All about False Albacore (Albies) and Bonito

[robmedina]

interesting read buckethead. I have a dumb question (well 2 of them)- If albies are palegic and feed in the palegic zone, do they eat bait in the epipelagic zone like mullet, herring and anchovy? I couldn't find much on which species of palegic baitfish we have, can any one answer?

[jigfreak]

^^^ rob I don't think of albies as strictly pelagic. True they are often found in the open ocean at different depths and there is a lot of action when jigging for blues and albies are also caught. However they can adapt to different environments. They have been caught near inlets, or they have come into some inlets and into some saltwater rivers to chase bait. I have a bud who fishes raritan bay a lot and he has seen them come halfway back into the bay. Have also read reports where they came off the flats of staten island.
Do they change from pelagic to epilagic I believe that is what you were asking.
Sure they do adapt. I think it is about the bait concentrations. I think finchaser or someone else pointed out they like clean water. You hear of them at places like breezy point and sandy hook with hard west winds and big waves but I think if the water is clean and not too muddy they pretty much will come in and feed where they can find that small bait. hope that helped

[robmedina]

Thanks jigfreak- I appreciate the answer. I have a bunch of anchovy/ sand eel fly imitations. I am also tying a bunch of baitfish patterns on a #2 hook to try and match the hatch. Hope I hook into on of them beauties!

[captnemo]

Whatever do keep it moving. They tend to like a fast strip or retrieve.

[robmedina]

guys on another forum are reporting them blitzing in cape may county. Why does it seem like there is a line that fish do not cross and that line is from IBSP to Cape may- anywhere in between just plain sucks!

[basshunter]

You can do that RR trick with any tin that doesn't have a wide profile such as a kastmaster(too much wind resistance) to reach them I've used hopkins and diamond jigs with the hooks removed and replaced with flouro leader and teaser of choice epoxy flies are good but any one will work with a little flash added to the mix.

Some more thoughts, thanks to the OGB, as always, for the wealth of experience he helps add to some of my thoughts....(for I am just an ornery Googan....)





CATCHING Albies When they're Picky....or feeding on Small Bait.....2012....
Unless you're willing to run to the bluefish grounds, albies have been feeding closer, in tight. They are in and out. A great time to target them has been sunrise and an hour after. In some places this also depends on the amount of forage and tide stage.

Also try to stay out till end of day. There has been some consistent small bluefish and albie action where the bay meets the ocean. Small metals, as mentioned.

There is a difference in albie behavior when they are out in the chum slicks, where they and sometimes tuna will hit bunker, and not be spooked by a wire leader.

When they are further inshore chasing very small bait, IMO they're much more challenging to catch. Lately, some guys have been hit and miss with them. The feedback I'm getting is that depending on when and where, sometimes even the length of the metal is an issue.

So if they're crashing schools of rainfish, for example, the behavior is different than when they are cruising around a chum slick seeing chunks of meat. They become much more selective. Again, only my experience, but when that happens, smaller is better, as some have mentioned.

Even a feather might be too big. An old school way is to set up a short soda straw with a sturdy gold hook at the end and troll it. I don't know if you want to go to that much trouble. However it does work and will increase your catch ratio when they are picky.



Or you could try feathers.

surfstix, dark and finchaser I read about what you guys said on the soda straws and small offerings.
Did a search on youtube and found this. Does anyone think it might work for the false albacore?

[plugcrazy]

Like that video basshunter very informative.
Here is one where they target bonito in Florida. Maybe you could use it for albacore from the surf also.

[DarkSkies]

surfstix, dark and finchaser I read about what you guys said on the soda straws and small offerings.
Did a search on youtube and found this. Does anyone think it might work for the false albacore?

Basshunter and plugcrazy, great thinking out of the box, thanks for sharing the videos.
Those remind me of the casting eggs finchaser and others were talking about here
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...-me-about-them

What they are, essentially, is a teaser delivery system.

Great thread and info so far, people. The following info is already contained in this thread but I put something together with a little more detail.
If you do manage to catch one, remember that after an intense fight, they will not live if it takes you more than a minute or so to get back into the water.
Catch em up....good luck!




Surf Albacore trick from the Old Salts.....the Albacore Popper...


1. Make this popper up, old school style...bring it with ya in a quart ziploc bag


2. Bring replacement leader and teaser in case you get bit off by a bluefish and have to re-tie.


3. How to make it: take a 2-3 ounce popper, pencil popper is ideal...SS Little neck is ok but more likely to draw bluefish, IMO. You need a thin profile popper that you can toss far, and move quickly back to you.


4. Take the rear treble off.


5. Tie a length of fluoro leader, 12-24" long, off the back/ bottom where the treble came from. You will have to experiment for what works best for you. Remember the longer the leader, the more it will cut down on casting distance.


6. Direct tie a teaser to the end of the fluoro leader. It doesn't have to be anything fancy as long as it's small, 1-2" and mimics the profile of the small bait they are feeding on....too big and they may avoid it....You can also use
A. A redgill sandeel teaser 3" or less
B. A red or chartreuse tube with hook, like the ones that come on the Ava jigs..but they have proved too big for me...I generally use the ones 2" or smaller...


7. cast out as far as you can..reel in like a emmefer..,,often you will not see the albies...but if they are there one day...they should hang around for a while...


8. Keep experimenting with retrieves until you raise or get an albie hit...and then continue...


**Remember you really can't eat them....I tried to sushi one on the beach once...not that great even when fresh...so if you do catch them, and don't get them back into the water within a minute or 2 minutes max...they won't live...what helps me is to have the camera ready as I'm lifting them out of the water....quick pic and back they go....

[robmedina]

and when you let them go - nose dive them into the surf- it gets them going.

[strikezone31]

Newsday even wrote a piece about them this week
http://www.newsday.com/sports/outdoo...core-1.9349232
"It was the best false albacore action I've seen in a decade," said Captain Craig Cantelmo.

[jigfreak]

Lots of miss information going around right now about these. Saw quite a few holding them out of the water too long for the photo up. take a quick pic and get them back. Not really good to eat so there's no point in having them lay dead on the beach an hour after you have gone home and they wash back up.

[fishinmission78]

Good article by Capt Jim
http://www.onthewater.com/jersey-shore-albacore/