Albies

[btuff]

Went out yesterday and landed my first Albie on a fly. Incredible! Took me through all my backing and had to put the boat in gear to save my line... and the fish. The schools would pop up for about 10 seconds and then move on so I had to capitalize on my one decent shot at them. Anyone seeing schools stay up for extended amounts of time?

[Pete_G]

Definitely some awesome albie fishing across the entire coast of Rhode Island right now. And further...

[Tunacell]

I'm still catching nothing but bones, dying for the year's first albie. The bones have been staying up for decent ammounts of time offering some very good shots.

[btuff]

I went out yesterday morning near high tide and saw lots of albies, but this afternoon, despite lots of bait, I didn't see anything. When has anyone else had luck out there? Time of day or tide?

[Tunacell]

I've heard a lot of people talk about the afternoon bite with hardtails. But from what I've seen over the years it either doesn't occur, or occurs on a smaller scale compared to the morning. The AM bite is almost always better than the afternoon.

As for tide, it has always taken a back seat to wind direction and time of day in my experience.

[FishHawk]

Are you guys fishing from boats? FishHawk

[Pete_G]

I am, but there's been shore caught albies across all of RI. Almost all seawalls, jetties, and various rocky shorelines have been giving them up. For a few days you might have been able to catch one from the beach in Newport.

[Tunacell]

Originally Posted by FishHawk

Are you guys fishing from boats? FishHawk

I'm fishing exclusively from shore. It's been good in the usual spots.

[wellstep]

I have been getting Albies during the mornings and then bones during the day Albies are starting at dawn. Also saw about 6 small Mahi under debris hooked one briefly and then couldn't find them again. I was casting into schools that were staying up long and were so thick that I actually snagged one Albie with a fly in the side, that was an interesting fight but landed it. Great weekend in all 2 Albies and 1 Bone on the Fly. 7 Albies and 6 Bones on spinning gear. Probably lost about 6 others and picked up about 8 large blues. The pic was a school of all Albies that was up in front of me for about 5 min. Hope it holds out but watching news today there is a storm brewing off Florida's East coast. Need more vacation days.

[BKeeney]

This is my first season for albies, and it's been a blast, but I'm definitely snagging a ton of them-- maybe 20-30%. I'm fishing from a boat, and I'll cast right into them, or lead them. It doesn't seem like it matters if I go fast or slow, I still snag every third or fourth. I've done it on bonito bunnies and clousers (hook point up...). It is always about dead center on their side-- nowhere else. I feel really bad about it cause it clearly hurts (they get ALL torn up) and it takes forever to get them in. I don't want to kill a fish unless I'm gonna eat it. Any suggestions?