9.22.19 BONES and BLUES (ALBIES SHOWED UP)

Fished hard all weekend, both days with my father in law, Brother in law and my wife's Uncle.  We caught lots of small to schoolie sized stripers around the islands with lots of small blues mizedd in.  We spent some time behind the islands looking for Bonito.  We got lucky while cruising slowly a blitz popped up right in front of us.  I hooked up on a topwater spook (the first rod I grabbed).  I noticed, while reeling the fish in, that there were about a dozen more of his buddies following him.  So I told the crew to just get their lure in the water near my fish.  They all hooked up.  Then they all lost their fish some how.  Then they all hooked up again.  Then they all lost them AGAIN.  I don't understand why.  We were traveling looking for albies when we came across lots of XL blues lazily finning on the water's surface.  We had many hook ups which can be viewed here Finning Blues.  One we had our filled we continued searching.  We came across an area with a lot of life.  There were small blues blitzing on the surface, adult bunker flapping on the surface, as well as frothing albie blitzs.  At times it was very difficulty to differentiate between all of the surface action, because it was happening in a cery small concentrated area.  We ended up hooking up with albies 2x.  Both times the 15lb leader broke.  I cannot understand why... Maybe it hit the tails of the other albies? I don't know.  But I was really mad.

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Norwalk Exotics: Spanish Macks and Bonito!

Squid with the first Western Sound Spanich Mackerel that I have ever seen

Headed out early on Saturday morning in search of Hardtails! Well, it didn't take long to see our first signs of life.  There were tuna jumping clear out of the water.  We were stoked, and tried to cast to them.  This only happened twice.  Then could not find them again. We were blind casting lures when a friend on my boat hooked up with what he described as a small bluefish.  When he swung it into the boat, we were both surprised to see its long slender body and yellow spots.  SPANISH MACKEREL. BAM!  We had no more hook ups, and did not see anything after this. So we braved the bumpy seas and headed to Long Island where there were rumors of Albies reported.  We thought we were on them, because there were small tight groups of birds hovering just over the water with boats surrounding them casting lures into the mix.  We soon found out they were just small blues.  We gave it a solid hour, then drove back to the islands where we found bonito steadily showing themselves.  We caught 2 to end the day.  Great first day of Hard Tail Hunting. Now I had a starting point for where to find them the next day.

Squid with a Bonito

Sunday morning we decided to take the whole family out.  I had our baby Lia strapped to my chest (with her life vest on) while I drove the boat.  My other daughter Lucy was running around the boat.  Which left it up to my wife Diana to seal the deal with Mr. Bonito.  In usual fashion we pulled up to the blitzing fish and within a few casts directly into the blitz she was on. BONIO.  She was beyond excited.  We had to wade through a few small blues, but ended up with 3 bonito landed on the boat (2 for my wife) 1 for me.  Don't mean to toot our own horn, but catching these fish alone with two competent anglers can be a daunting task as it is, then throw in 2 small children, almost impossible, between bottle feedings, snack breaks, Moana fishing rod casts, Moana sound track playing on the boat speakers, and the usual, and frequent tantrums... but damn, we made it happen.  It was a circus.


On a more serious note; I felt so lucky, and blessed to be able to share this experience not only with my wife, but with out 2 small children.  They may not remember it.  But we will.

"Ughh...This is not an albie, Dad."

My Wife, Diana sniped out a few Bonito.

Albie Gear Must Haves

1. HOGY EPOXY JIG (or something just like it)

Standard must have.  You can skip them on surface. Let them sink.  Jig them.  Very versatile.

2. ALBIE SNAX or HOGY SOFT PLASTICS

This is great unweighted in the natural colors when nothing else will work.

3. SLUGGO

I like the 4" on a weighted jig head in various colors; white, pink, and natural.

4. FLUOROCARBON

Albies have keen eyesight a 4-6' section of flouro is a must.  15lb is standard but 12lb is common on those greasy calm days.  Sometimes even 10lb is necessary.

5. 7' Medium Light Rod

Any brand rod will do. Something that can tame them in a 5 minute or less fight.

6. 3000-5000 Size Spinning Reel

Any brand will do. I prefer shimano because I find they have the smoothest drags, with very little start up inertia.

7.  Hook File

Always good to have regardless.  I like to just run the file 2-3 times on each hook in one direction to keep them sticky sharp.

8.  A CPR Plan

Have your phone/camera ready to go.  Know where you will be standing and how to hold fish for a quick CPR (Catch, Photo, Release) in order to insure a high survival rate.

9. Release

You should drop the fish into the water head first, so that the pressure of the water going through the mouth and into the gills of the fish acts as a "jump start" to get the fish revived.  If you do this properly the fish should swim off quickly, immediately after hitting the water.

10. Patience

If you have fished for them before, you already know what I mean.  If you have never, then you will learn to be a patient; waiting for them to show up, hoping that they eat your offering, patient for them to be in casting range.  However once you get a taste, you will never want to fish for anything else.

Western Long Island Sound Bonito!

First confirmed (with pic) report of bonito caught locally here in Western Long Island Sound.

Photo: Courtesey of Tightlined Slam Fishing Report

Pre Season Albie Prep

Ahh, I love this time of year.  So ripe with possibilities of what piscatorial bounty the fall may bring to us here in Western Long island sound with the next tide.  I am sure I am not the only one that relishes in every moment of prepping for the hopeful return of what I consider to be the best gamefish in the sound, the false albacore, or as many of us adoring fish loving addicts call them, "Albies".

 I can spend hours prepping; changing out leaders, organize lures, changing hooks, switching out fly lines, matching the best reels to that extra rod, tying fluorocarbon leaders to braid main lines, retying that knot because it wasn't good enough, checking drags, and cleaning fly lines.  This may seem tedious to some. I call it meditative.

Last year the albies showed up towards the end of the month.  All signs this year point to the albies showing up mid month as in prior years.  However I am reminded of the fact that albies never were regulars to the area until about 10-15 years ago.  It is always a possibility that they may just not show up.  There absence could be caused by the wind, tides, low numbers of that year class, who knows... all I know is I really hope they show up, because I wait all year for this.

Some factors that go in to the date that the albies show up is water temp, tropical storms, and wind direction.  Sometimes I have found that since we live near some large tidal rivers, a heavy rain can change the salinity of the water and keep them off shore, or just keep them from settling in to the area.

Its Begining to Look a Lot Like Fall!

It is beginning to look a lot like fall here in Western Long Island Sound.  The marinas, marshes, and tidal waters are starting to fill with young of the year bunker, and silversides.  Around the islands there is rain bait (bay anchovies) that are getting picked at by terns and gulls.  There are blitzes of small 1-2 lb bluefish.  This is a transition period from the slow doldrums of August to the drag ripping, adrenaline pumping, cool, crisp mornings of fall here in New England.  hopefully some of the Bonito that have shown up in large numbers off the Eastern part of the state have trickled in this way and will be popping up any day now.  Usual the Albies have shown up by Mid September around the week of the 15th-19th.  Last year I thought for sure they were not going to show, but hey made a surprise appearance on September 28th to grace us with their boisterous presence, luckily.  I am hopeful that they will show up on time, or possibly even early since they have already shown up in good numbers off Cape Cod, Rhode Island, and the Eastern parts of CT.  FINGERS CROSSED FOR A GOOD ALBIE RUN.

Photo Cred.: Urbanflyguide