Tuna
09-08-2002, 10:59 AM
Most seasons, I ease into the albie madness with a few slow days catching a few a day before I have any killer days. Gets me warmed up and mentally ready for the later season red hot days.
Friday I got my first albies, but it was no warm up exercise. Rather than a few albies landed, I topped 20 for the first time since 1998. I'm not complaining, but withoout a warm up start I'm like a walking zombie after two days of it (luckily for my aching body, Saturday was not quite so hot).
Friday, I hooked my first albie about 5 minutes after getting to the point. Dropped that one and the next before landing my first of the season. At this point the albies were out pretty far in the rips, but they were bunching together in good sized pods and were catchable. They were also of good size, with 10 pounders frequent, some fish to 12 pounds mixed in.
When the bite slowed there, I moved to Caswells for some more good hot albie pods, again of good size.
When that slowed, I moved to Ditch Plains for even more albies. They were much pickier there (at this point the north wind had died and it was very calm) but managed to get some, particularly on the line between brown (algae filled?) shore water and blue water outside.
When that slowed down, I moved back to the point where the albies were hot again, and closer to the lighthouse there were big bluefish feeds and maybe bass mixed in.
By 5 pm my hands were pretty beat up. I had been fishing white, gold and chartruese epoxy flies up to that point and decided to see if I could get one on a crease fly. As I finished my first retrieve, standing looking for where to cast next, a big albie exploded on the crease fly feet from the boat and took off. Reel (drag gone for years now) banged up my left hand good and the fish generally gave me a tough time at the boat. First 2 times I grabbed its tail, it just shook so hard I had to let go. Got this thing in, really big, maybe 14 pounds, decided I would pass on what was a growing late afternoon bite. I wasn't in great shape before the last one, I was done after it.
Saturday Dan Duff joined me. There was a brief decent albie bite in the rips off the Point in the morning, but it was real calm and pretty crowded and for the next few hours there was little action. You could find albies, but not in the numbers that Friday showed for more than 8 hours. Also, there seemed to be more smaller albies in the mix.
Sometime early afternoon the wind picked up a bit, and so did the fishing. The albie pods got bigger and more consistent, and some mixed bass and bluefish feeds started near the lighthouse.
After 3 and growing until we left after 6 pm, things got hot. There was a pure bass feed in Turtle Cove that came out far enough for me to get some good video and for Dan to take a bass. Some of the albie pods were just unbelievable. And when the blues mixed in, some were good size (I had an 8 pounder or so convince me it was an albie until I landed it).
I was still hurting a bit from Friday, and I had subjected Dan to hours of pounding through the rips (when the albies were more sparse, I was moving way too much - Dan was a good sport about it [he knows albies make me crazy] but he took the brunt of the damage for all the moving). So we quit a little after 6 with the fish still going strong.
Just before Dan's last albie, a big boat seemed to be coming way too close to us. Then I heard Howie call out - yup, his boat Venture looked all spiffed up and ready to rumble for the giants up north.
Although Saturday was not as good as Friday, the late afternoon bite made it pretty darn good anyway. Neither Dan nor I could remember if he had equaled or best his previous albie high - not remembering how many fish you landed is always a sign of good fishing (well, at least for Dan, who is too young to rely on senility for this). I caught as many as I could handle that day, happy to break double digits without approaching the 20 mark that generally means pain for me.
I'm in a zombie like state at the moment, replaying visions of albies crashing feet from the boat and bass feeds that cannot be believed unless you see them. Gonna get out again at the end of this coming week, but need to rest up - I ache in places I didn't know I had.
Friday I got my first albies, but it was no warm up exercise. Rather than a few albies landed, I topped 20 for the first time since 1998. I'm not complaining, but withoout a warm up start I'm like a walking zombie after two days of it (luckily for my aching body, Saturday was not quite so hot).
Friday, I hooked my first albie about 5 minutes after getting to the point. Dropped that one and the next before landing my first of the season. At this point the albies were out pretty far in the rips, but they were bunching together in good sized pods and were catchable. They were also of good size, with 10 pounders frequent, some fish to 12 pounds mixed in.
When the bite slowed there, I moved to Caswells for some more good hot albie pods, again of good size.
When that slowed, I moved to Ditch Plains for even more albies. They were much pickier there (at this point the north wind had died and it was very calm) but managed to get some, particularly on the line between brown (algae filled?) shore water and blue water outside.
When that slowed down, I moved back to the point where the albies were hot again, and closer to the lighthouse there were big bluefish feeds and maybe bass mixed in.
By 5 pm my hands were pretty beat up. I had been fishing white, gold and chartruese epoxy flies up to that point and decided to see if I could get one on a crease fly. As I finished my first retrieve, standing looking for where to cast next, a big albie exploded on the crease fly feet from the boat and took off. Reel (drag gone for years now) banged up my left hand good and the fish generally gave me a tough time at the boat. First 2 times I grabbed its tail, it just shook so hard I had to let go. Got this thing in, really big, maybe 14 pounds, decided I would pass on what was a growing late afternoon bite. I wasn't in great shape before the last one, I was done after it.
Saturday Dan Duff joined me. There was a brief decent albie bite in the rips off the Point in the morning, but it was real calm and pretty crowded and for the next few hours there was little action. You could find albies, but not in the numbers that Friday showed for more than 8 hours. Also, there seemed to be more smaller albies in the mix.
Sometime early afternoon the wind picked up a bit, and so did the fishing. The albie pods got bigger and more consistent, and some mixed bass and bluefish feeds started near the lighthouse.
After 3 and growing until we left after 6 pm, things got hot. There was a pure bass feed in Turtle Cove that came out far enough for me to get some good video and for Dan to take a bass. Some of the albie pods were just unbelievable. And when the blues mixed in, some were good size (I had an 8 pounder or so convince me it was an albie until I landed it).
I was still hurting a bit from Friday, and I had subjected Dan to hours of pounding through the rips (when the albies were more sparse, I was moving way too much - Dan was a good sport about it [he knows albies make me crazy] but he took the brunt of the damage for all the moving). So we quit a little after 6 with the fish still going strong.
Just before Dan's last albie, a big boat seemed to be coming way too close to us. Then I heard Howie call out - yup, his boat Venture looked all spiffed up and ready to rumble for the giants up north.
Although Saturday was not as good as Friday, the late afternoon bite made it pretty darn good anyway. Neither Dan nor I could remember if he had equaled or best his previous albie high - not remembering how many fish you landed is always a sign of good fishing (well, at least for Dan, who is too young to rely on senility for this). I caught as many as I could handle that day, happy to break double digits without approaching the 20 mark that generally means pain for me.
I'm in a zombie like state at the moment, replaying visions of albies crashing feet from the boat and bass feeds that cannot be believed unless you see them. Gonna get out again at the end of this coming week, but need to rest up - I ache in places I didn't know I had.