble them up. They're great.
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Marvin: Yeah. Well, there you go. And it dovetails well with our question from Brenner.
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Marvin: He wanted to get your thoughts, David, on, you know, good beginner species for
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Marvin: people to target on the salt with a fly.
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David: Well, I think a good beginner species, if you're living in the Northeast,
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David: especially if you're in an area that bluefish frequent, is fish for bluefish.
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David: And don't worry about the size.
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David: And I would say if you can be there when there's like cocktail blues,
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David: like the bluefish from like one to four pounds or one to three pounds, fish for those.
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David: They they will just they'll eat and they
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David: eat with the reckless abandon the bluefish get
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David: bigger they might become a little more selective but
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David: if you can find schools of bluefish on the feed they will just they will just
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David: crash anything that you put in front of them it's it's really exciting whether
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David: it's deep water or or shallow water they they can be you know pretty ferocious
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David: so um that's That's, that's, that's my,
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David: that's my, you know, and they range all the way down to Florida.
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David: I mean, you'll get them there, but you know, if you're fishing in Florida and
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David: you want a beginner species, um, you know, I think, uh, if you're around when
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David: there's, uh, maybe Spanish mackerel or, or small jackrabbits,
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David: that's, uh, another good beginner species.
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David: If you're down in the South, awful lot of fun.
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Marvin: Yeah. And so on the bluefish, you know, I know they are kind of hard on terminal
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Marvin: tackle. You know, what's your kind of terminal tackle setup for those guys?
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David: For Bluefish, I'll probably tie in a Deceiver in maybe a length of either piano wire.
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David: It kind of looks like a G-string on a guitar. Or you can get American wire,
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David: which is like a multi-strand wire inside a plastic sleeve.
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David: And you can actually tie it onto your fly with a clench knot or a loop knot,
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David: and it'll work just fine.
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David: Um uh what i personally do
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David: uh most of the time because i'm always thinking about other species
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David: is i'll tie in a hunk of 60 pound uh
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David: either hard mono or or or fluorocarbon uh
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David: to my tidbit and uh then tie that with a loop knot to my fly and usually i can
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David: get one or two bluefish before it gets chewed up but um definitely using um
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David: uh definitely using uh something like that to protect your leader is a good idea.
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David: Anything under 30 pounds in a bluefish is going to most likely chop right through it.
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David: I mean, there's those exceptions where occasionally you can land one on a 15
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David: or 20 pound tippet, but usually you need something pretty burly to fend off their teeth.
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Marvin: Yeah, got it. And you know, folks, we love questions at the Articulate Fly and
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Marvin: we're running out of time because we're going to have our drawings pretty soon.
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Marvin: And, you know, remember either email or DM me, make David's life simpler.
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Marvin: And And we've got two great options for you, right? For everyone that sends
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Marvin: in a question, that's one pool, and we're going to draw from that pool.
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Marvin: And the winner will get a Rise Fishing Company rod.
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Marvin: And then if we use your question on one of the On the Salts,
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Marvin: we're going to put that in a separate fishbowl and draw from that.
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Marvin: And the winner is going to get a Norvice vice system.
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Marvin: So pretty cool, right, David?
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David: I think that's pretty cool. I mean, you know, those guys at Rise,
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David: they make a really good product, and they're based out of Long Island,
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David: New York, so they pretty much know what they're doing.
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David: And Norvice, you know, you've never used true rotary before. It's an experience.
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Marvin: Yeah, there you go. And I also want to give a shout-out to the folks at Norvice
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Marvin: for generously sponsoring this series.
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Marvin: And, David, before I let you go, I know you're also, you know,
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Marvin: as the seasons are changing, you're in the homestretch of Masters of the Fly.
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David: Yeah, we have our last episode. We have our last episode on March,
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David: I think it's 17th, Sunday the 17th with Blaine Chocolate, who is an incredible fly tire.
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David: And he does a game changer, which I mentioned earlier.
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David: And it's an incredibly, one, it's an incredible fly to watch being tied.
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David: And the way they move through the water is so lifelike, you cannot believe it. It's really cool. Cool.
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David: And of course, I also want to give a shout out to to to God one.
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David: So you guys are catching your first fish, your first bluefish or whatever species.
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David: You definitely want to get it logged in. So don't forget to download God one
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David: and and see what the app can do for you. It's really quite easy.
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David: You can either do with a photograph, do it with voice or just measure and log
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David: your fish in manually. It's a really cool thing.
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Marvin: Yeah, and you will get the cover off the boat here pretty soon.
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Marvin: You'll be back in your role as chief beta tester, right?
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David: Oh, yeah, yeah. I can't wait for that. Not much more beta testing going on these days.
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David: There'll be some announcements coming up, and for those of you who download
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David: it now, you'll probably a month
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David: or two from now see something new popping up. But it could be longer.
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David: I'm just not sure. But it's really an incredible app, really intuitive.
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David: Very few apps are as intuitive as this one. So I would really encourage everyone to download it.
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David: And all the data that's on there is yours and is not shared unless you want
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David: to share it. It's your choice.
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Marvin: Yeah, and speaking of home stretch, the folks at Norvice, I think they've racked
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Marvin: up almost all the frequent flyer miles they're going to do this year.
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Marvin: But if you go to their website at www.nor-vice.com, you'll see the remaining shows on the schedule.
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Marvin: Most of them are out kind of in the west because it's colder out there longer.
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Marvin: So their fly show season is a little bit longer out there.
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Marvin: But check that out. And, you know, folks, if it's warming up where you are,
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Marvin: you know, get out there and catch a few.
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Marvin: If it's still kind of cold, tie some flies, go to a fly fishing show,
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Marvin: get ready for the upcoming season.
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Marvin: Tight lines, everybody. Tight lines, David.
David Blinken
Guide
David Blinken owner and guide has taken the time to observe the environment in which he guides, and he sees things that others might not, this ability is what separates him from the pack. His clients benefit from this, which allows David to provide them with an experience that they can take home and remember until their next trip.
North flats began as an idea in David’s discussions with friends, “why get trapped in an office” they used to tell him, you need to explore and make your passion your business.
Davids’s passion and desire are what allows him to give people a lasting and fun experience that not only connects them with fish but to the environment in which they live. This not only gives his clients a better understanding of where to find the fish but also a better appreciation of their environment and how to preserve the very thing they love, flyfishing
There is not just great fishing to experience but a passion that brings people together, which is why people keep coming back year after year.
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