First Time: Catching Albies & Bonito on the fly.

[cb2fly]

This question was burried in our fly tying thread here by
BillyBlanks

"Hey Guys,

I've been fly fishing for stripers for a while now, but albies and bonito are new to me on the fly. I know some of these are for that type of fishing and catching one of these on the fly rod is a goal of mine this season.

If you can, could you just post a little something about which fly is good for when and what species? I'd greatly appreciate it.
Billy"

I thought this was a good question for SWE flyfisherman....

[swanny]

billy - the quick answer is sometimes anything. Albies and bonito can be so unselective sometimes it is crazy. I have seen them eat just about everything from 9" Benny's best jerkbaits to huge wooden needles. Other times your best layed out skok's mush mouth in a pod of peanut bunker will be denied in the mist of an all out crazy blitz. Last season was a prime example of selective albies. yes they were everywhere but damn they were selective. In short a good list might include the skok's mushy, some bonito bunnies, some small deceiver like stuff and some silverside patterns. Crease flies have their place as well. Another trick when the bait is thick, which is no secret, is to go larger than the bait, especially for bones, Bones seem to be especially greedy critters and will often leave a pod of bait to chase a big fly or lure.

[cb2fly]

Hi Billy:
Although I love to fish for albies & bonito, and have been fishing for them for close to 20 years, I haven't been a lot, mostly due to weather (in late Sept & Oct.) and the fact that they tend to be an offshore quarry. Of the 50 times I have planned a trip, I would say I have been blown out 25% of the time.

That said, Albies & Bonito are perhaps the best challenge for flyfishing in the Northeast. For their size: they are super fast, picky and great once you hook up strong and make the reel sing the high notes.

As for the choice of flies, there are 2 basic strategies, "match the hatch" or an attractor/ wounded bait. Most of my Albies have come from matching the hatch. IMO the key being retrieve & placement first, then size , then color.
Placement: The fly needs to land where the Albies are "going to be", in a blitz situation the bait moves very fast as the Albies are pushing them in the feeding frenzy.
Retrieve: The fly needs to land and retrieve started immediately, sometime a 2 handed or a drag & retrieve needs to be used to get the "Bait going fast enough"
Size: Albies tend to focus on the smaller baits from 3/4" to 1-3/4", therefore small epoxies, soft gel & gummies and small e-z body patterns work well- size them same or slightly larger. A 2X size in many cases will not work. If you can have 2 rods a small popper on top when they are blitzing is a ball and 1 rod with an intermediate and small imitation should do the trick.
When fishing the rips small decievers/ E-Z bodies tend to work well.
Color: Seems to be the least important, yet there are times when the seas lay down and the Albies get picky on the color.
I hope this helps, let's plan a trip for next fall? Be well, cb

[BillyBlanks]

Thanks for the help guys.

CB thanks for throwing that up there!