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Albie Video

I layed in bed not knowing what was going to be thrown at me the next morning. I woke up to the sweet sound of raw horse power and put my game face on. The engine was purring like a kitten as Jeremy manuvered the boat through the bay. There they are! The albies were showing thick just like jeremy said they would. We waited silently for the next pod of fish to come up. In a flash, the albies showed alongside a rock structure. The albies were literally spraying bait up onto the rocks. And, what was totally unforeseen by me, these fish were not the same fish I had previously seen, it was a whole other pod of fish. I was amazed to see some many albies around. The albies in the distance were ripping apart the bait like warriors, something totally forgotten by me since I had been accustomed to bonito like behaviors this year. These were no bonito! I could see the albies jumping clear out of the water, crushing everything in site. Just as that pod of fish goes down, another comes up, and so on and so forth. Jeremy suddenly spots a huge pod of albies up ahead. They are not far away at all and just out of casting range. Slowly, jeremy pulls the boat up alongside the fish. I make sure that my line is clear and that all of it is in my stripping basket. I resisted the undying urge to cast before the boat had slowed down completely. I saw the fish up ahead of me. I recalled what Jeremy had said “get it right in the pod of fish. If you don’t get it right into them, or they are not all on top busting on bait, forget about it.” I made the cast, but was too short. I could clearly see the albies dashing through the water crushing the bait. I could also see my fly, a mere 10 feet outside of the albies feeding frenzy. I now understood what Jeremy meant by getting it “into the pod.” Unlike most of the tuna that I had fished for before, the albies were still up on the surface. I hauled out all my line that I had inside of my stripping basket and tried to be as presice as humanly possible. My line hit the water and landed right into the fish. Having fished for hard tails before, I quickly realized

that I needed to move my fly! The albies were crushing the bait and jumping over my fly line! “Strip!” Jeremy yelled. There wasn’t even any time for a “there he is!” before the albie was screaming into my backing. After a huge first run, the albie runs at me. I gain line and when we finally reconnect, he decides to head off again, this time even farther than the first. Finally! I hit the fly line. My arm is burning in pain but I love every minute of it. This is what I had been waiting for for years. Jeremy waits for the fish to surface and moments later tales my first albie. I gaze at the dark eyes, transclucent fins, and green back of my first false albacore. After a quick “tuna toss” Jeremy looks at me and says “can you handle 20 more?” I looked at him puzzled knowing that 20 albies would be a record breaking day, until I followed his finger pointing to another epic blow up of albies harassing bait off the bow. It was going to be an epic day. Much of our tackle went down, but nothing could ever make me forget the fun I had catching my first false albacore on a fly rod.

• False Albacore: Busted Rods, Smoked Reels & Good Times by Austin on September 29, 2007
  

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