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I covered a lot of miles and wetted a lot of lures on my road trip up north. After some work trainings, I spent a couple of days fishing Boston’s South Shore looking for the cows that were reported to be in the area. I didn’t fair any better than I do locally. All the fish were schoolies 22-24 inches. It didn’t make a difference though. The weather was perfect and the water crystalline. It provided an awesome perspective of watching the battle from above.
My next leg was 3 days fishing the north fork of Long Island. I had a plan. The fish didn’t read it though. That area hadn’t seen a stripper bite in months. To my surprise the Albies had arrived only days before.
My buddy came down and we hit the salt by 5am. The winds were calm and the tide ebbing. It was a perfect day to be on the water. The forecasted 15 knot winds were not due to hit for hours. As I worked the rocky points that litter the area, I caught Black Sea Bass and Blackfish (Togs). There was bait everywhere, but nothing working them.
While trolling my way back to some productive structure, the drag on my surface line started to scream. I hadn't felt anything like it since I went Salmon fishing years ago. Every time I got it close, the line would fly off my reel. I was sure I had found the elusive cow I had been seeking.
When I finally brought it near my Thresher, I saw that it was an Albie. My heart rate accelerated and my adrenaline surged. After getting her into the yak and into the hog trough (only 26”), I felt an immense amount of satisfaction as I watched her vanish with one flick of her tail. I had never caught a fish as elegant as this. It was a phenomenal 10 minutes that will have me hooked forever.
Soon after, the winds started to kick up, hours ahead of schedule. My buddy and I had to fight to regain the ground the current had drifted us through. By the time we were close, the swells were 3-5 ft. At times I couldn’t see over the peak from the bottom of the trough. The winds were out of the north and the fetch stretched across the entire Sound. I was very happy to be in a boat designed to handle such situations.
Unfortunately, my partner wasn’t. His Tarpon 120 ended up turtling. I made my way back to him and collected as much gear as he could pass over, including his rods. He did end up loosing some gear (mostly mine), but it could have been much worse. He wasn’t able to right the boat in the conditions and ended riding on top of an upside down kayak the 200 yards to shore. We were lucky we were close to the take out and the wind and waves pushed him right in. Much longer in the 65 degree water wouldn’t have been good.
I finally arrived back to the launch. Out of sheer luck, I made a perfect surf landing with minimal impact to the gear. I hopped out to the applause of some local surfcasters who were grinding and flashing 2 thumbs up.
After I hauled my boat on the beach, a local cop pulled up and said that a beachfront home owner had reported we were having issues (long before the turtle) and that he was about to dispatch the Marine Unit. I assured him that we were fine and showed him all the safety gear I had in preparation of any mishaps, including my VHF radio. Once he reassessed the situation and called off the hounds, we spent 20 minutes talking fishing. He was fascinated about fishing Albies from a Kayak.
I spent the rest of the day catching Bluefish (including a PB 22”er) from the rocks at Lands End in Orient Point.
The tragic part of the story was the wind blew for the rest of my time there and I couldn’t get back out to the Albies. The silver lining was that I returned to the town where I grew up about 60 miles away and fished waters I hadn’t been on in almost 40 years. The fishing was sub par, but the setting was sublime. I fished multiple schools of bunker without any luck other than snagging a few as I retrieved across and below them. I kept chasing birds and breaking fish but the action literally only lasted seconds. The surface would explode, the birds would dive and then it would be over before I could take 10 paddle strokes in that direction. The only species I legitimately caught were Sea Robins.
The final day was again spent on the rocks with little more to show for it than some smallish blues. I did take great pleasure watching surfcasters throwing huge poppers and catching 30”+ monster Bluefish. Try as I might, I couldn’t get my offerings out to the same places, so I settled into my role as spectator. It was a blast! I can see myself taking up that form of fishing some day (after I pay off all the bills from my latest endeavors...)
All in all, it was an amazing trip. I am already looking forward to the next time I can share the water with some False Albacore. Ain’t nothing like them..
Here is the tally from the trip:
-Rockfish - nothing special - all between 22”-24” DSCN2890.jpgDSCN2887.jpg
- False Albacore - New species for me - 26” DSCN2961.jpgDSCN2959.jpgDSCN2960.jpg
- Bluefish PB - 22” - no pic
- Black Sea Bass - new species for me DSCN2957.jpg
- Togs - new species for me - no pic - it was embarrassed by it size...
- Sea Robins - new species for me DSCN3012.jpg
- Bunker - new species for me (does snagging count?) DSCN2988.jpgDSCN2990.jpg
My next leg was 3 days fishing the north fork of Long Island. I had a plan. The fish didn’t read it though. That area hadn’t seen a stripper bite in months. To my surprise the Albies had arrived only days before.
My buddy came down and we hit the salt by 5am. The winds were calm and the tide ebbing. It was a perfect day to be on the water. The forecasted 15 knot winds were not due to hit for hours. As I worked the rocky points that litter the area, I caught Black Sea Bass and Blackfish (Togs). There was bait everywhere, but nothing working them.
While trolling my way back to some productive structure, the drag on my surface line started to scream. I hadn't felt anything like it since I went Salmon fishing years ago. Every time I got it close, the line would fly off my reel. I was sure I had found the elusive cow I had been seeking.
When I finally brought it near my Thresher, I saw that it was an Albie. My heart rate accelerated and my adrenaline surged. After getting her into the yak and into the hog trough (only 26”), I felt an immense amount of satisfaction as I watched her vanish with one flick of her tail. I had never caught a fish as elegant as this. It was a phenomenal 10 minutes that will have me hooked forever.
Soon after, the winds started to kick up, hours ahead of schedule. My buddy and I had to fight to regain the ground the current had drifted us through. By the time we were close, the swells were 3-5 ft. At times I couldn’t see over the peak from the bottom of the trough. The winds were out of the north and the fetch stretched across the entire Sound. I was very happy to be in a boat designed to handle such situations.
Unfortunately, my partner wasn’t. His Tarpon 120 ended up turtling. I made my way back to him and collected as much gear as he could pass over, including his rods. He did end up loosing some gear (mostly mine), but it could have been much worse. He wasn’t able to right the boat in the conditions and ended riding on top of an upside down kayak the 200 yards to shore. We were lucky we were close to the take out and the wind and waves pushed him right in. Much longer in the 65 degree water wouldn’t have been good.
I finally arrived back to the launch. Out of sheer luck, I made a perfect surf landing with minimal impact to the gear. I hopped out to the applause of some local surfcasters who were grinding and flashing 2 thumbs up.
After I hauled my boat on the beach, a local cop pulled up and said that a beachfront home owner had reported we were having issues (long before the turtle) and that he was about to dispatch the Marine Unit. I assured him that we were fine and showed him all the safety gear I had in preparation of any mishaps, including my VHF radio. Once he reassessed the situation and called off the hounds, we spent 20 minutes talking fishing. He was fascinated about fishing Albies from a Kayak.
I spent the rest of the day catching Bluefish (including a PB 22”er) from the rocks at Lands End in Orient Point.
The tragic part of the story was the wind blew for the rest of my time there and I couldn’t get back out to the Albies. The silver lining was that I returned to the town where I grew up about 60 miles away and fished waters I hadn’t been on in almost 40 years. The fishing was sub par, but the setting was sublime. I fished multiple schools of bunker without any luck other than snagging a few as I retrieved across and below them. I kept chasing birds and breaking fish but the action literally only lasted seconds. The surface would explode, the birds would dive and then it would be over before I could take 10 paddle strokes in that direction. The only species I legitimately caught were Sea Robins.
The final day was again spent on the rocks with little more to show for it than some smallish blues. I did take great pleasure watching surfcasters throwing huge poppers and catching 30”+ monster Bluefish. Try as I might, I couldn’t get my offerings out to the same places, so I settled into my role as spectator. It was a blast! I can see myself taking up that form of fishing some day (after I pay off all the bills from my latest endeavors...)
All in all, it was an amazing trip. I am already looking forward to the next time I can share the water with some False Albacore. Ain’t nothing like them..
Here is the tally from the trip:
-Rockfish - nothing special - all between 22”-24” DSCN2890.jpgDSCN2887.jpg
- False Albacore - New species for me - 26” DSCN2961.jpgDSCN2959.jpgDSCN2960.jpg
- Bluefish PB - 22” - no pic
- Black Sea Bass - new species for me DSCN2957.jpg
- Togs - new species for me - no pic - it was embarrassed by it size...
- Sea Robins - new species for me DSCN3012.jpg
- Bunker - new species for me (does snagging count?) DSCN2988.jpgDSCN2990.jpg
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