S6, Ep 95: Martha's Vineyard Magic and Bunker School Tactics with Captain David Blinken

Marvin: Hey folks, it's Marvin Cash, the host of the Articulate Fly,

Marvin: and we're back with another On the Salt with Captain David Blinken. David, how are you?

David: I'm great. I'm great. It's been a fun couple weeks, and I got to tell you,

David: our last podcast was a blast from Mexico.

Marvin: Yeah, it's kind of an amazing thing. I was kind of thinking about that after

Marvin: we recorded it, to think about from when I was a kid where you didn't call Mexico.

Marvin: And like, you know, growing up, you do, you know, person to person phone calls

Marvin: so that you wouldn't get charged for long distance.

Marvin: And we literally were, you know, not only hearing each other,

Marvin: but seeing each other, you know, two or three time zones away.

David: I know, I know it was a lot of fun and, you know, to have me and Steve,

David: you know, sitting, you know, opposite each other and the table working off one

David: another was, was a whole lot of fun.

Marvin: Yeah. I felt bad for him. I guess he caught COVID on the flight back, right?

David: Yeah. It's funny. He, he called me up, um, one day and he said,

David: yeah, I've been a little bit sniffly and, you know, under the weather.

David: So the next day he calls me up and he's like, I just took a COVID test.

David: I'm going to know shortly. And in the middle of the phone call,

David: he's like, Oh, expletive. I've got COVID.

David: I started laughing. I didn't realize he was doing it right there with me on the phone.

David: Anyway, that was, that was, uh, but, uh, he's doing fine. Yeah.

Marvin: And so, you know, the great thing, right, is you were back home for 72 hours

Marvin: and you basically spent the last week and change up on Martha's Vineyard.

Marvin: And from the pictures you shot me, it looks like you did a little bit of fishing.

David: I did a little bit of fishing, you know, just can't help myself.

David: So I trailered the skiff up there and we're, you know, I took some friends and

David: their kids fishing off the skiff and we were jigging for black sea bass.

David: But after I dropped them off, I ran over to one of my favorite flats out there

David: whose name will remain anonymous. them as soon as somebody books me to fish them up there.

David: And literally in the middle of the doldrums, everywhere else, I get to this one spot,

David: I anchor up the battery, I stake it out, and I've got stripers from 25 to 40

David: inches swimming by the boat for two hours. It was just the best.

Marvin: That's pretty amazing. That's a pretty good combo after three good days of tarpon fishing.

David: Oh, yeah. Yeah, the tarpon fishing was awesome. But I tell you,

David: being able just to stake out and put in a half a water and just watch these

David: big critters swimming by was so nice.

David: It's always nice kind of being back in your home waters.

Marvin: Yeah, absolutely. And speaking of home waters, coming back to Long Island,

Marvin: what are you seeing out there?

David: Well, you know, I'll get out there tomorrow, but, um, you know,

David: we just had a big cold front go come through last night and it looks like we're

David: going to have a pretty stiff Northwest wind for the next couple of days.

David: But I can tell you, um, before I left and while I was gone, we had some bluefin

David: tuna, uh, sliding around the South side.

David: Um, you know, pretty close to shore.

David: I know some people are going to only like eight, 10 miles out and jigging bigger ones app.

David: And they said they were also catchable on stick baits and fly.

David: And really what everyone's waiting for right now, everyone's kind of holding

David: their breath, hoping the false albacore come in.

David: And I got a feeling after the supermoon and then we have this cold front coming

David: through, I'm willing to bet Friday, Saturday, or sometime next week,

David: those false albacore are going to be here.

David: That's usually what happens when we get a front like this.

Marvin: Yeah, it's funny you say that because, you know, my social media feed kind of

Marvin: being more kind of Mid-Atlantic oriented, all the guides are talking about like,

Marvin: you know, clients that canceled and, you know, get your October,

Marvin: November dates for false albacore off Harker's Island.

David: Yeah, I mean, they're talking about it.

David: There was, you know, a public speaking period that ended today for the preservation

David: of false albacore that the ASGA sent out.

David: And I'm sure you can still write in and do some other things.

David: But, you know, we're really working hard now to help preserve the false albacore

David: and, you know, protect them from not really overfishing, but from overharvesting.

David: Uh, so hopefully, uh, hopefully, uh,

David: uh, the, uh, you know, the, uh, the guides with the help of the guides association

David: and, um, uh, and other people, they can be convincing for the,

David: uh, for the, uh, mid Atlantic,

David: uh, commission and, and get them on board with doing the right thing.

David: They certainly didn't with stripers hopefully they will with false albacore because,

David: the false albacore is considering the strength because the stripe s numbers

David: have dropped so much they've really been what has saved us the past few years

David: in the fall and if they're gone a lot of us are going to be out of business yeah.

Marvin: Got it and got an interesting question for you too this time i had someone reach

Marvin: out on instagram and wanted to know how do you fish a bunker pod.

David: I mean that's such a wonderful question and there's so many different ways to do it,

David: but let me go with the tried and true first of all

David: you got to think about your fly selection first and foremost right

David: and you could tie really big deceivers or

David: really big you know you know bucktail flies

David: you know flies that are between you know

David: five and eight inches long a lot of people are now fishing the

David: beast fly or the game changers you know really big

David: ones so so you've got your fly selection um and

David: then i tend to fish a much heavier leader in bunker pods

David: um and very often with a shock tip

David: because you never know if it's going to be bluefish or striper so

David: i like to fish um a mono

David: or or fluorocarbon shock tip of about 60 pound

David: and then i'll have a couple of different rods rigged i'll have a floater an

David: intermediate and a full sink um because you need to be able to fish different

David: depths to reach the fish that are going to be eating the bunker or

David: the artificial you're using so um very often i'll fish a beast fly or i'll tie

David: one of these huge deceivers out of schlopp and that's you know could be six

David: eight ten inches long and.

David: If i'm fishing a 350 i'll usually cast it

David: out or 450 i'll usually cast it out and try to get it under

David: the bunker school and i'll strip it because

David: very often the bluefish and the striped bass are under

David: the bunker schools you know kind of hurting them and bullying

David: them up and then they'll run up through them so if

David: i can get under the bunker school it'll make it

David: look like the you know one bunker's peeled away

David: and that's usually a really great thing for the uh

David: for the striped bass or the bluefish to whack before they

David: you know push into the surface um with

David: a floating line if they're up on top

David: and they're just busting them and you'll sometimes see

David: an opening in the bunker school where they'll clear

David: out and you'll see those bigger fish in that opening you know kind of going

David: around a circle chasing down things that that that floating line is really helpful

David: because it'll make it look like an injured you know bunker that's flopping on

David: top and you can just throw that there very often and they'll come up and whack it.

David: And then with an intermediate line, you're just kind of trying to...

David: You know get the medium you know the best of

David: both worlds sometimes they'll be up on top sometimes those

David: those fish will be kind of in the mid-depth uh so

David: so you know your approach is important but a lot of fishing these bunker schools

David: is also observation like if i see a bunker school get sprayed i'm not driving

David: in on it right away i'm i'm gonna sort of hang back and

David: watch and see the pattern of how the fish are feeding on, on the bunker,

David: whether it's bluefish or stripers or tuna or whatever it is.

David: So I can get an idea of how I want to fish it before I go in,

David: because if I grab a floating line and they're up on, sorry, if I grab a sinking

David: line and most of the feed is on top, I'm kind of like hurting myself and vice versa.

David: So, um, you know, a big part of fishing is we all know is observation.

David: Observation so you know have have those rods

David: ready to go if if you know it's going to happen or you know or be rigging while

David: you're watching if if it comes to that and and take a couple minutes to see

David: what's going on and uh you know that should lead to a pretty successful uh um outcome hopefully yeah.

Marvin: It's just like uh watching a big brown trout eat a dry fly.

David: Yeah absolutely oh yeah and the other thing you're fishing these big fries and

David: it's a bunker school I definitely would be using a 10 weight for sure.

David: Just easier to throw the bigger stuff. I mean, you could use a 9,

David: but if you're throwing a really big schloppenfly or a really big beastfly,

David: it's always nicer to have a little extra oomph with the 10 weight.

David: It just makes life a lot more enjoyable.

Marvin: Yeah, that's giving me musky PTSD where I actually fish two-handed switch rods

Marvin: because it just makes life so much easier.

David: Year yeah i don't think i i go

David: two-handed with bluefish out in the ocean or stripers but uh i can see how that

David: would be nice but you know uh you know i guess with musky you guys are using

David: beast flies or game changers too and and those are you know some of them are

David: close to a foot long so it's it's nice to have that kind of leverage yeah.

Marvin: I'll tell you actually the uh the longer butt where it really helps is actually the figure eight um.

David: Oh yeah i.

Marvin: Find that actually more fatiguing than the casting.

David: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I try, anytime I'm using a 10 or above, I try to minimize

David: the casting I'm doing anyway,

David: whether it's, it's bluefish striped bass in a bunker school or whether it's

David: tarpon feeding on mullet, you know, you really, you really want to be keyed

David: in on your target and, and not just casting wildly, whatever you see,

David: because the more you cast, the more fatigue you can get.

David: And of course, adrenaline helps not, you know, keep you from fatigue,

David: but, you know, you want to be ready for that one shot that's really going to

David: help you capitalize and land a nice fish.

David: So, again, you know, watching the water, watching the feeding pattern,

David: so you don't have to be casting 40, 50 times in a certain time period with these

David: bigger rods, you know, 10s or 11s or 12s. It's just, you know, it's not so fun.

Marvin: Yeah, it's also a bummer to come back to the marina and ask for an orthopedic

Marvin: surgeon referral, right?

David: Yeah, shoulder surgeons, elbow surgeons. You know, you hear people talk about tennis elbow.

David: I know so many anglers who their casting's a little adjustment and they've got casting at elbow.

David: And I'm like, yeah, you got to maybe put the trunk of your body and your shoulder

David: into it so you're not torquing your elbow so much.

David: That's a whole different set of questions.

Marvin: Yeah, that'll be next time. And you know, folks, we love questions on the Articulate Fly.

Marvin: You can email me or DM me. As I always say, we want to make David's life easier.

Marvin: And if we use your question, I will send you some Articulate Fly swag.

Marvin: And then we're going to enter a drawing for a Royal Wolf line of your choice.

Marvin: And I know you've heard David and I talk about how much we love Royal Wolf lines.

Marvin: I don't fish the salt stuff, but I do love the Triangle Taper for trout.

David: Yeah, I like it for saltwater. And what's really interesting,

David: and people are learning this from fishing with me and when I talk to them,

David: is the Royal Wolf Bermuda tapers that I use in saltwater have an incredible temperature range.

David: I use them both tropical and I use them here in the temperate waters of the Northeast.

David: Even into some of the coldest days, they just don't have that memory that other

David: lines very often have where you have to deal with line getting really kinky or stiff,

David: and it just doesn't go through the guides. The Royal Wolves are really forgiving that way.

David: So, I mean, that's one of the primary reasons I love them.

Marvin: Yeah, it's funny you say that because that's a big deal kind of down here for

Marvin: smallmouth in the summertime because, I mean, you really do need a tropical line.

David: Yeah, absolutely.

Marvin: Yeah. Well, you know, David, before I let you hop and get back to the Yankees

Marvin: game or watch a little bit more of the DNC, you want to let folks know kind

Marvin: of, you know, where they can find you so they can book in fish with you?

David: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, certainly, uh, you can go to my website to davidblanket.com,

David: uh, or North flats guiding or, uh, and you can get my phone number right off

David: there and feel free to give me a buzz.

David: They can also find me on Instagram at David Blanket, uh, and Facebook.

David: Um, and I'm, I'm all over there and, and I can also find me on, uh, on X.

David: So, uh, uh, formerly known as Twitter. So, uh, and all under my own name.

David: So that should make it easy.

David: No, no, uh, no funny acronyms or phishing names. Uh, I try to keep it simple.

Marvin: There you go. Well, listen, folks, as I always say, you owe it to yourself to

Marvin: get out there and catch a few tight lines, everybody tight lines, David tight.

David: Lines by Marvin.