A little Yankee ingenuity that can save the day when albies get finicky!
The bite had been a slow pick on the backside of Cape Cod’s Monomoy Island, with finicky false albacore extremely hesitant to commit to the epoxy jigs and other tins we tossed their way. A swirl, followed by nothing, again and again. The silver streaks were visible racing along the sunlit shallows, and the sand eels were undoubtedly acting as the main fare. But our skipper, a long-time, and well-respected fly and light tackle expert, had an ace up his sleeve.
Many saltwater plug-chuckers are familiar with casting eggs used to cast light jigs or flies on a spinning rod when the fish are picky. Be it bass or albies, when the fish are keyed on micro bait, a streamlined fly is almost irresistible. But for a fly-first guide, there was no way a casting egg would be anywhere near his boat. And with his sports not being adept at tossing flies, what next? That was my introduction to trailing a fly behind a hook-less epoxy jig. The lifeline had been thrown, and the albies answered, hammering the trailing flies with abandon for the remainder of the trip.
Since that day, my version of the technique has been perfected after a few tweaks, suited for both shore-bound surf and jetty hoppers, as well as deck hounds chasing albies in a boat. The version I was initially introduced to was more of a last-ditch effort to save the day for the charter sports, not an actual part of the rotation. Now, I consider this a regular option and prep for it, where I have an outfit ready to swap out to when the albies are playing hard-to-get. That spare setup features no terminal tackle at all, which is a step up from what we used on that initial trip, standard charter gear with snap swivels to facilitate fast changes.
My typical shore outfit is a spinning rod or 8 or 9 feet, from boat or kayak a 7-footer is perfect. I like a soft tip, and fast action for flipping this rig into the feed zone. I prefer 20-pound braid for all my albie outfits, and will typically use 15-pound fluorocarbon for my leaders; however, I have gone to 12 when the fish were particularly sensitive.
For the business end, I forgo any hardware, tying my main line direct to my epoxy jig. I double my braid and then tie a five- or six-wrap improved clinch knot, to an epoxy jig weighing around an ounce. I do not believe color really matters, but personally, I lean towards pink or amber/gold. The tail hook should be removed and in its place, tie a 24- to 28-inch length of fluorocarbon, don’t make it any longer, as this increases the liklihood of your rig fouling on the cast. For flies, I favor smaller profiles like surf candies, flatwings or deceivers, anything that mimics a silverside, bay anchovy or sand eel will do. Last year, I had particularly good luck tossing an amber jig trailing a surf candy fly in a blue/green pattern.
It all came together one September day, I arrived at my second location after a tough early morning stop. As I walked out onto the jetty I encountered a couple of weary souls who had been casting for hours, and finally tossed in the towel. The fish were showing often enough, but other than one official sighting of a landing, and a hookup followed by a pulled hook, the fish just were not cooperating. With that news, my expectations took a bit of a hit; but this was the perfect opportunity to put the trailing fly to work. No sooner had the two broken fishermen faded into the dunes, when the sound of a frenzy erupted behind me, in the channel. A quick cast into the froth, and two cranks of the handle, a little tunny found my fly and blazed down the rocks. The lightning run was followed by a determined fight until I wrapped my hand around the beating tail of a beautiful false albacore. By noontime, I had caught two more fish, with an empty jetty and a dying tide. The jig and fly had done it again!
Give it a try… I’ll see you in the suds!
