Outdoors: Anglers trying to reel in false albacore
'Where are the false albacore?' It's a question making the rounds on the inshore front these days. The highly combative speedsters, also called little tunny, hit like freight trains, smash lures and flies, and strip line from reels with astonishing speed. They are late summer darlings to the small boat, kayak and surf fishing corps.
The season's first pods of false albacore usually surface around the ocean inlets and inside Long Island Sound by late July, with encounters increasing through mid-September. The combination of warm water and abundant baitfish, including anchovies and spearing, triggers the run. Both are in ample supply now, and that has left anglers itching for their initial hookups. So far, only a few have been reported, mostly around Breezy Point.
"Late August and September is prime time for the albies in our area," said Chris Hessert of Manhattan Fly Charters (manhattanfly.com), who specializes in light-tackle action. "Still, with the heat this summer, I figured they'd be more reliable by now." Hessert has been running offshore in pursuit of skipjack and small bluefin tuna - thrilling to battle on fly-fishing and spinning gear - but he'll pursue the quirky albies as soon as they surface.
"False albacore on the west end usually show first at a trio of small sandbars in 12- to 20-foot depths off The Cabanas, a bit east of Breezy Point," revealed Hessert. "From there, they spread west to the Coney Island flats and into Gravesend Bay. I figure they'll be here any day now."
When they arrive, Hessert's fares will target them with size 4/0, silver-bodied Crystal Critter flies and four-inch, chartreuse Yo-Zuri Jig Minnows. Replace the jig's treble with a single hook, he advises, and rip your offering past the fish at high speed to draw vicious strikes.
Out on the North Fork, Joe Blados of Maverick Charters in Southold (631-765-3670) said he, too, had begun searching for false albacore.
"No luck yet," he said, "but I've been watching Hortons, Rocky and Mulford points, plus a stretch to the west around Roanoke Shoal. Once the ebbing tide gets roaring at these locations, the baitfish stack up in the rips and the powerful albies tear into them at will. I'm surprised the action hasn't hit stride."
Like Hessert, Blados figures the albies will show soon. When they do, he'll tempt them with a 3-inch, chartreuse-bodied Crease Fly - a highly popular saltwater pattern he invented - along with a variety of epoxy minnows and small jigs.
"To excite false albacore, vary the retrieve to match the mood of the fish," he advised. The general rule is to reel fast, but when the albies are aggressive I've even caught them on Crease Flies allowed to rest motionless in the water so that they mimic stunned baitfish.
On the South Shore, Paul Peluso of Mamma Mia charters (mamamiafishing.net) said that the best false albacore fishing last year in the Moriches area took place within a half-hour of daybreak through August and September.
"We had them hitting hard between 6 a.m. and 6:30 a.m.," Peluso noted. "Once the sun got up over the horizon, the action died. I'm planning to start my search in the next few days. The timing, water temperature and supply of baitfish all seem about right."
No doubt he'll rise early.
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