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