Saltwater Fly Fishing For AlbiesFly Fishing VideoWatch HD Quality:Albie Video
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Anybody who has spent time chasing albies in the northeast knows that it is not a game of consistent fishing. This, of course is the case with any fishing but even more so with saltwater fly fishing and especially in the northeast pursuing albies. They are highly migratory fish that follow their own patterns that are very unpredictable and erratic. They move at very high rates of speed and show up seemingly out of nowhere and can drive you crazy trying to figure them out. Sure, there are certain spots where they tend to show up more consistently and they need food to lure them in so you can stack the odds in your favor, but that still doesn’t guarantee anything. Even if you do find a spot where these things are coming together there are numerous other factors that you can’t control like wind, tides, currents, weather etc. that also have to align to making for a very difficult fishing scenario. Knowing this, I watch the conditions very carefully because I know that there will only be a few days each season where everything aligns just right and maybe none at all. Those extremely rare days where the weather is sunny and warm and even more importantly with virtually no wind and flat calm seas. Anybody who fishes the saltwater knows that these days are few and far between all season long. Most of the time there is some front, or some thunderstorm, or offshore storm, or whatever that throws a wrench into your plans and creates much more difficult conditions. This past season in late August I had been watching everything hoping that I would be lucky enough to see one of these days. Jeremy was on the water in Rhode Island with his boat for one of his 10 or so day marathon fishing benders and had a few days with nobody to fish with. I was fortunate enough to be close enough to be able to meet him and I saw the conditions aligning in the most perfect way imaginable and only the few days previous had the albies even started to show up. I knew that the only option was to bail on work the next two days right then and there. This would be the window and if I missed it, I would regret it for the rest of the season. I told my boss I was not coming in the next few days and packed up my stuff and headed up to meet Jeremy.The first morning, the forecast was right on (amazingly) with no wind, flat seas and bluebird skies. We headed out and within 5 minutes Jeremy in his typical fashion says “get ready there they are!” I was thinking “already?” I started getting line off my reel as we approached watching the fish blow up with the terns dive bombing from above and my blood was pumping! As we got closer I made about a 15 foot cast just to get the line in front of me before we even were within range and was instantly hooked up, the first cast! First albie of the season on my first cast! I was stoked to say the least! As I played the fish I could see albies blowing up all over the place. After landing that fish, I got my line ready and had my fly trailing behind the boat as we motored toward the next pod and again was hooked up without even fishing. Jeremy was actually kind of frustrated because the scenario was so perfect for video and we hadn’t even been shooting when either of those fish took. As I looked around I could see pods of albies all over the place and not just popping up and going down, but staying up like stripers or bluefish. There were pods of fish gunning through the rips, which is typical, but more amazing were the pods of fish running the rocky shoreline in calm water in some cases on cresting waves. Had you been on foot you only would have needed a 20 foot cast to catch. As the day progressed the action never died and it wasn’t a matter of finding albies because they were literally everywhere. It became a matter of finding a unique place to catch them. Not only were they busting the rocky shoreline, they were back in coves running in shallow water around moored sailboats alongside docks. Some of them were way, way back inside where you would never expect to see them. The entire day was like this and there were albies busting bait even in slack tide in areas with zero current. Not only that, but it remained flat calm and sunny with only the slightest breath of wind. It was like fishing for albies in a giant lake and was nothing short of spectacular. Amazingly enough the next two days were almost as good and Boz showed up on the third day to get in on some of the action. The first two days we made several attempts at dropping each other off on rocks trying to hook up but the scenario never came together. Then on that third day, my last day, we found a huge boulder in a back bay with albies ripping through the channel between it and another set of rocks. Jeremy dropped me off and I hopped up nervous with anticipation. I was lucky enough my first year out here to catch a few albies from the jetty in New York but that was two seasons prior, and I wanted another one on foot. Again the scenario never came together until finally I hooked one but lost it. I was determined and Jeremy and Boz left me there and went off to catch some of their own. I had several more shots but it didn’t come together. Then, finally as they were motoring back to pick me up I saw the albies coming at me. Everything came together, one of the albies nailed the fly, I hooked it with Boz filming (unfortunately not as close as the first attempt) played it and landed it all on a rock in the middle of a bay hundreds of yards from land. That was the pinnacle to 3 of the most epic days of fishing that I have ever experienced when every factor came together. These truly were “magic days” that you dream about! I will never forget them and may never see anything like it again! Jeremy, Boz that was awesome and glad we got to share such a spectacular fishing experience!