Albie Season - Press Pause

The first week plus of chasing albies was really pretty fabulous. As is always the case with these fish, there are times when they eat with abandon and times when they are fussier than a four year-old at the dinner table, and we experienced plenty of both. Thankfully we usually were able to stay on the fish. The long runs across seemingly barren water only to find nada gets old. Much better to have albies balling and busting bait while you frantically search for THE fly or race to tie on a different color epoxy jig while the fish are still up.

Mornings were most consistently productive, but a couple of afternoons and evenings stand out in my memory. One of those late day cooperative feeds was in some reasonably rough water, with a good breeze kicking up against a stout tide all along the Falmouth shoreline, but last Sunday down in Robinson's there wasn't a ripple on the water and the fish couldn't have been happier. And the last day on the water prior to the storm, whoa. All of the overused superlatives don't adequately describe how good it was. Where's the photo of the biggest false albacore I've landed in five years? Due to an stupid iPhone that wouldn't f*ck1n turn on, only in my brain.

But...that seems like a long time ago. Monday was the last day I fished. One boat has been on the trailer and the other on a storm mooring since then. The wind and waves from Jose have us all on hold, waiting for the first weather window, wondering what we will find. Conditions had been incredible, with more peanut bunker than I'd seen in fifteen plus years and the usual clouds of bay anchovies that thankfully were not the fingernail sized bait that drives us crazy. There were lots of albies of all sizes spread from Harwich to Craigville to Falmouth and Woods Hole and on down to Cuttyhunk and up through Buzzards Bay. What has happened to all of that bait? Is this churned up water going to turn the albies back offshore? My guess and my hope is that all of the worrying will melt away as we find plenty of hungry and happy fish still blasting along the Cape and Island shores, blitzing plentiful bait and eating our jigs and flies, but until I get to see it, I'll keep fretting.

Capt. Peter Fallon

Gillies & Fallon Guide Service, LLC