Take on the challenge of New England’s fall run triple crown!
I’ve only hit the fall run triple crown three times in the past, and all three times have come in September. New England’s fall run triple crown is achieved when you land a false albacore, a striped bass and a bluefish in the same day. Those are the big three gamefish that many southern New England fishermen chase in September.
To do it, you need some luck, but you also need to play it just right.
The Mindset
Last year I hit the triple crown on an early September day. I just happened to walk into a blitz of fish in a deep water shore location. There were massive schools of bay anchovies pinned against the rocky shore with feeding stripers whirling and feeding all around, sometimes just feet from the rocks where I was standing. Knowing the bait was small and slender, I snapped on a float and fly. The fly was a homemade pink Deceiver, a pattern that has been hot for me over the past couple of years. It didn’t matter where I casted, as there seemed to be stripers slurping up bait everywhere. On just about every cast, I had a swirl or a good take, and I landed many bass in a short amount of time that ranged from hefty schoolies to slots.
Suddenly, I saw different fish enter the feeding fray. These fast movers blasted through the bait like torpedoes, and right away I knew they were albies. I casted my float and fly ahead of the speedsters many times until finally a vicious hit stopped the retrieve dead its path, the drag screamed off and I was on. After a drag-testing battle, I had my first albie of the day on the rocks. In the back of my mind, I knew I just needed a bluefish to complete the triple crown. There were all kinds of fish breaking or whirling but I saw none that I could positively identify as bluefish. I knew at this point that my float and fly, more specifically the fly, would not hold up to the blue’s sharp teeth, so I changed to a Rebel Jumpin’ Minnow.
As luck would have it, I saw another fisherman to my right landing a bluefish. I plugged the Jumpin’ Minnow and landed several more stripers. Finally, I had a fish on that ripped off line in fast spurts. Yes, it was a bluefish and soon I had my third species on the rocks. That hard-to-get blue completed the triple crown!
Start With Albies
If you are looking to achieve the fall run triple crown, there are a few key strategies to keep in mind. Focus on catching the albie since those fish are often the most difficult to find and the most difficult to catch. Location, especially from shore, will play a big role in where you find them. Also, focus on what you are using. Stripers and albies tend hit many of the same lures, but you might have to change lures or tactics to snare a bluefish just as I did the above example.
Albies can be tricky to catch from shore. They tend to hang around deep water spots; rocky jetties that extend out into deeper water are great spots as are jetties that border outflows. Drop-away rocky shores or plunging beachfronts are also good bets. Regardless of the places you fish, the most important thing to locate is bait. These fish are the ultimate predators who roam the oceanfront in search of food. No bait, no albies. They usually give away their presence with fast moving slashes on the surface that look like torpedoes.
In recent years, the albies’ baitfish of choice in September has been the bay anchovy, a slender, small, light-colored baitfish that ranges from two to about four inches in length. Being small, it sets up a dilemma for fishermen since your lures must be small and slender. Small offerings usually limit your casting. However, the egg float and fly I used last September can be a killer since the egg produces booming casts and the fly is a dead ringer for bay anchovies. Many fishermen like to use skinny metal like a Kastmaster XL, a Colt Sniper or an epoxy jig. If you are using skinny metal, a fast retrieve is almost a must.
Finally, another good lure for me has been the Albie Snax. This soft plastic lure loosely resembles a fat, stubby version of a Slug-Go. It has an enticing darting movement if you retrieve it with short pulls of the rod tip. The disadvantage to the Snax is that they don’t cast very far. So, I typically only reach for these when the fish are really close. In a boat where a long cast is not so critical, the Snax can be the best of the three lures mentioned, because they have the best action.
I find that albies and stripers will often hit the same bay anchovy imitators. And, when there’s a lot of bait around, you tend to find stripers and albies hanging around the same deep water areas. So, it should come as no surprise that you frequently catch stripers and albies together.
Betting On Blue
Bluefish are a different story. In recent years, they have been scarce along the oceanfront. The pattern for blues here in Rhode Island has been that we see good numbers in late spring and early summer but then they seem to disappear by the fall. However, where you find large amounts of bait, some blues will probably mix in with the other species. Once I catch my striper and albie, I change tactics in the hopes of luring a blue.
| THREE IF BY SEA |
| If you’re having trouble completing the crown from the surf, consider hoping on a boat or kayak. Boat fishermen will enjoy a big advantage when pursuing September’s triple crown. They can move around a lot easier than shore fishermen, and they can work the deeper water where the albies like to hang out. However, of the three occasions I have landed the triple crown, two of those times came from shore and only one came from the boat. In either case, perseverance is going to be the biggest key to your success. |
The most consistent September artificials for bluefish have been topwater plugs. Blues love to scan the surface for a target to attack. If you ask me, there’s nothing better to use for a September blue than a spook-style offering like the Rebel Jumpin’ Minnow or a Yo-Zuri Hydro Pencil. If I’m looking for a real long cast, I might go with a small pencil popper. Note that the stripers will also hit these topwater offerings but the sharp eyed albies generally will not.
If you are looking for a personal challenge, September offers you the best bet to catch southern New England’s fall run triple crown. Stripers will come easy. The albies and bluefish will be considerably more difficult to find and land, but opportunities are there where bait exists. If you look in the right locations and use the right lures you just might get that triple crown of a blue, a striper and an albie on the same day. It’s a September phenomenon.
