The birds were working hard as dozens of false albies tore through the surface. Peanut bunker scattered into the air. The scene was an all-out surface feeding frenzy.
Jeff Coates (my fishing buddy and captain for this trip) had made the right call. We had left fish to find more fish and it had actually worked out in our favor.
Birds, Peanut Bunker And Plenty Of False Albies
Billy and I readied ourselves to cast as Jeff eased the boat into position. The water in front of our boat looked as if it was being "shot up" with machine gun fire.
By the time Jeff got the boat within casting range the albies were still sporadically breaking the surface. Small dense bait balls of peanut bunker were under attack!
I made a cast as the school of albies continued pushing towards our boat. I quickly began reeling my metal lure through the blitz when WHACK! an albie crushed the metal right on the surface.
The light tackle setup Jeff had let me borrow doubled over.
The small reel started singing ZzzzZzzzzZzzzz! as the albie peeled off 50 or so yards of mono filament against the light drag.
Doubled Up!
Just then Jeff hooked up with an albie of his own. I had heard about "albie madness" but now I was experiencing it!
If you've never caught an albie before, then I assure you that these small tuna pack a lot of pulling power. The fish we had hooked were only 5-7 pounds, but man did they pull like hell.
The albies would charge straight at us and then shoot off towards the horizon. When they wanted to the albies would strip dozens of yards of line from our reels. It was like fighting a giant bluefin tuna, just on a much smaller scale.
Albies Are One Of Cape Cod's Prettiest-Looking Fish
Finally towards the end of the fight we got color on the fish. I'm not one to romanticize about fish (well I guess that's debatable!) but I must say that albies have spectacular colors and are easily one of Cape Cod's prettiest-looking fish.
After dancing around the boat a few times, and with assistance from Jeff and Billy, I landed my fish.
Soon after Jeff had his as well.
I was pretty content but little did I know we were just getting started!
In the extended fishing report which MFCC members can access by clicking below I'll share with you more information about:
- The dozens more surface feeding frenzies we encountered during this trip
- The gear and lures we used to catch false albies
- A more productive technique than "running and gunning" and chasing albies like a madman
- Photos and information about the general areas fished and explored
