They’re back! For those of you eagerly anticipating the arrival of false albacore, the long wait is over. While there have been some concentrations of fish around the Island for a few week, the albies seem to have engaged in an all out invasion this past week, on both shores of the Island and to the west and east. They are strong in Montauk, around Fishers, in the Sound and around Shinnecock. They are still active in the west end and J-Bay has a solid concentration of them. Some of the numbers of fish landed have been impressive. The “Alberts” are tending to run smaller than previous years, 6-8 pounds but they still are full of all the energy any light tackle or fly angler could ask for. I know two anglers whose catches last week would make an entire hard tail season for some. While the albies are gaining in strength, the bonito are the exception in local waters. There weren’t many reports of bones this past week. They still seem to be their strongest along the Rhode Island coastline. Big bluefish are still chomping they way through local bait. I hit upon some nice sized blues cruising right up along the edge of surf and beach. They had that early fall-run behavior about them and didn’t appreciate my flies intersecting their paths! My flies paid the price! In some quadrants of the Island bass are still responding well to flies and artificials and should only get better in the coming weeks. Montauk is just being Montauk and for those of you who throw flies, an entire season can be made out of the blitz days that are happening right now and will hopefully continue right through October.
