March 27, 2025 • 14 mins
In this episode of The Articulate Fly, host Marvin Cash catches up with Blane Chocklett for an exciting update from The Chocklett Factory. Blane shares insights from a recent five-day smallmouth school he co-hosted with Mike Schultz, where they taught participants everything from fly tying to fishing techniques in challenging conditions. Despite the windy weather, the group enjoyed successful days on the water, catching impressive pre-spawn smallmouth.
The conversation shifts to Blane's upcoming travels, including attending the premiere of Lefty Kreh's documentary, where he expresses his excitement about honoring the late fishing legend. He also discusses his busy schedule filled with events across the country, including a fly tying class in Texas and a fishing festival in Georgia, all while highlighting the importance of community and friendship in the fishing world.
Blane also teases some innovative new products coming to The Chocklett Factory, including unique fly tying materials, aimed at making the fly tying experience easier and more enjoyable for anglers. With plenty of travel and projects on the horizon, this episode is packed with enthusiasm and insights for fishing enthusiasts.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hey folks, it's Marvin Cash,the host of the Articulate Fly. We're
back with another chocolatefactory with the man himself, Blaine
Chocolate. Blaine, how are you?
I'm good man, how are you?
Yeah, just trying to stay outof trouble. You were, you were kind
of dragging ass a little bitwhen I talked to you earlier today.
You just finished up a fiveday smallmouth school.
(00:21):
Yeah. You know, Mike Schultzand myself hosted a group of guys
and showing them everything,smallmouth bass. And we had the help
of Josh and those boys over atVirginia Trophy Guides and we, we
had a great week of smallmouthfishing. Everything you could think
(00:45):
of. You know, the first day wedid 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'dever need to know about the different
aspects of smallmouth bass andhow you target them. And then we
(01:07):
got them all on the water andhad some great days out there. Caught
some really nice respawnsmallmouth and rough conditions.
It was blowing about 30 everyday. But you know, you have to fish
those conditions and we madeit happen. Everybody caught some
really nice fish and lookingforward to the next one. We've already
(01:29):
got them wanting to do it nextyear so we'll do an alumni smallmouth
camp and do another masterclass. Deal. So probably gonna do
two of them next year. So.
Very neat. Yeah, it's kind offunny. You get to March and April
and you know. Just makes methink about flying kites in Virginia.
Cause it's just a little bit windy.
Oh man, I'll tell you what,I'm getting too old for this stuff.
(01:53):
I'm tired, man. It's been a.Been a couple days on the water where
my hands are swollen fromgripping the oars and trying to keep
the boat going down river whenit's blowing up rivers 30 miles when
you're rowing as hard as youcan just to keep the boat in one
spot and keeping it fromgetting pushed back up the river
and starting all over again.That's blown. But we made it happen.
(02:16):
And they did a great job. Youknow, they learned in very tough
conditions. And in theVirginia bass, you know, showed themselves
well. And we caught Quite afew 1918 inchers and didn't pop that
20 mark. But we had some onthat got off. But you know, that's
fishing. Sometimes they win.But we, we showed them a, a lot about
(02:39):
pre spawn stuff and all thedifferent lines and angles of casting
and how to fish suppliesProperly and all that kind of stuff.
So I feel like everybody thatjoined this particular group, everybody
seemed to be very happy withit, and so we're looking forward
to coming back next year. Theyall wanted to come back next year
(03:00):
and do an alumni trip. Justeverybody gelled. And, you know,
I think not only are we justteaching, but we're also creating
friendships, you know, so allthese people we had were awesome,
and they all really got alongwell, and that's. That's. That's
a big part of what we do andwhy we do it. Right. It's all a small
(03:21):
community, and it's all aboutmaking memories and friendships.
Yeah, absolutely. And, youknow, tomorrow you get ready to get
blown all over 81 so that youcan make it to Frederick for one
of the. I don't know if it'sthe premiere, but one of the early
premieres of Lefty's movie, right?
Yeah, it's actually thepremiere. So, going to go up and
see Ross Pernell, meet withhim for a day, and. And he's a main
(03:48):
guy, head honcho at FlyFisherman magazine. We've got some
projects I'm doing with himthis year, and then going to go stay
with my buddy Jay Nichols, andwe're going to drive down from Pennsylvania
down to the Frederick, andthat is the premiere for Lefty's
documentary. So I'm superexcited to be a part of that and
(04:08):
looking forward to what Jayput together. I know it's going to
be great because anything Jaydoes is always good. And, you know,
Ross being a part of it, Iknow they're going to honor Lefty,
and, you know, Flip is anarrator 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 aspecial, special night and just honoring
(04:33):
an icon and fly fishing. Theman, the Godfather. So I'm real excited
to be a part of that and, youknow, thankful to be a part of the
film in a small way, and justcan't wait to see what Jay put together.
It's. You know, Lefty deservedit. If anybody did, Lefty did. He
(04:53):
was our, like I said, theGodfather. And as Flick would always
say, the. He was the Internetbefore the Internet was there. He
was always connecting people,and he was always great about that
and sharing his knowledge, andwe don't want his memory forgotten.
So it's great to see thatthey're putting stuff out there for
(05:14):
the younger people that didn'treally know Lefty or know about him
and making sure thateverything he did for all of us is
appreciated and honored. Soit's going to be a great event and
I can't wait to see it. Andwe're going to highlight that again
down in Florida at our LegendsLefty Craze, Typhus down there, which
(05:38):
I know we've talked about thatbefore, but you know, that's coming
up the weekend of April 25through 27 where we've got a lot
of the icons it's still aroundlike Flip and Chico and Andy Mill
and Rob Fordyce, CarterAndrews, Hillary Hutchinson, Oliver
(06:00):
White and a bunch of others. Idon't want to leave anybody out,
but there's going to be, it'sgoing to be legends on top of legends
there. So it's going to be oneof those events that shouldn't miss
because we don't, you don'thave me. We don't have any idea how
long we're going to be able tohang out with everybody, you know.
And you know, I'm superexcited to get Larry Dahlberg down
(06:21):
there because he's always beenin and out of fly fishing. But you
know, I don't know thatthere's a greater angler that's ever
lived than Larry and havingthem be there. Super excited to get
him connected with people andback in the industry and just making
sure we highlight these guysand you know, honor them and let
(06:44):
them know we love them.
Yeah, absolutely. And I meanthat's not all the travel you've
got. I mean, you got stuffstacked up kind of into the spring
through the summer, right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like I said,you know, I'm leaving in the morning,
heading up to Pennsylvania andthen Maryland and coming back for
a couple days and then I'vegot a, a week long trip to Texas
(07:06):
to do do a fly tying class atDirty Waters in Dallas or just outside
of Dallas actually. I thinkit's near Fort Worth and doing a
couple, couple club eventsthere and got two of those. Then
I'm flying from Texas over toGeorgia to be a part of my good buddy
(07:28):
Jared over at in Georgia onthe coast down there near St. Simon's
island and he's putting on agreat event down there for a film
tour and a basically a flyfishing festival at his, his shop
and you know, it's going to bedoing a tying event class there for
him and I get back and got acouple other events I'm doing and
(07:53):
then, then we got that bigFlorida 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 myselflast year I wouldn't do that. But
you know, doing it again. SoI'm not going to. I'm going to miss
spring here in Virginia againand won't be home probably till mid
May for a little bit. But it'sthe way it is, man. You gotta keep
(08:17):
grinding. It's grind to shinelike Schultze says, you know, just
grass is definitely notgrowing under my feet these days.
So I'm happy to do it and wantto be a part of these great events.
Like I said, you know, theJack project is a big part of what
I want to do in the future. Aswe talked about with making sure
(08:39):
we are proactive on, on somefish like jacks that aren't protected
right now. We want to makesure we get some guardrails on, on
making sure that jacks arehealthy and not over fished and you
know, the same thing what wedid with Albies, you know. So for
me we're doing that film. SoI'm going to be traveling around
(09:01):
the country highlighting JackRafael and we're going to end up
doing a film and so we'regoing to be hitting five or six different
areas across the country andshould see a film by the end of the
year out about jacks and theconservation and protection of those
and it'll be highlighted in abunch of spots. Probably be in the
(09:23):
film tour next year as well.So stay tuned for that. It'll be
great. Jacks are exciting andthere's a lot of great visuals about
them and how powerful they areand just the aggression that they
have. It's one of my favoritefish and it's time that they get
the recognition they deserve.And I know the fly community really
appreciates them, but it'stime for the whole fishing community
(09:46):
to really appreciate what wehave before something happens to
them. And you know, again, wedon't know that they're endangered
or not, but we want to makesure that they are protected and
long term and they deserve tobe classified as a game fish. And
you know, that's what we'retrying to do.
So yeah, with all thattraveling, you better make sure you
(10:06):
change the oil in this in thestruggle bus.
Yeah, right. No kidding, man.But it'll be a fun. You know, I'm,
I'm enjoying it, butdefinitely looking forward to having
some downtime with the familyand getting, you know, a little bit
more concentration on thechaka factory itself. And all the
new products and stuff that'scoming, coming out with that.
(10:29):
Yeah. And you know, just tohighlight for folks, you know, as
we're heading into smallmouthseason and kind of warm water fishing
season, I mean, you've gotsome great stuff. You've got, you
know, don't let me leaveanything out, but I know you've got
crayfish claws. I know you'vegot pre cut parts for hellgramite.
So, you know, no more buyingpunches and punching your own foam
circles out. What else haveyou got going on?
(10:50):
Yeah, we got the, you know,all the new wings as well. So do
anything from cicada patternsto damselflies, dragonflies, stone
flies, house flies, you nameit, we, we've got all that. I'm excited
to get more stuff on that outthere. Working with videographer
(11:11):
on all that. So there's goingto be a lot of, I guess, sizzle type
stuff that's going to becoming out in the future. About all
the different patterns I'vebeen 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 thepipe here in the next six months
and looking forward to sharingthat with everybody. You know, we
(11:33):
got shrimp body parts coming,we've got crab body parts coming.
It's a lot of different uniquethings. It's not the same thing that
you see out there on themarket. And you know how I am. I've
always wanted to do my ownthing and, you know, make the fly
tying easier and, and betterand innovative and you know, that's
(11:57):
where I am. And you know aswell as I do, we've been holding
stuff off for a very long timeand now's the right time to make
it happen. And you know, Ithink the fly tire community is going
to be excited about it. Ireally hope they, they are. I feel
like they will be because alot of this stuff is just going to
make fly tying better andfishing better.
(12:19):
Yeah. And you got anythinggoing on on the apparel front you
want to let folks know about?
You know, we got some new hatsin 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 forpliers coming out from Corey, um,
who does a great job on, youknow, his different leather parts
(12:42):
and whatnot. And gonna bedoing some stuff with sight lines
with Edgar, bringing out somemore cuffs and bracelets and stuff
like that. And I'm sure we'lldo a couple T shirts and hat and
other hat projects. That's onthe. On the pipe. So, yeah, there's,
you know, like I said, justlike my travel. I'm not setting still.
(13:06):
We just, you know, it's tryingto find enough time to get it all
done and making sure I'm notforgetting anything, you know?
Yeah, there you go. And iffolks want to follow your adventures
and keep track of all thatstuff or buy something from the shop,
where should they go?
You know, you can hit. Hit mywebsite, which we've shared many
times. You can reach out to meon Instagram. I don't get on Facebook
(13:30):
a lot, so don't. Don't feelbad if I don't. You don't hear from
me. So if you want to hearfrom me, reach out on Instagram.
So, yep, just doing all thatstuff, man. Just trying to keep the
train on the tracks betweenthe mustard and the mayonnaise, you
know.
Well, absolutely. And, youknow, I know you'll be home for Easter.
(13:51):
I'll be up there, too, somaybe 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 sofor another update from the Chocolate
Factory. Tight lines,everybody. Tight lines, Blaine.
Thanks, Van. You too.
Hey folks, it's Marvin Cash,the host of the Articulate Fly. We're
back with another chocolatefactory with the man himself, Blaine
Chocolate. Blaine, how are you?
I'm good man, how are you?
Yeah, just trying to stay outof trouble. You were, you were kind
of dragging ass a little bitwhen I talked to you earlier today.
You just finished up a fiveday smallmouth school.
(00:21):
Yeah. You know, Mike Schultzand myself hosted a group of guys
and showing them everything,smallmouth bass. And we had the help
of Josh and those boys over atVirginia Trophy Guides and we, we
had a great week of smallmouthfishing. Everything you could think
(00:45):
of. You know, the first day wedid 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'dever need to know about the different
aspects of smallmouth bass andhow you target them. And then we
(01:07):
got them all on the water andhad some great days out there. Caught
some really nice respawnsmallmouth and rough conditions.
It was blowing about 30 everyday. But you know, you have to fish
those conditions and we madeit happen. Everybody caught some
really nice fish and lookingforward to the next one. We've already
(01:29):
got them wanting to do it nextyear so we'll do an alumni smallmouth
camp and do another masterclass. Deal. So probably gonna do
two of them next year. So.
Very neat. Yeah, it's kind offunny. You get to March and April
and you know. Just makes methink about flying kites in Virginia.
Cause it's just a little bit windy.
Oh man, I'll tell you what,I'm getting too old for this stuff.
(01:53):
I'm tired, man. It's been a.Been a couple days on the water where
my hands are swollen fromgripping the oars and trying to keep
the boat going down river whenit's blowing up rivers 30 miles when
you're rowing as hard as youcan just to keep the boat in one
spot and keeping it fromgetting pushed back up the river
and starting all over again.That's blown. But we made it happen.
(02:16):
And they did a great job. Youknow, they learned in very tough
conditions. And in theVirginia bass, you know, showed themselves
well. And we caught Quite afew 1918 inchers and didn't pop that
20 mark. But we had some onthat got off. But you know, that's
fishing. Sometimes they win.But we, we showed them a, a lot about
(02:39):
pre spawn stuff and all thedifferent lines and angles of casting
and how to fish suppliesProperly and all that kind of stuff.
So I feel like everybody thatjoined this particular group, everybody
seemed to be very happy withit, and so we're looking forward
to coming back next year. Theyall wanted to come back next year
(03:00):
and do an alumni trip. Justeverybody gelled. And, you know,
I think not only are we justteaching, but we're also creating
friendships, you know, so allthese people we had were awesome,
and they all really got alongwell, and that's. That's. That's
a big part of what we do andwhy we do it. Right. It's all a small
(03:21):
community, and it's all aboutmaking memories and friendships.
Yeah, absolutely. And, youknow, tomorrow you get ready to get
blown all over 81 so that youcan make it to Frederick for one
of the. I don't know if it'sthe premiere, but one of the early
premieres of Lefty's movie, right?
Yeah, it's actually thepremiere. So, going to go up and
see Ross Pernell, meet withhim for a day, and. And he's a main
(03:48):
guy, head honcho at FlyFisherman magazine. We've got some
projects I'm doing with himthis year, and then going to go stay
with my buddy Jay Nichols, andwe're going to drive down from Pennsylvania
down to the Frederick, andthat is the premiere for Lefty's
documentary. So I'm superexcited to be a part of that and
(04:08):
looking forward to what Jayput together. I know it's going to
be great because anything Jaydoes is always good. And, you know,
Ross being a part of it, Iknow they're going to honor Lefty,
and, you know, Flip is anarrator 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 aspecial, special night and just honoring
(04:33):
an icon and fly fishing. Theman, the Godfather. So I'm real excited
to be a part of that and, youknow, thankful to be a part of the
film in a small way, and justcan't wait to see what Jay put together.
It's. You know, Lefty deservedit. If anybody did, Lefty did. He
(04:53):
was our, like I said, theGodfather. And as Flick would always
say, the. He was the Internetbefore the Internet was there. He
was always connecting people,and he was always great about that
and sharing his knowledge, andwe don't want his memory forgotten.
So it's great to see thatthey're putting stuff out there for
(05:14):
the younger people that didn'treally know Lefty or know about him
and making sure thateverything he did for all of us is
appreciated and honored. Soit's going to be a great event and
I can't wait to see it. Andwe're going to highlight that again
down in Florida at our LegendsLefty Craze, Typhus down there, which
(05:38):
I know we've talked about thatbefore, but you know, that's coming
up the weekend of April 25through 27 where we've got a lot
of the icons it's still aroundlike Flip and Chico and Andy Mill
and Rob Fordyce, CarterAndrews, Hillary Hutchinson, Oliver
(06:00):
White and a bunch of others. Idon't want to leave anybody out,
but there's going to be, it'sgoing to be legends on top of legends
there. So it's going to be oneof those events that shouldn't miss
because we don't, you don'thave me. We don't have any idea how
long we're going to be able tohang out with everybody, you know.
And you know, I'm superexcited to get Larry Dahlberg down
(06:21):
there because he's always beenin and out of fly fishing. But you
know, I don't know thatthere's a greater angler that's ever
lived than Larry and havingthem be there. Super excited to get
him connected with people andback in the industry and just making
sure we highlight these guysand you know, honor them and let
(06:44):
them know we love them.
Yeah, absolutely. And I meanthat's not all the travel you've
got. I mean, you got stuffstacked up kind of into the spring
through the summer, right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like I said,you know, I'm leaving in the morning,
heading up to Pennsylvania andthen Maryland and coming back for
a couple days and then I'vegot a, a week long trip to Texas
(07:06):
to do do a fly tying class atDirty Waters in Dallas or just outside
of Dallas actually. I thinkit's near Fort Worth and doing a
couple, couple club eventsthere and got two of those. Then
I'm flying from Texas over toGeorgia to be a part of my good buddy
(07:28):
Jared over at in Georgia onthe coast down there near St. Simon's
island and he's putting on agreat event down there for a film
tour and a basically a flyfishing festival at his, his shop
and you know, it's going to bedoing a tying event class there for
him and I get back and got acouple other events I'm doing and
(07:53):
then, then we got that bigFlorida 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 myselflast year I wouldn't do that. But
you know, doing it again. SoI'm not going to. I'm going to miss
spring here in Virginia againand won't be home probably till mid
May for a little bit. But it'sthe way it is, man. You gotta keep
(08:17):
grinding. It's grind to shinelike Schultze says, you know, just
grass is definitely notgrowing under my feet these days.
So I'm happy to do it and wantto be a part of these great events.
Like I said, you know, theJack project is a big part of what
I want to do in the future. Aswe talked about with making sure
(08:39):
we are proactive on, on somefish like jacks that aren't protected
right now. We want to makesure we get some guardrails on, on
making sure that jacks arehealthy and not over fished and you
know, the same thing what wedid with Albies, you know. So for
me we're doing that film. SoI'm going to be traveling around
(09:01):
the country highlighting JackRafael and we're going to end up
doing a film and so we'regoing to be hitting five or six different
areas across the country andshould see a film by the end of the
year out about jacks and theconservation and protection of those
and it'll be highlighted in abunch of spots. Probably be in the
(09:23):
film tour next year as well.So stay tuned for that. It'll be
great. Jacks are exciting andthere's a lot of great visuals about
them and how powerful they areand just the aggression that they
have. It's one of my favoritefish and it's time that they get
the recognition they deserve.And I know the fly community really
appreciates them, but it'stime for the whole fishing community
(09:46):
to really appreciate what wehave before something happens to
them. And you know, again, wedon't know that they're endangered
or not, but we want to makesure that they are protected and
long term and they deserve tobe classified as a game fish. And
you know, that's what we'retrying to do.
So yeah, with all thattraveling, you better make sure you
(10:06):
change the oil in this in thestruggle bus.
Yeah, right. No kidding, man.But it'll be a fun. You know, I'm,
I'm enjoying it, butdefinitely looking forward to having
some downtime with the familyand getting, you know, a little bit
more concentration on thechaka factory itself. And all the
new products and stuff that'scoming, coming out with that.
(10:29):
Yeah. And you know, just tohighlight for folks, you know, as
we're heading into smallmouthseason and kind of warm water fishing
season, I mean, you've gotsome great stuff. You've got, you
know, don't let me leaveanything out, but I know you've got
crayfish claws. I know you'vegot pre cut parts for hellgramite.
So, you know, no more buyingpunches and punching your own foam
circles out. What else haveyou got going on?
(10:50):
Yeah, we got the, you know,all the new wings as well. So do
anything from cicada patternsto damselflies, dragonflies, stone
flies, house flies, you nameit, we, we've got all that. I'm excited
to get more stuff on that outthere. Working with videographer
(11:11):
on all that. So there's goingto be a lot of, I guess, sizzle type
stuff that's going to becoming out in the future. About all
the different patterns I'vebeen 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 thepipe here in the next six months
and looking forward to sharingthat with everybody. You know, we
(11:33):
got shrimp body parts coming,we've got crab body parts coming.
It's a lot of different uniquethings. It's not the same thing that
you see out there on themarket. And you know how I am. I've
always wanted to do my ownthing and, you know, make the fly
tying easier and, and betterand innovative and you know, that's
(11:57):
where I am. And you know aswell as I do, we've been holding
stuff off for a very long timeand now's the right time to make
it happen. And you know, Ithink the fly tire community is going
to be excited about it. Ireally hope they, they are. I feel
like they will be because alot of this stuff is just going to
make fly tying better andfishing better.
(12:19):
Yeah. And you got anythinggoing on on the apparel front you
want to let folks know about?
You know, we got some new hatsin 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 forpliers coming out from Corey, um,
who does a great job on, youknow, his different leather parts
(12:42):
and whatnot. And gonna bedoing some stuff with sight lines
with Edgar, bringing out somemore cuffs and bracelets and stuff
like that. And I'm sure we'lldo a couple T shirts and hat and
other hat projects. That's onthe. On the pipe. So, yeah, there's,
you know, like I said, justlike my travel. I'm not setting still.
(13:06):
We just, you know, it's tryingto find enough time to get it all
done and making sure I'm notforgetting anything, you know?
Yeah, there you go. And iffolks want to follow your adventures
and keep track of all thatstuff or buy something from the shop,
where should they go?
You know, you can hit. Hit mywebsite, which we've shared many
times. You can reach out to meon Instagram. I don't get on Facebook
(13:30):
a lot, so don't. Don't feelbad if I don't. You don't hear from
me. So if you want to hearfrom me, reach out on Instagram.
So, yep, just doing all thatstuff, man. Just trying to keep the
train on the tracks betweenthe mustard and the mayonnaise, you
know.
Well, absolutely. And, youknow, I know you'll be home for Easter.
(13:51):
I'll be up there, too, somaybe 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 sofor another update from the Chocolate
Factory. Tight lines,everybody. Tight lines, Blaine.
Thanks, Van. You too.
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