Sharks, Whales and Albies--Harkers Island

[Wild Bill]

Bob, Terry and I fished Harkers from Nov 7-14. Last year was good but this trip was better. We fished all day every day but last Thurs when it blew a gale.

The albie fishing was incredible and we also had a load of sharks waiting for the albies to tire. The sharks varied from three footers to some magnum broad back 8's. The albies turned on the turbo when the sharks started chasing them. Often the albie became airborne. Some did escape but others did not. The sharks would grab the terrified albie and take off with fish, fly and line. After two fly lines got chopped, we used a 10' leader to protect the line. There would be a tremendous pull (sometimes for several minutes) and then the line would go dead as the leader was cut.

We also hooked some king mackerel but were not wired, so they chopped the flies off too. The final day was tough for many but we went off shore and found a huge bait ball. The bait took residence under my boat for protection. The albies did not attack them when they stayed completely under the hull. As they drifted out from the boat, there was carnage. We used all our old flies including some beat up crease flies. The albies readily took every fly we tried. Approximately half of the albies were landed, as the others were eaten by the sharks. The commotion was something to see, with a swift chase and an explosion as the shark caught the fleeing albie. The bait ball stayed with us for 3.5 hours and was still there when we left to go in.

Two sharks were hooked on flies. I "lip" gaffed the small one and it was all I could hold. With the bigger five footer that Terry caught, we cut the leader. We could not have held it with our small gaff and did not want to harm it anyway.

A whale came to visit and allowed us to get fairly close. He did not seem at all intimidated by the boat or motor. I was cautious because he was bigger than our boat. He definitely gave us the eye a couple of times.

All in all this was a spectacular trip. We took no spinning tackle on the boat. It was a fly fisherman's dream situation. I hope to be able to do it again next year.


http://home.ptd.net/~bschotta/lighthouse1.jpg
Cape Lookout Lighthouse

http://home.ptd.net/~bschotta/blitz2.jpg
Blitzes Like This All Week

http://home.ptd.net/~bschotta/bentrods.jpg
Numerous Doubles and a Number of Triples

http://home.ptd.net/~bschotta/hialbiebk.jpg
Bob with Typical Southern Albie

http://home.ptd.net/~bschotta/shark3.jpg
Five Footer We Did Not Handle

http://home.ptd.net/~bschotta/hialbietz.jpg
Terry with Typical Albie

http://home.ptd.net/~bschotta/bbalbie.jpg
Dr. Bob Bachman Fighting an Albie in the Bow of My Old 21 SE. Smile Bob.

http://home.ptd.net/~bschotta/whale2.jpg
Whale Bigger Than My 23 SE

http://home.ptd.net/~bschotta/hialbiebs1.jpg
This One Escaped the Sharks

[Lov2Fish]

Great report! Felt like I was with you guys reading the thread! Excellent pictures! I can't believe life can get much better than that! --127-3-

[JGH]

Great report. How big were those albies?

[mctrout]

NIce Stuff Bill- looks like amazing weather to boot!!! Thanks for the call and the update. have been out everyday in JBAy and its it going real well finally although fish are mostly small out front. will let you know when the big ones show. was only boat out there yesterday and had a fish every other cast for 8 hours!!!
later

[Wild Bill]

JGH-

The big albies have not shown yet at Harkers according to a friend who is a local guide. They may show late or not. The one I am holding in the last shot is exactly 15 pounds. We had a number of 13 -14 pound fish but no jumbos. I would like to go back but it is a long way and the fish can leave anytime after Thanksgiving. It is too chancy and there are too many other options. Back to concentrating on bass. Next trip will either be Sandy Hook, Ocean City MD or the CBBT for bass.

Brendan-

That is great action. I would like to get over there when the bigger bass are present.

[Wild Bill]

Wanted to add one more pic if possible.

http://home.ptd.net/~bschotta/halfalbie.jpg
This Poor Albie Got Caught

[foulhook]

I have'nt been on here in sometime and was suprised to see you here. How many flyrods were broken on that trip? Need a new GLX :brow I did'nt end up making it down there this week like we were suppose to. Hoping possibly the 20th to the 26th if i'm able to shift some things around. New baby on the way is making things tough. My buddy Rich is out in Raritan right now. Has managed 8 stripers and several blues so far this morning(no size to the stripes). Seems like the bigger fish action is south jersey right now. I'll be heading out next monday if we don't make Harkers. Did you get Huberts report about busting the Commercial guy with 8000lbs of stripers?

Tight lines,
Bob

[Wild Bill]

Hi Bob-

Now that I am fishing NJ and NY I thought I would try a forum for that area.

I am glad the CG followed through on the 8000 pounds of bass Frank saw being taken in Federal waters. They said they would let him know if they took action and it is to their credit that they got back to him.

My nine and ten wt GLX CC's got a work out. No broken rods this trip for me. They are powerful rods. The nine wt Sage Xi2 did a great job also. We had one high sticker who broke two rods. I have taken him to Harkers for eight years now and he breaks at least one per trip. He is great company but is spring loaded in the screw up position all the time.

[tommat]

Hi Bill,

Gald to see you had a great trip!! Hope to make it down there next year so that you can see all your former boats in one location. Maybe I will see you up at SandyHook before it's all over. Hope to be out on Saturday if the weather is halfway decent.

All the best.

Tom

[Wild Bill]

Hey Tom-

Your boat has already fished Harkers sucessfully for three years. I learned Harkers on that boat. One evening we had the albies chummed to the boat with rain minnows. The sun was going down and we were 15 miles from the inlet west of the Beaufort buoy chain. We kept up with the one more fish a bit too long. We reached the inlet as the it became dark. The snakey seven mile run to Harkers, with sand bars on each side and very low unlighted bouys, was a challenge with only a basic Loran C. It was warm and we made it back fine, but I try to run that channel with a little light these days. It changes some every year but is still OK.