Norwich Bulletin, 9/23/05

1. The false albacore is pound-for-pound, the hardest fighting fish an in-shore angler can catch, and it's also the most frustrating species there is to cast a lure at. Not to be confused with the true tuna species -- the excellent tasting, long-fin albacore that are caught miles off shore this time of year -- the false albacore is a very small distant cousin.
2. Most of the tuna clan and their relatives -- such as Spanish mackerel -- are pelagic species, fish that live in the blue waters of the open ocean. They also may venture closer to shore as water temperatures warm up every summer. Every summer, almost tunas including, Atlantic bonito, Spanish mackerel , and false albacore are drawn in shore by warm surface temperatures and an abundance of the small bait fish on which they feed.
3. During this short window anglers can, with some effort, catch any and all of these fish from a small boat or even a jetty or breachway on light tackle. Because of their fighting abilities, false albacore also called Little Tunny, falsies or more commonly, albis, are a favorite among light tackle anglers who anticipate their arrival in our waters some time late every summer or early fall.
4. This year's oddball weather patterns, despite a hot, dry summer, seem to have delayed the influx of many warm-water species by three to four weeks.
5. For a while, when these fish were expected to show up, a much bigger, harder fighting and better tasting cousin, the bluefin tuna, took their place. From Newport to the Race, the coast was inundated by schools of little baby football bluefin tunas of 20 pounds until mid-August.
6. These fish are baby bluefins, the tuna equivalent of snapper bluefish, but in 20 years these little footballs can weight more than half a ton and eat the 10 pound bluefish that many anglers consider to be a trophy catch.
7. An interesting fact is that these giant bluefins -- or horse mackerel as the old timers called the biggest adult bluefin tuna -- were once caught in the waters off Nebraska Shoal, near Charleston, R.I., off Rosie's Ledge and commonly off the East Grounds and Coxes Ledge near Block Island on a regular basis.
8. For some reason, during the past three decades, false albacore have been increasing in abundance in our in shore waters from Montauk Point, in the Sound west to Falkner Island, in the Race, Plum Gut, Sluiceway and up along the Rhody beaches to the Cape. They are now a common species in these waters.
9. When I first started fishing the ocean in the late '60s, we occasionally saw schools of fish we couldn't identify that we believed to be uncooperative bluefish that were in fact hard-to-catch albis.
10. In time, anglers learned some techniques to catch these hard-to-hook fish, and as they have increased to the point that we can count on at least some sort of fish able run every year. Now false albacore are a highly anticipated part of the fall fishing menu in this corner of the angling world.
11. Up until the remnants of Hurricane Ophelia passed south of us last weekend, anglers were reporting a few bonito in the area and only occasional rumors of the false albacore. According to my sources, the false albis finally moved into this area. That there is so much bait around means unless the weather sours they should remain for at least a month to six weeks.
12. As always they are hard to catch but will strike metal lures like Deadly Dicks, Needle Eels and small soft plastics such as Slug-Gos, Fin-S Fish and shad bodies on jig heads. I've also caught them on Mambo Minnows, Suspending Husky Jerks and even large-mouth sized, Rattle Trap-type fast-vibrating crank baits as they rip through the waters of Long Island Sound.
13. According to "Q" of River's End, Montauk Point was loaded with albis last weekend and so far this week, with an over flow of fish being caught in Plum Gut, the Sluiceway, the coast guard station at Block Island and even in the Race to a lesser degree. Joe Balint of the Fish Connection said that he heard of albis showing up off the Watch Hill Reef Complex and scattered schools between Bluff Point and Niantic Bay since the weekend.
14. The fact is, the false albacore have finally arrived in the area. Just how good the fishing is or will be is yet to be determined. One thing I have learned after years of both chasing and being frustrated by these critters is, every report you hear is old long before you hear it, because they move around so rapidly. All you can do is get as recent a report as possible and start searching the usual spots from there. [org pub Norwich Bulletin, by Bob Sampson Jr.]