Speeding schools of albies can make for fast action on the fly!
Reel handles spinning in a blur, fly line and backing racing through the guides, hooked fish ending up way, way out there after that first run, and everything happening so fast. Yeah, I think you’re ready to hook into some speedsters. I sure am.
Here are some things to think about, especially if you’re false albacore inexperienced.
When it comes to bait, albies mainly eat small baitfish, often bay anchovies, striped anchovies, silversides, and sometimes peanut bunker, so you want flies that will copy these well, such as, small Surf Candies, Epoxy Minnows, small Clousers, and Deceivers, for the first three, and a small wide profiled 3 1/2-inch fly to copy the peanuts. Just make sure that you have at least a handful of these imitations. A good thing about these small flies is that they’re very castable. There are times when the albacore will be feeding on 6-inch immature bunker, sometimes selectively, too. Now you’ll need a menhaden fly (like Sedotti’s Feather Slammer, Skok’s Mushmouth, or a larger Lefty’s Deceiver) about the same size to draw a hit.
Out in a boat, look for schools of albies exploding, thrashing, and ‘greyhounding’ through the bait. Often you’ll see baitfish airborne when this happens. You’ll even hear a distinct sound as the albies, moving so fast, virtually rip through the bait. It actually sounds like water tearing. Sometimes you’ll see the predators roll here and there, too.
Albies often first run through a bait school and then come right back, individuals attacking the prey from all directions. This is classic albie feeding and all you have to do when this happens is toss that fly either completely over the school or right into the middle of the frenzy and retrieve it right through the melee.
For the last two seasons, the albies have often been behaving in a different manner than in the past. Perhaps this indicates a different feeding situation. Anyway, what we have been encountering is albie schools swimming straight ahead and fast, often downtide, through baitfish schools swimming in the exact same direction. In order to catch these albies you have to get in front of them so that they’re swimming directly at you and present the fly to them with a “head on” shot, like you do in shallow water flats tarpon fishing. Retrieve fast (you’ll often need a hand over hand retrieve here to stay, first tight with the fly, and then move it along toward you from there) to keep the fly directly ahead of and in the fish. The fly is being retrieved in the same direction the albies are swimming. This takes a lot of work, coordination, and good timing, sometimes without too much success either. They’ve often been “tough” in this situation. Stay perseverant and you’ll get your hookups.
If you’re fishing from shore, say around Trumans Beach on the North Fork of Long Island, around Sandy Hook in New Jersey or the West Wall at Point Judith Rhode Island, albies aren’t often showing at these places but are still there. On the North Shore and Sandy Hook just continually bling cast out off the beach. Sooner or later a passing albie will see your fly and you’ll hook up. Cast your fly parallel and in close to the West Wall jetty (say three feet away) to keep your fly in “the zone.” The predators here are swimming along close to the structure because it’s where the bait, and especially the “vulnerable” bait is. When it comes to the beach, albies often run along that too, but can be at different distances from shoreline. An indicator that albies have been around very recently is the number of anglers in the vicinity. They’re not hanging around for no reason.
Additional Tips
Rods to use: 9 or 10 Wt. Hardy Marksman Z and G Loomis NRX + are two fine examples.
Line: Matching WF Floating or Intermediate Sinking Fly Line (Scientific Anglers, Cortland, or Wulff)
Fly Reel: A reel with a good drag that will hold at least 100 yards of backing.
Flies: Epoxy Minnows, Surf Candy, Small Deceiver (2 3/4 – 4 inch), small Clousers
Retrieve: Fairly fast, certainly fast enough to stay in touch with your fly as well as to at least move it some in addition. Most of the time I like keeping my fly moving at a good rate. I also like using the two-handed, rod grip in the arm pit retrieve for albies.
