Albie-addicts live for September, and feed their addiction by running-and-gunning to chase surface-crashing schools, or by anchoring and ladling out a soupy chum slick—but either way, one of the coolest techniques to fool albies is on surface flies. My on-top “awakening” came by accident while anchored up on the Klondike many years ago before the draggers mowed down the ridges to scrape its fertile bottom clean of all life. Fishing with Shark River legend Russ Wilson, our target that September day was a combination of striped bass, weakfish, bluefish, bonito, and albies. It’s hard to believe today but you really could catch all five species at the same spot. Back then albies were just a step above trash fish, and had no prestige status.
We chummed with fresh silversides to keep the spinning rods bent and saw fish flashing in the slick, so it seemed like a good time to try a fly rod, although I had zero success until reeling in the line to put the tackle away. While cranking rapidly the fly rose to the surface, created a small wake and was walloped by a false albacore. That was my first-ever fly-rod albie. The surprise and fun was not diminished because I had “cheated” and not caught the fish while casting.
Over the years, catching albies on top was always delightful, like one day fishing with Captain Bill Hoblitzell of Outback Charters. We caught albies at Bill’s favorite spots at the mouth of Sandy Hook Bay, and as he pursued the ever-moving bait schools, we eventually ended up near Rockaway Inlet by late morning. The action had slowed so Bill decided to try a Crease Fly. As he stripped the fly, he made it pop, spit, and splash, and the sight of an albie attacking the fly was unforgettable.
Tom Janine told me of a great day with Captain Sarah Gardner off Cape Lookout when the typical bait-ball chasing just wasn’t happening. They were seeing surface albie activity, however, so Sarah kept working the fish to get the boat into casting range. Tom threw Crease Flies and eventually put together a good catch. “I was prepared for throwing small sparsely-tied Clousers on a sinking line to bait balls, but luckily, I had brought along a 10-weight rigged with a Cortland rocket taper floating line. I struggled to make 80-foot casts on a breezy day so every fish was really something special. I couldn’t always see the fly splashing in the choppy conditions, but there was no way to miss the explosions every time an albie smacked the fly!”
Captain Craig Cantelmo of Van Staal Reels agrees that getting high on albies and watching them take surface presentations is hard to beat. “Nothing is more exciting than watching a hard-tail albie come up and slash at a top-water fly. Whether it’s a Crease Fly or a Minipop Fly, top-water albie action can be extremely effective when fish get picky. I find the Minipop works great when small bay anchovies are the predominant bait, and when the bait is scattered.”
Find the Right Retrieve Speed
On top or just below the surface, there are differing opinions on the best retrieve speed and they range from virtually motionless to moderate speed to zippy fast. It really depends on the situation. Captain Jason Dapra of Blitz Bound Charters fishing off the Jersey Coast says, “Move the bug fast. Albies don’t like a dead-drifted offering. A fast-moving fly will out-fish a dead drift fly any day.” He also advises, “Keep the bug in the water even when they’re not busting on the surface. Keep casting. Just because they aren’t showing doesn’t mean they’re gone.”
Cantelmo fishes Long Island off the East End and South Shore where the albies want something slower. He advises, “Remember not to strip the fly too fast and keep it in the feeding zone as long as possible. If you ever watch and study bay anchovies you’ll see they have small tails and do not swim very fast. With surface poppers, like the Minipop, you don’t necessarily need a lot of speed to cause a commotion.”
Peter Jenkins, owner of the Saltwater Edge in Rhode Island likes a slow to moderate speed when getting a fly below the surface. He says, “Albies feed with speed, and like other similarly-shaped gamefish, for example a bluefin, they cannot turn very fast at all, so I like to show them a crippled fly falling through the bait. A weighted Bunny fly is ideal for this, retrieved with a slow strip to keep you connected to the fly with no slack in the line. This keeps the fly on the dinner plate for a longer time period during the presentation. Letting the albie grab a slow easy meal has saved the day for me more than once.”
So which retrieve is best; fast, slow, or moderate? On the deep-water east side of New Jersey’s Shrewsbury Rocks, I had a morning when chasing up-and-down schools of busting fish demanded a very fast two-hand retrieve, yet other days off Barnegat Ridge and Montauk were better when a slow strip was the hot ticket. As a general rule, surface flies are more effective with a slow retrieve, but subsurface flies can go fast or slow. It’s up to the fish, and figuring how they’ll take the fly is part of the albie challenge.
Make Long, Fast Casts
One thing almost every experienced albie angler and captain agrees on is the need for casting skills. Peter Jenkins hit the nail on the head when he said, “Of all the saltwater gamefish in the Northeast, the albie demands the most casting skill in that you may need to cast 50 to 60 feet with only a few (less than three) back casts, or you could miss the shot. That skill comes with practice and a lot of it.”
An advanced fly caster with the ability to get off 60- to 80-foot casts quickly is at an advantage. For this reason, many albie addicts prefer short-taper lines like the RIO Outbound Short, Royal Wulff Ambush and Sci Anglers Wave Length Grand Slam. Two favorites from Cortland are their Cortland Liquid Crystal floating lines and their Clear Camo (formerly Little Tunny) intermediate lines, both with a Rocket Taper design that concentrates most of the line weight at the very front end. These lines shoot like, well, rockets.
Have Multiple Rods Rigged and Ready
It can pay-off big time to be rigged and ready with at least three 9- or 10-weight outfits; one with a floating, a second with an intermediate and a third with an integrated line with 350- or 450-grain fast-sink head. There are many excellent reels to choose from and at many price levels from Orvis, Tibor and Hardy. A smooth, non-fade drag is essential for busy days when you get numerous shots as these fast-running fish.
When choosing an albie rod, keep in mind these super gamefish are not only fast, but they fight down and dirty. The rod needs to cast well and be able to lift fish from the deep. The end game is like lifting weights in the gym with line gained and put back onto the reel with a 45-degree lift-up on the rod, followed by quick reel cranking on the down stroke. At times, the albies will be bigger, many of them in the 10- to 12-pound range, and you may also have shots at a mahi or bluefin.
Captain Jason keeps things very simple when rigging. “You don’t need a long leader, just three feet of 30 then three more feet of 15 or 12 to the fly. Long leaders don’t straighten out when it’s windy and it will take two or three strips just to remove the slack and get the fly moving. A floating fly line is a great choice for albie fishing and allows the caster to pick up line when the fish suddenly change direction and you have to quickly reposition the fly.”
Fly choices for topwater include the time-tested Joe Blados Crease Fly, Bob’s Bangers, Cantelmo’s Minipop and long-body foam poppers like the Slim Jim. Popular subsurface flies include Clouser Minnows, Surf Candies, Ray’s Fly and any slim profile sand eel or anchovy-looking fly. Sometimes a bigger and brighter attractor fly will get more attention like Captain Scott Hamilton’s Eat Me Fly. When there’s a million anchovies Peter Jenkins will throw a bright pink-over-chartreuse Tutti-Frutti pattern. While some flyrodders like to have a huge supply of flies on hand, Dapra suggests, “You don’t need one hundred patterns. I could go an entire season with tan-and-white craft fur flies with a pearl EZ Body covered with epoxy.”
Running-and-gunning from school to school can be an exciting way to fish for albies, especially for the fast, high-power center console boats. It can also be frustrating. Just when you get to where they were, they sound and pop up somewhere else. When I charter fished, chumming was a better game plan for my bigger inboard boat. A juicy, oily chum spiced with dead and live baits is usually a sure bet. Spearing, sand eels and peanut bunker are always favorites, especially if fresh, not frozen.
Chum heavily to build the slick then slow it down so you toss three to five baits every two minutes or so. By slowing the chum down you will usually draw the fish closer to the boat. There are times when the little tunny and bonito hold so close to the stern that it’s like feeding carp in a pond. My friend Gary Caputi told me of a time he had albies holding literally right under his Mako-To-Go and short casts were all that he needed to get hook-ups.
Slender flies that imitate anchovy and spearing chum are good choices, like the Popovics Surf Candy and the Jiggy Fleye, and I’ve had good luck with marabou chum flies. Cast the fly off to the side of the slick and allow it to sink with the current flow. Once you have reached the depth you desire, strip the fly back to the boat. Try several stripping speeds and rhythms starting slow and erratic, and continue to speed up the retrieve until you find the magic pace. You can also dead-drift a fly back in the slick, letting the current take the fly.
September is usually a great month for fast action with false albacore no matter what method you use. Whether you catch them on top on surface flies, run and gun, or pull them into a chum slick, getting high on albies is one of the season’s most exciting fly-fishing opportunities. Catch ‘em up!
