Dan Blanton

There ain’t enough time in a day, or fish in the water, for Dan.” Those dozen or so words from Lefty Kreh say more about Dan Blanton than I can manage in twelve hundred. But let me try.

Blanton once drove tanks for the US Army. There’s a personal parallel there — big, powerful, able to go around, over and, if necessary, through obstacles. His post-military working life was that of an electricity linesman — a spiked-boot, hard-hat, high-wire act over the California desert, up poles where vultures perch, hauling on weighty power lines that never seem to end.

Share a boat with Blanton and you soon know he’s been a working man. Staying-power and a marathon runner mindset aren’t the province of an office Johnnie. Nor are we talking 4/5/6-weight rapier wands, but 10 and 12-weight Claymores.

Dan’s office is an Aladdin’s Cave that reveals more of the man. Tucked away against a wall, though not obscured by any leaning stuff, is a six-rod rack with a row of trigger-grip casting rods loaded with 1960s vintage baitcast reels. Dan had been a jig fisherman, a past many share. There’s no better stepping stone into fly fishing than a lure fishing apprenticeship.

San Francisco Bay

Dan came into the sport at the epicentre of a couple of west coast watershed events and became the seismic force to shape another.

In one of the most successful translocations ever, striped bass were brought across from the Atlantic seaboard. San Francisco Bay became a stronghold. Stocked striper populations were also successful in the domestic freshwater impoundments in the surrounding hills, and are on a par cult-wise with our own stocked barramundi dams.

San Francisco Bay lies more or less in the Blanton neighbourhood, and it was here that Dan made his reputation as a striper lifer. The Bay area is a rich fly-fishing repository. The Golden Gate Angling and Casting Club, in the shadow of the famous bridge, is to our sport what St Andrews is to the game of golf. A spiritual home that gave us shooting heads, the double haul, and by nearby association, the tubular fibreglass rod blanks that were to be followed in the early 1970s by forerunners of today’s graphite composites.

Put a larger-than-life character like Dan into an era of creative change and flux, and something practical, spot-on and positive had to emerge.

The Whistler

Thinking outside the square, Dan created a fly that embodied the characteristics of the bucktail jigs he’d been so successful with in lure fishing days. It featured the same red head and white body, and the same undulating action — a much more effective strike-getter than a straight and level retrieve. The originals were tied with bead-chain eyes that meant the fly cast with the sound of an angry hornet. Hence the name.

Dan’s analytical and imaginative designs filled some important gaps. Lefty’s Deceiver was and still is a pre-eminent saltwater pattern, but being unweighted wasn’t ideally suited to getting down amid rushing tides. San Francisco Bay’s currents were the reason for Alcatraz. Few absconders completed the swim to freedom.

Like the Deceiver, which has evolved into a tying style, Blanton’s Whistler has many descendants. These include the Barred ’n Black conjured up by his mate Ed Given, a great bloke I’ve also shared a boat with. Harold’s Tiger, an aptly named colour variation I came across in Costa Rica, is a Blanton legacy from his pioneering days in Central America. Not to omit The Pink Thing, a tarted-up Whistler that’s become the ‘go to’ fly for barramundi, though the rabbit fur collar some Australian tiers now use is a poor substitute for the original stiff hackle.

In contrast, Blanton has made a good fly better. Innovations he’s adapted into the Whistler format include 60-degree jig hooks, less prone to snagging without any reduction in the strike to hook-up ratio. The ‘flashtail’ concept, something I’m sold on and have widely adopted, extends the flash material a centimetre or so beyond the other dressings.

Down Under

Dan has been Down Under a few times now and rates Australia high as a place for fly-fishing countrymen to visit. This is despite a first trip that hit a few potholes. We were off to a place where the saratoga were the size of ironing boards — Aboriginal land on Cape York — but the death of an elder put the kybosh on that. We had to settle for second best, the Archer River and swags on the ground. The aluminium punt was motorless. Before that he’d done a 1200 km daytrip down to Proserpine, only to find the lake whipped up by 30 knot winds and the barra well and truly off the chew.

I’ve seen Americans with much smaller names explode over considerably less, but the big, balding, sandy-haired Irishman took it all in his stride. Elsewhere, Dan pretty much set the high-water mark for species on fly, but his capacity to ride over rough times is just as important.

Guiding & Writing

For many years Dan was a fly fishing guide specialising in striped bass. Few media identities anywhere in fishing own the fish nous and people skills to make a go of things as a guide. He ran a tight ship and a full book, until calling it quits at the end of 2011.

Off-water, despite (or because of) being a self-taught writer, Dan throws a tight and sometimes wicked line. He’s been an editor and for years a highly respected fly fishing journalist throughout the land. His book on California fly fishing is authoritative in its field, as are his laden and succinct writings on shooting heads. No one outside the competition casting community has done as much to introduce heads into everyday fly fishing, fresh and salt.

It would be no stretch to rate danblanton.com as America’s most respected fly fishing website. He invites participation via a bulletin board that is a veritable brains trust on the how, where, when and why. Viewers and posters include a goodly proportion of Australians. The same oceans that separate countries are those that connect anglers.

In an era where cyberspace is littered with dead and languishing websites, Blantonville goes from strength to strength. The cordial level of decorum, to say nothing of the veracity of help and information dispensed, takes special people. It says much for the man, and the respect in which he’s held, to have so many fly fishers of all nations aboard. More than anything, the course and conduct is a direct reflection on the captain.

Dan Blanton’s a skipper you’ll not find asleep at the wheel.

BLANTON’S FLIES

Anyone who has been around fly fishing for a while will probably have heard of Dan Blanton through his numerous books and articles, his bulletin board or his fly patterns. Dan lives south of San Jose, California, within easy reach of some of that state’s best salt and freshwater fly fishing. To the list of his many skills as instructor, lecturer, author, photographer, tackle and travel consultant, I would hasten to add that of fly fishing ambassador. Now ‘retired’, Dan has focused his attention on the growth of fly fishing and the preservation of the striped bass fishery in California through Striperfest — an annual fly fishing bonanza that draws people from across the United States.

Many Blanton flies, and their derivatives, are staples of anglers around the world. His original patterns utilised materials that were readily available at the time, but Dan has been quick to adopt and encourage the use of modern synthetics, making for more durable and more realistic flies.

Dozens of generalist patterns will work anywhere at some time or another, but Dan firmly believes that in this day and age, anglers had better have some hatch-matching imitations in their collection. Browse through the flies he uses and you’ll find the latest materials, blended with traditional fibres like bucktail, placed creatively to achieve action, attitude and profile.

Dan has embraced the use of jig hooks with a passion, noting that the hook-up conversion rate is higher than standard ‘J’ hooks and fish are rarely lost. His preferred hooks are the Targus TAR9413, Fly Shop FS5444 or Eagle Claw EC413.

Here are some of Dan’s favourites…BLANTON’S SAR-MUL-MAC

Dan’s Sar-Mul-Mac (Sardine-Mullet-Mackerel), developed in 1971, was amongst the first to use glass taxidermy eyes. Tied in a selection of sizes and colours, this pattern imitates a number of popular baitfish in a realistic, three-dimensional fly that is still widely used today. The Sar-Mul-Mac can be tied from a diminutive size 2 up to 8/0 monsters for sailfish.

BLANTON’S FT JIG HOOK WHISTLER

This is Dan Blanton’s signature fly and one that has dozens of variants.

His original Whistler, developed in 1964 on a conventional hook, was amongst the first saltwater flies to incorporate bead chain eyes (hence the whistling sound). Tied ‘in the round’, it sports a long wing behind a full collar of wound hackle to push water, supported with a few turns of chenille to simulate gills. Designed to get deep in dirty water for tarpon, it has inspired countless variations. Dan’s own tie now incorporates his Flash Tail and is tied on a jig hook.

SAR-MUL-MAC

HOOK: Tiemco TMC811S, Mustad 34007 or 3407

THREAD: White Danville’s Flat Waxed Nylon

EYES: 4–9 mm yellow plastic-stem eyes, stem removed

UNDERBODY: 8–10 turns of 0.03″ lead wire

UNDERWING: Medium bunch of white bucktail

OVERWING: Three long white saddles on each side, curved inwards

THROAT: Medium bunch of white bucktail

SIDE FLASH: Silver Flashabou

TOPPING: Royal blue bucktail topped with royal blue Krystal Flash topped with peacock herl

FT JIG HOOK WHISTLER

HOOK: Targus TAR9413, Eagle Claw EC413 or The Fly Shop FS5444 #3/0–4/0

THREAD: Red Danville’s Flat Waxed Nylon

UNDERBODY: 10 turns of 0.03″ lead wire

FLASHTAIL: Silver and pearl Flashabou, mixed

TAIL: White bucktail or Slinky Fiber

TOPPING: Hot pink bucktail topped with purple bucktail (or Slinky Fiber) topped with purple Krystal Flash

SHOULDER: Large grizzly neck hackle

CHEEKS: Rainbow Krystal Flash

GILLS: Two turns of red chenille

COLLAR: 2 or 3 white saddle hackles or schlappen faced with chartreuse

EYES: Large bead chain

In Australia, Whistlers are red-hot on everything from northern barramundi to southern bluefin tuna, but some colour combinations stand out. Try red or pink collar with white wing, a chartreuse collar with chartreuse and white wing, and all-black. Local Whistler variations such as the Pink Thing and Gusto share the same attributes but use different materials and proportions.

Whistlers look the same from all angles, and combined with a short-shank hook offer non-fouling properties as well as an enticing diving motion. These days many types of eyes are used, from depth-probing dumbbell style to plastic bead chain for hanging in the water column.

This is a fly that demands attention. Rear weighting and a few simple proportional rules are the keys to imparting a sideward kick to the retrieve. Short, sharp strips make the rear weight try to overtake the rest of the fly — just perfect for imitating wounded bait.

BLANTON’S FT JIG HOOK CLOUSER

Like most of us, Dan likes to experiment with any fly that works. Blanton’s Flash Tail Jig Hook Clouser resulted from tinkering with a productive fly to suit a particular need in his local fishery. Adding 20–30 strands of Flashabou extending about 25 mm beyond the tail is a Blanton signature best described as ‘adding neon lights to your fly’.

Flash tails can be incorporated in many patterns. I like to add them to Clouser Half and Halves. And if the fish are turned off by the flash, all that’s required is a few judicious nips with a pair of scissors or cutters.

Dan Blanton’s web site is a popular global resource for fly fishers with hints and tips for everything from fly patterns to rigging to travel. The bulletin board (forum) is a popular place for anglers from across the globe to ask questions, provide answers and show off their latest technique or fly pattern. Participation is heartily encouraged, and it is this encouragement that Dan shares both online and in person. Dan’s enthusiasm for sharing his knowledge of fly fishing is infectious.

DARTING JIG HOOK SEA HABIT

HOOK: Targus TAR9413 or The Fly Shop TS5444 #2/0

EYES: Chartreuse 8 mm 3D Eyes

THREAD: Danville’s Flymaster Plus 210 denier

KEEL: 0.03″ lead wire wrapped on 40 lb mono, or medium Channel Lead from Cascade Crest Tools

TAIL: Six white saddles with silver Flashabou outside

BODY: Chartreuse Baitfish Emulator Flash synthetic hackle

COLLAR: Red Cactus Chenille, large

WING: Chartreuse Flash ’n Slinky synthetic hair topped with chartreuse bucktail

TOPPING: Light blue Krystal Flash

HEAD: Large diamond braid coated with 5 minute epoxy or UV-cured resin

FT JIG HOOK CLOUSER

HOOK: Targus TAR9413, Eagle Claw EC413 or The Fly Shop FS5444 #2–3/0

TAIL: Silver and pearl Flashabou, mixed

UNDERWING: White bucktail

OVERWING: Chartreuse bucktail topped with light blue Krystal Flash

CHEEKS: Silver Flashabou

EYES: Dumbbell eyes (Real Eyes Plus)