September 21, 2018 (NO ALBIES!)

I am very reluctant to make this post because I keep hoping that any day will be the day when the albies invade the western sound.  Unfortunately that has not yet happened.  Supposedly there are a few pods around, that  a few fisherman have spotted, but those are very few and far between.  I have been out a handful of times and I have not come across anything that I could positively say was in fact a false albacore.  The only positive reports that I have heard of have come from online fishing reports from Fisherman's world.  I have only heard of one, 1st hand account of a local fisherman seeing albies feeding in the area.  At this same time last year we landed over 20 albies on my boat.  I have kept a log for the last 4 seasons and this is the only year that I have not seen an albie at this time yet. I am very concerned, because they are my all time favorite fish to catch.  Older, more experienced fisherman have reminded me that false albacore are never a guarantee.  The last 4 years just so happens, have been the best showing of albies in the western sound in recent history.  There have been plenty of years where they have not shown up at all.  The bottom line is, we have just gotten used to them showing up and that is not the norm.  I just hope that some how, we get a few schools to wander this way so we can get an opportunity to connect with one of the best fighting pelagic fish that graces our waters.

There is an abudance of bait in the Western sound; peanut bunker,silversides, and rainbait.  I have witnessed a blitz of small bass just outside the islands where we caught them on epoxy jigs.  I also got in on some small bluefish blitzing behind cockenoe.  I traveled all the way to middleground lighthouse, and had nothing more to show for it than some sea bass and XL porgies.