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.
