S6, Ep 69: Heatwaves and Topwater Tactics with Captain David Blinken
Join host Marvin Cash on The Articulate Fly for another exciting episode of On the Salt with Captain David Blinken. David shares his experiences fishing off of Long Island, discussing the challenges posed by recent high winds and how it has kept him on the beach. He offers insights into the current fishing conditions and his expectations for targeting stripers in shallow water using crustacean patterns.
David also answers a listener's question about his favorite topwater flies and the species he loves to target with them. He dives into the effectiveness of Jack Gartside's Gurgler, detailing his modifications to the fly and the thrill of using it to catch big bluefish and tarpon. David explains different tactics for fishing bluefish, whether they're on the flats or in boiling schools, and shares the excitement of tarpon fishing with topwater flies.
Marvin encourages listeners to submit their questions for a chance to be featured on the show and win some Articulate Fly swag as well as have a chance at winning a Royal Wulff line of their choice.
Whether you're a seasoned angler or just getting started, this episode is packed with valuable insights and tips to enhance your fishing experience. Tight lines!
To learn more about David, check out our full length interview.
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Speaker:
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 Captain David Blinken. David, how are you?
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David: I'm great, Marvin. I'm starting to melt away a little in all this heat,
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David: but I think I'll be around for the heat wave to break.
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Marvin: Yeah, it's interesting. You're cooler out on Long Island than you are down here
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Marvin: in the Carolinas, but the bummer for you is you've had a lot of wind,
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Marvin: and so you probably are having a little bit of withdrawal because you haven't
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Marvin: been able to get out on the water.
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David: Yeah, it's been, it's, last week was rough. We were only able to fish certain
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David: tides, and then the wind would just kick in big time.
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David: And now the past two days, it's been blowing anywhere from 20 to 35 miles an hour.
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David: So that's pretty much kept us on the beach, as they say.
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Marvin: Yeah, that's a bummer. What do you expect to see when you get out on the water in the next day or so?
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David: Well, you know, the fish have kind of had a few days off, right?
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David: So I'm hoping to find some stripers in shallow water.
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David: I think I'll probably be fishing crustacean patterns because there hasn't been a lot of bait in the bay.
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David: So little mantis shrimp patterns and little crabs and little green and blue claws, like size twos.
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Marvin: Yeah, it's funny. It makes me think about going to the beach as a kid and catching
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Marvin: those things in buckets.
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David: Oh, yeah. I mean, I used to take my kids to the beach and we would dig up mole
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David: crabs and throw them in a bucket and they'd play with them and then we'd release them back.
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David: And of course, kids have a great fun with mole crabs because they don't bite.
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David: They just kind of scurry around. They're kind of fun.
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Marvin: Yeah, it's neat stuff. Yeah, it's funny. I always think of myself as more of
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Marvin: a mountain person than a beach person.
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Marvin: But then every time I go to the beach, I really like it and say I should do more of that.
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David: Yeah, I love it. But I love the mountains and the beach, but the beach certainly in the summer.
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David: And, you know, you never know what you're going to see when you're hanging out
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David: in the folding chair or staring out at the water.
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Marvin: Hopefully a gin and tonic would be what you would see. That would be my call.
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David: Yeah, that or a school of stripers.
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Marvin: There you go. Well, we've got a question for you from Brenner,
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Marvin: and he wanted to get your thoughts, David, on your favorite topwater flies and
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Marvin: the favorite species you like to target with those flies.
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David: Well, I think, you know, there's a whole bunch of topwater flies.
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David: You know, you've got Boilermakers and Gurglers and Creaseflies and stuff like that.
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David: But I'm really a big fan of JetGuard's H-Fly, the Gurgler.
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David: Um and it it casts really easily it makes a lot of commotion it stays on top beautifully,
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David: and uh over the years i've actually modified it
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David: started tying it slightly differently just to
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David: make it a little more robust and to make it float a little better and
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David: where i can use bigger hooks so that's kind of
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David: my go-to fly um and maybe
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David: i'll send you a picture of it uh for for uh
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David: further scrutiny um and and
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David: i really there's two species of
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David: fish i love throwing these things that i mean i like throwing it everything
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David: but uh if i have my druthers um i want to throw them at big bluefish because
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David: uh nothing nothing attacks uh nothing attacks uh topwater like bluefish there
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David: it's just like an out-of-body experience when they hit those flies eyes.
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David: They come so hard at them that they're sometimes two feet out of the water on
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David: the strike. It's really exciting.
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Marvin: Yeah, that's awesome.
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David: And then another fish I love throwing garglars at is tarpon.
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David: And you fish them very differently. With the tarpon, you just kind of literally
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David: pull them through the water along the edges of mangroves, and they just leave a little view wake.
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David: And it's just enough to make the tarpon kind of glide up behind them.
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David: And if they're in in the right mood, they'll smash it.
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David: And most of the time they just come up behind it like a giant trout and they just suck them down.
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David: You'll just see a hole in the water where the tarpon's mouth suddenly opened
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David: up. It's really quite exciting.
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Marvin: And so back on the bluefish, you know, when you're fishing those or you,
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Marvin: you know, you've got the bait busting, do you just kind of throw it in there and strip it out?
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Marvin: Is the fly larger than kind of what you think the naturals are?
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Marvin: Kind of what's the tactic there?
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David: Well i'll tell you something really interesting you
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David: know with bluefish we have them in different in different
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David: areas sometimes we have bluefish on the flats and they're
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David: just kind of daisy chaining or swimming around in strings so we're just throwing
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David: it out in front of them or along the edge of a daisy chain and just um you know
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David: sort of moderately stripping them back so the fly makes commotion but you're
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David: not ripping it so fast that you're stealing taking it away from the
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David: fish um and then other times you
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David: know you're throwing it into boils you know where they're just
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David: on top and they're raging and they're eating a ton of bait and you just kind
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David: of flop it in there and you can almost dead drift it in in those situations
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David: and they'll come and smash it off the top so you know it's always in in all
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David: the fishing it's always very situational you know and you just have to adapt
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David: and change to uh whatever's whatever the fish are doing yeah.
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Marvin: Very very neat and you And you know, folks, we love questions at The Articulate Fly.
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Marvin: Email me or DM me, or if you want to hear your question being read on the podcast,
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Marvin: if you go to the podcast link at thearticulatefly.com, you can actually record
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Marvin: your question, and we can actually drop it in and people can hear it.
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Marvin: So if that interests you, you can do that. We love questions.
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Marvin: If we use your question, I will send you some Articulate Fly swag,
Speaker:
Marvin: and then we're going to have a drawing at the end of the season for these,
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Marvin: and the winner is going to get the Royal Wolf line of their choice.
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Marvin: And I just love Royal Wolf lines.
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David: Oh, yeah. I love them, too. I've had a chance to use many different lines.
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David: And the one thing in sight water that you never want happening is a line to
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David: get kind of coily or have what we call memory.
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David: And one of the great things about the Royal Wolf lines are they just have no memory at all.
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David: You can pull it off a reel after 10 days and it'll cast just like it had been
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David: stretched. It's awesome. Yeah.
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Marvin: And I know you've got the tropical lines. I've got the triangle taper for trout,
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Marvin: and I just think they're great for roll casting and mending and managing line.
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David: Yeah, I love the Bermuda shorts, but when I am trout fishing,
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David: I definitely have my triangle taper.
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David: And they also do a shooting head version of it too, which is really wonderful.
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David: People should go on Royal Wolf's website and see what they got. It's pretty cool stuff.
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Marvin: Yeah, and I'll drop a link to their website in the show notes.
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Marvin: And David, I know you've got a trip that you're trying to find a couple more
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Marvin: folks for in August to Mexico, but then you've got other trips going on and
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Marvin: guiding to you. You want to let folks know a little bit about that?
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David: Well, let's see. The Mexico trip, I have a couple of openings for August 2nd.
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David: If anyone wants to join us, it's going to be me and the writer Steve Ramirez
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David: is going to be joining me.
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David: And we've got a couple spots open to tarpon fish for four days in Campeche,
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David: departing August 2nd and returning August 7th.
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David: It's four days, and it's prime time down there for tarpon.
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David: And it's, uh, during the rainy season, it only rains after four in the afternoon,
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David: but a lot of water gets, uh, stored up in the mangroves and flushes out and
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David: keeps the tarpon, uh, on the outside of the mangroves, which makes it a lot of fun to go fishing.
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Marvin: Yeah. And, uh, you got to get breakfast at five in the morning and be ready to go, right?
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David: Oh, definitely. We're having breakfast five, five 30 and, uh,
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David: and, and we're out, we're hopefully, you know, hooking up the first fish by 6 30 AM.
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Marvin: Yeah. And so, but you've got other trips kind of as we kind of move deeper into
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Marvin: the season as well, right?
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David: Well, I'll be guiding Martha's Vineyard for a couple of weeks starting the 12th
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David: of August, and I'll be there until the 24th.
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David: And I've got another trip going to Mexico in November where I think I have one slot open.
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David: The December trip is sold out. And, you know, if people are interested in going
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David: to Belize in the spring, I may have a, I probably, I haven't really booked it
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David: yet, but I've got a few slots open for permit fishing down at Copal Tree.
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Marvin: Yeah, and so they should just go to davidblinken.com and get all the info and
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Marvin: reach out that way, right?
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David: Yeah, they can just reach out directly to me from my website.
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David: And, you know, the info is not on my website. It's just something that they
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David: can call and find out what the schedule is, and I'll fill them in.
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Marvin: Well, there you go. Well, listen, folks, as I always say, you owe it to yourself
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Marvin: to get out there and catch a few. Tight lines, everybody. Tight lines, David.
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David: Tight lines.
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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