Albies

[KironaFly]

On 4/7/2022 at 4:04 PM, ProSkateFisherman said:

I have some family in Newport and I’ve always wanted to try to fish for false albacore. I’ve read some stuff about them but I still don’t know how to really fish for them. I have some 3/4 oz spoons and stuff like that that I can use. But other than that, I don’t really have a clue.  I was up there for the first time last year for a wedding and I was able to make it into a bait shop and they told me it’s all boat fishing for them, but all the guys I talked to outside kept talking about a place called the Fort. So my question is, how do I fish for these fish? Rod/reel suggestions? Lures to use? Line?  What month should I go up to fish? I have a little 10 foot kayak, is that worth bringing? Thanks for any help. Still new to New England

You've gotten plenty of good advice in this thread. Because it's been planned, I'll be there the last week of September, doing what you intend to do. Visiting family and fishing when I can from shore and / or boat. Stop in at SWE, go wet a line and good luck!

[HugeDinghy]

Just saw they funded a tagging program for them.  

[albacized]

On 4/7/2022 at 4:04 PM, ProSkateFisherman said:

I have some family in Newport and I’ve always wanted to try to fish for false albacore. I’ve read some stuff about them but I still don’t know how to really fish for them. I have some 3/4 oz spoons and stuff like that that I can use. But other than that, I don’t really have a clue.  I was up there for the first time last year for a wedding and I was able to make it into a bait shop and they told me it’s all boat fishing for them, but all the guys I talked to outside kept talking about a place called the Fort. So my question is, how do I fish for these fish? Rod/reel suggestions? Lures to use? Line?  What month should I go up to fish? I have a little 10 foot kayak, is that worth bringing? Thanks for any help. Still new to New England

You'll often hear people advise to throw out small jigs, like epoxy jigs and small metals and reel in as fast as you can...that does work sometimes. But don't overlook soft plastics (both weighted and unweighted) such as albie snax and zoom flukes as well as small plugs. And don't overlook working those smaller jigs and metals at a slower pace at or near the surface

[Capt.Castafly]

As an albie whore myself chasing after them, there is nothing like when the hardtail season starts after the 1st week in September.

Everyone is hyper,  on overdrive, psyched up, when these high octane fish are around. You drop everything, just to be on the water.

It's precious time, not a long season, you wait all year for. It's interfered with high winds, storms, and wave surges, so good days are numbered to a few.

 

We all have our own personal game plan for the most part may be affective, but the best lures and flies can't catch what isn't there?

There are two big unknowns the last couple of seasons. Where are they going to show up?

It's been mind boggling, all the favorite stand out spots that were sure fire bets in previous season have tanked.

Famous albie locations like Newport, Watch Hill, Montauk have been barren for the most part.

 

The other factor is the sightings. Years ago you could always get a few cast into the bunch and the surface action might have lasted a few minutes. Today sighting are so fast up and down and they are gone in seconds, a leading indicator of less dense bait supplies.

It seems like we are always chasing ghost.

   

[Pescador710]

16 hours ago, Capt.Castafly said:

 

It's been mind boggling, all the favorite stand out spots that were sure fire bets in previous season have tanked.

Famous albie locations like Newport, Watch Hill, Montauk have been barren for the most part.

   

I have a couple theories about last years odd albie behavior…

 

I think the early season storms was a primary reason. Usually they’ll show up out front and start to creep up into the bay a bit. Now, tunoids do not like surf and breaking waves like stripers do, in fact, it maybe a risk to their life. About the time they usually show up, we had a few substantial storms. Spots like Newport and watch hill that have reefs that extend a good way from shore was probably avoided during these storms and they never moved into those areas like usual.

 

In mass they usually show up on the beaches then will move all the way up into the furthest reaches of BB with in a couple weeks. On normal years, if there’s a storm after they moved into the bay, they will still feed in protected waters while the high surf on the beaches are tough going. Last year the storms hit before they moved into the bay and they ended up never coming inside in any significant numbers. But the south cape had a good season.

 

Another thing that crossed my mind is the 2020 chub mackerel and bullet tuna frenzy. Did the heavy feeds of these unusual visitors all summer long impact 2021’s bait population? 

[ProSkateFisherman]

2 hours ago, Pescador710 said:

Another thing that crossed my mind is the 2020 chub mackerel and bullet tuna frenzy. Did the heavy feeds of these unusual visitors all summer long impact 2021’s bait population? 

Some good theories. I hate to derail the thread here, but is a chub mackerel also called “funnyfish”? I remember reading older threads and people kept mentioning funnyfish. From my research that’s what they are, but I don’t know. Also, bullet tuna? The only tuna I know are FA, bluefin, and yellowfin. Never been able to fish for them so I’m not too knowledgeable on them. Thanks

[Pescador710]

1 hour ago, ProSkateFisherman said:

Some good theories. I hate to derail the thread here, but is a chub mackerel also called “funnyfish”? I remember reading older threads and people kept mentioning funnyfish. From my research that’s what they are, but I don’t know. Also, bullet tuna? The only tuna I know are FA, bluefin, and yellowfin. Never been able to fish for them so I’m not too knowledgeable on them. Thanks

Chub mackerel are not necessarily unusual in summer/early fall in RI but they showed up in force in 2020. I guess some might consider them “funny.” 
 

Bullet tuna on the other hand was definitely an unusual visitor. They look like small (12”-15”) albies. Most people were calling them frigate mackerel which look nearly identical to bullet tuna. But being a curious former national marine fisheries observer, I decided to keep a couple to correctly identify. I painstakingly counted tiny scales to confirm that they were in fact bullet tuna.

 

 

these bullet tuna and chub mackerel were feeding heavily on small bait from mid July through sept 2020. The way they feed was quite unique. I can best describe it as a conveyor belt of little tunas with mouths open, ripping through a school of bait. The sound it makes is something else

Edited June 18, 2022 by Pescador710

[Capt.Castafly]

6 hours ago, Pescador710 said:

I have a couple theories about last years odd albie behavior…

 

I think the early season storms was a primary reason. Usually they’ll show up out front and start to creep up into the bay a bit. Now, tunoids do not like surf and breaking waves like stripers do, in fact, it maybe a risk to their life. About the time they usually show up, we had a few substantial storms. Spots like Newport and watch hill that have reefs that extend a good way from shore was probably avoided during these storms and they never moved into those areas like usual.

 

In mass they usually show up on the beaches then will move all the way up into the furthest reaches of BB with in a couple weeks. On normal years, if there’s a storm after they moved into the bay, they will still feed in protected waters while the high surf on the beaches are tough going. Last year the storms hit before they moved into the bay and they ended up never coming inside in any significant numbers. But the south cape had a good season.

 

Another thing that crossed my mind is the 2020 chub mackerel and bullet tuna frenzy. Did the heavy feeds of these unusual visitors all summer long impact 2021’s bait population? 

It's nice to swap hypothesis and get another person's perspective on the subject.

I have a good friend Dr. Dave Ross, Oceanographer  out of Wood Hole tell me all the time, " don't use the word theory when discussing un scientific support material." I don't agree with him. I agree in Math Science Area, if someone mentions Theory is absolutely correct all the time with a concrete basis and no other correlation can be made. This all may be semantics to me.

 

Newport and Watch Hill surprise me not having any albies the last two years. Even after a storm those places seem to have the cleanest water as far as sand is concerned. They do have lots of weed that break lose. We did have an early event the last two days of August. I had never before caught an albie along the mainland shore before prior to this. Yes! I believe the storm change a lot before the major migration with bait supplies and albies arrived.

 

Maybe it's the mixture of bait but never before could I catch albies, stripers, bluefish, mackerel, and shad all in the same location along the South County Beaches. There was suspended sand in the surf most times, this was keeping the albies off shore a thousand feet or more. There was an occasional bonito mixed in.

 

We had albies up in Narragansett Bay two years ago in the fall. That has never happen before. I think once the baitfish along the coast disappeared they moved north into the bay and found a feast. It was teaming with baitfish life in the fall. Don't expect the albies action in the bay to happen first. that will never happen. We were so lucky that time that they left their migration route home and side step their trip. They may have stayed too a little longer because the bay temperature was much warmer then the ocean temp that time of October.  

[JimKu]

Last year was horrible from shore in the spots I usually try. 
How far up Narragansett bay and sakonnet River do these fish travel?

I’ve fished sakonnet the river from shore for years and never seen them. 
I’ve visited cold state park and barrington beach and never seen any there either. 
Let’s hope this season is great. 

[albacized]

10 hours ago, Pescador710 said:

Chub mackerel are not necessarily unusual in summer/early fall in RI but they showed up in force in 2020. I guess some might consider them “funny.” 
 

Bullet tuna on the other hand was definitely an unusual visitor. They look like small (12”-15”) albies. Most people were calling them frigate mackerel which look nearly identical to bullet tuna. But being a curious former national marine fisheries observer, I decided to keep a couple to correctly identify. I painstakingly counted tiny scales to confirm that they were in fact bullet tuna.

 

 

these bullet tuna and chub mackerel were feeding heavily on small bait from mid July through sept 2020. The way they feed was quite unique. I can best describe it as a conveyor belt of little tunas with mouths open, ripping through a school of bait. The sound it makes is something else

Just to add, there were also some number of fishermen who thought they were catching juvenile albies when in fact they were catching those bullet tuna...If you heard reports in 2020 of catching early juvenile albies in July, they were likely in fact catching bullet tuna

[Pescador710]

3 hours ago, JimKu said:

Last year was horrible from shore in the spots I usually try. 
How far up Narragansett bay and sakonnet River do these fish travel?

I’ve fished sakonnet the river from shore for years and never seen them. 
I’ve visited cold state park and barrington beach and never seen any there either. 
Let’s hope this season is great. 

In my experience it is rare that they travel far up the Narragansett in spots like barrington. My thought on this is that they prefer high salinities. I wouldn’t suspect they go North of prudence island very often if ever. One year however bonito(with a few albies) pushed all the way up the sakonnet to Portsmouth.
 

Buzzards bay on the other hand has high salinity in all areas, as the furthest point inside buzzards bay is the canal, pumping water from CCB. Most years albies will move right into the canal and even poke out into CCB.  But… perhaps even the salinity in parts of BB dropped with the early season storms last year.

Edited June 18, 2022 by Pescador710

[Capt.Castafly]

2 hours ago, Pescador710 said:

 

Most years albies will move right into the canal and even poke out into CCB.  

You don't see them much in Cape Cod Bay. There's a huge temperature differential between Buzzards Bay and Cape Cod Bay like night and day. There has been more sightings around Provincetown two years ago, but the temperature difference moderates more gradually on the ocean front. These fish hate thermo shock, my guess if there is a temperature difference of five degrees or more that water becomes a barrier.   

[Kooky]

I saw them around prudence last year and heard reports as far up as rocky point.  The bait in the bay last fall was insane, we peanuts and pogies!

[Pescador710]

2 hours ago, Capt.Castafly said:

You don't see them much in Cape Cod Bay. There's a huge temperature differential between Buzzards Bay and Cape Cod Bay like night and day. There has been more sightings around Provincetown two years ago, but the temperature difference moderates more gradually on the ocean front. These fish hate thermo shock, my guess if there is a temperature difference of five degrees or more that water becomes a barrier.   

Agreed, the cold waters of CCB is usually an albie excluder. But in typical years, going back to the late 90’s, before I even targeted funnyfish, albies would usually make it to the east end- riding the east going current that pulls buzzards bay water through to the other side. Often times they’d even pop up in outside the canal by the cans or even in front of town creek. 

[JimKu]

I’ve seen them on the east end of the canal. Not sure how much they venture into ccb. Last year I didn’t go to the canal much but when I did the albies were not there. I don’t think it was a good year last year in the canal.