S7, Ep 26: Pre-Spawn Pursuits with The Chocklett Factory

Marvin Cash00:00:00

Hey folks, it's Marvin Cash, the host of the Articulate Fly. We're back with another chocolate factory with the man himself, Blaine Chocolate.Blaine, how are you?

Blane Chocklett00:00:12

I'm good man, how are you?

Marvin Cash00:00:13

Yeah, just trying to stay out of trouble. You were, you were kind of dragging ass a little bit when I talked to you earlier today. You just finished up a five day smallmouth school.

Blane Chocklett00:00:21

Yeah. You know, Mike Schultz and myself hosted a group of guys and showing them everything, smallmouth bass.And we had the help of Josh and those boys over at Virginia Trophy Guides and we, we had a great week of smallmouth fishing. Everything you could think of. You know, the first day we did our master class and did a bunch of tying.Talked about flies, seasonal changes, you know, tactics, techniques, fly lines, selections, all that kind of stuff. Pretty much everything you'd ever need to know about the different aspects of smallmouth bass and how you target them.And then we got them all on the water and had some great days out there. Caught some really nice respawn smallmouth and rough conditions. It was blowing about 30 every day.But you know, you have to fish those conditions and we made it happen. Everybody caught some really nice fish and looking forward to the next one.We've already got them wanting to do it next year so we'll do an alumni smallmouth camp and do another master class. Deal. So probably gonna do two of them next year. So.

Marvin Cash00:01:42

Very neat. Yeah, it's kind of funny. You get to March and April and you know. Just makes me think about flying kites in Virginia.Cause it's just a little bit windy.

Blane Chocklett00:01:49

Oh man, I'll tell you what, I'm getting too old for this stuff. I'm tired, man. It's been a.Been a couple days on the water where my hands are swollen from gripping the oars and trying to keep the boat going down river when it's blowing up rivers 30 miles when you're rowing as hard as you can just to keep the boat in one spot and keeping it from getting pushed back up the river and starting all over again. That's blown. But we made it happen. And they did a great job. You know, they learned in very tough conditions.And in the Virginia bass, you know, showed themselves well. And we caught Quite a few 1918 inchers and didn't pop that 20 mark. But we had some on that got off. But you know, that's fishing. Sometimes they win.But we, we showed them a, a lot about pre spawn stuff and all the different lines and angles of casting and how to fish supplies Properly and all that kind of stuff.So I feel like everybody that joined this particular group, everybody seemed to be very happy with it, and so we're looking forward to coming back next year. They all wanted to come back next year and do an alumni trip. Just everybody gelled.And, you know, I think not only are we just teaching, but we're also creating friendships, you know, so all these people we had were awesome, and they all really got along well, and that's. That's. That's a big part of what we do and why we do it. Right. It's all a small community, and it's all about making memories and friendships.

Marvin Cash00:03:26

Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, tomorrow you get ready to get blown all over 81 so that you can make it to Frederick for one of the.I don't know if it's the premiere, but one of the early premieres of Lefty's movie, right?

Blane Chocklett00:03:36

Yeah, it's actually the premiere. So, going to go up and see Ross Pernell, meet with him for a day, and. And he's a main guy, head honcho at Fly Fisherman magazine.We've got some projects I'm doing with him this year, and then going to go stay with my buddy Jay Nichols, and we're going to drive down from Pennsylvania down to the Frederick, and that is the premiere for Lefty's documentary. So I'm super excited to be a part of that and looking forward to what Jay put together.I know it's going to be great because anything Jay does is always good.And, you know, Ross being a part of it, I know they're going to honor Lefty, and, you know, Flip is a narrator for it, so you couldn't have a better person to do it, you know, as close as Lefty and Flip were. So it's going to be a special, special night and just honoring an icon and fly fishing. The man, the Godfather.So I'm real excited to be a part of that and, you know, thankful to be a part of the film in a small way, and just can't wait to see what Jay put together. It's. You know, Lefty deserved it. If anybody did, Lefty did. He was our, like I said, the Godfather. And as Flick would always say, the.He was the Internet before the Internet was there. He was always connecting people, and he was always great about that and sharing his knowledge, and we don't want his memory forgotten.So it's great to see that they're putting stuff out there for the younger people that didn't really know Lefty or know about him and making sure that everything he did for all of us is appreciated and honored. So it's going to be a great event and I can't wait to see it.And we're going to highlight that again down in Florida at our Legends Lefty Craze, Typhus down there, which I know we've talked about that before, but you know, that's coming up the weekend of April 25 through 27 where we've got a lot of the icons it's still around like Flip and Chico and Andy Mill and Rob Fordyce, Carter Andrews, Hillary Hutchinson, Oliver White and a bunch of others. I don't want to leave anybody out, but there's going to be, it's going to be legends on top of legends there.So it's going to be one of those events that shouldn't miss because we don't, you don't have me. We don't have any idea how long we're going to be able to hang out with everybody, you know.And you know, I'm super excited to get Larry Dahlberg down there because he's always been in and out of fly fishing. But you know, I don't know that there's a greater angler that's ever lived than Larry and having them be there.Super excited to get him connected with people and back in the industry and just making sure we highlight these guys and you know, honor them and let them know we love them.

Marvin Cash00:06:46

Yeah, absolutely. And I mean that's not all the travel you've got. I mean, you got stuff stacked up kind of into the spring through the summer, right?

Blane Chocklett00:06:53

Yeah, yeah, yeah.Like I said, you know, I'm leaving in the morning, heading up to Pennsylvania and then Maryland and coming back for a couple days and then I've got a, a week long trip to Texas to do do a fly tying class at Dirty Waters in Dallas or just outside of Dallas actually. I think it's near Fort Worth and doing a couple, couple club events there and got two of those.Then I'm flying from Texas over to Georgia to be a part of my good buddy Jared over at in Georgia on the coast down there near St.Simon's island and he's putting on a great event down there for a film tour and a basically a fly fishing festival at his, his shop and you know, it's going to be doing a tying event class there for him and I get back and got a couple other events I'm doing and then, then we got that big Florida event and I've really got to look at my calendar. It's. I'm not going to be home very much here probably. I told myself last year I wouldn't do that. But you know, doing it again. So I'm not going to.I'm going to miss spring here in Virginia again and won't be home probably till mid May for a little bit. But it's the way it is, man. You gotta keep grinding.It's grind to shine like Schultze says, you know, just grass is definitely not growing under my feet these days. So I'm happy to do it and want to be a part of these great events.Like I said, you know, the Jack project is a big part of what I want to do in the future. As we talked about with making sure we are proactive on, on some fish like jacks that aren't protected right now.We want to make sure we get some guardrails on, on making sure that jacks are healthy and not over fished and you know, the same thing what we did with Albies, you know. So for me we're doing that film.So I'm going to be traveling around the country highlighting Jack Rafael and we're going to end up doing a film and so we're going to be hitting five or six different areas across the country and should see a film by the end of the year out about jacks and the conservation and protection of those and it'll be highlighted in a bunch of spots. Probably be in the film tour next year as well. So stay tuned for that. It'll be great.Jacks are exciting and there's a lot of great visuals about them and how powerful they are and just the aggression that they have. It's one of my favorite fish and it's time that they get the recognition they deserve.And I know the fly community really appreciates them, but it's time for the whole fishing community to really appreciate what we have before something happens to them.And you know, again, we don't know that they're endangered or not, but we want to make sure that they are protected and long term and they deserve to be classified as a game fish. And you know, that's what we're trying to do.

Marvin Cash00:10:04

So yeah, with all that traveling, you better make sure you change the oil in this in the struggle bus.

Blane Chocklett00:10:09

Yeah, right. No kidding, man. But it'll be a fun.You know, I'm, I'm enjoying it, but definitely looking forward to having some downtime with the family and getting, you know, a little bit more concentration on the chaka factory itself. And all the new products and stuff that's coming, coming out with that.

Marvin Cash00:10:29

Yeah.And you know, just to highlight for folks, you know, as we're heading into smallmouth season and kind of warm water fishing season, I mean, you've got some great stuff. You've got, you know, don't let me leave anything out, but I know you've got crayfish claws. I know you've got pre cut parts for hellgramite.So, you know, no more buying punches and punching your own foam circles out. What else have you got going on?

Blane Chocklett00:10:50

Yeah, we got the, you know, all the new wings as well. So do anything from cicada patterns to damselflies, dragonflies, stone flies, house flies, you name it, we, we've got all that.I'm excited to get more stuff on that out there. Working with videographer on all that. So there's going to be a lot of, I guess, sizzle type stuff that's going to be coming out in the future.About all the different patterns I've been holding back for the years, all the new tie in materials.We've got a lot of stuff that, that's going to be coming down the pipe here in the next six months and looking forward to sharing that with everybody. You know, we got shrimp body parts coming, we've got crab body parts coming. It's a lot of different unique things.It's not the same thing that you see out there on the market. And you know how I am.I've always wanted to do my own thing and, you know, make the fly tying easier and, and better and innovative and you know, that's where I am. And you know as well as I do, we've been holding stuff off for a very long time and now's the right time to make it happen.And you know, I think the fly tire community is going to be excited about it. I really hope they, they are. I feel like they will be because a lot of this stuff is just going to make fly tying better and fishing better.

Marvin Cash00:12:19

Yeah. And you got anything going on on the apparel front you want to let folks know about?

Blane Chocklett00:12:24

You know, we got some new hats in the works that was a real success on the last launch.You know, we're working on that and going to have some more sheaths for pliers coming out from Corey, um, who does a great job on, you know, his different leather parts and whatnot. And gonna be doing some stuff with sight lines with Edgar, bringing out some more cuffs and bracelets and stuff like that.And I'm sure we'll do a couple T shirts and hat and other hat projects. That's on the. On the pipe. So, yeah, there's, you know, like I said, just like my travel. I'm not setting still.We just, you know, it's trying to find enough time to get it all done and making sure I'm not forgetting anything, you know?

Marvin Cash00:13:14

Yeah, there you go. And if folks want to follow your adventures and keep track of all that stuff or buy something from the shop, where should they go?

Blane Chocklett00:13:21

You know, you can hit. Hit my website, which we've shared many times. You can reach out to me on Instagram. I don't get on Facebook a lot, so don't. Don't feel bad if I don't.You don't hear from me. So if you want to hear from me, reach out on Instagram. So, yep, just doing all that stuff, man.Just trying to keep the train on the tracks between the mustard and the mayonnaise, you know.

Marvin Cash00:13:47

Well, absolutely. And, you know, I know you'll be home for Easter. I'll be up there, too, so maybe I'll have a chance to come and grab a Corona with you.But wish you safe travels. And folks will be back in a month or so for another update from the Chocolate Factory. Tight lines, everybody. Tight lines, Blaine.

Blane Chocklett00:14:03

Thanks, Van. You too.