Fly Fishing for Albies: Gear, Techniques, and Saltwater Tips
From: tailingtide
I recently caught up with seasoned pro Capt John Mauser who spends his days chasing albies along the Crystal Coast. Known for their speed and strength, these fish are a real test for any angler. In this interview, we dive into the gear, tactics, and hard-earned tips for successfully targeting albies on the fly.
What's your go-to gear setup for targeting albies, and do you have any tips for new anglers when fighting these lightning-fast tuna on the fly?
Albies go fast and go hard. You need equipment that can handle both. Although an experienced angler can land a decent sized Albie on an 8wt, or even less, I would highly recommend a 9 or 10wt rod with a beefy butt section. As a guide, I keep several 10wt Mauser Waterman's (shameless plug) on my boat for my anglers. I found that by stepping up my rod size, I had less broken rods to deal with throughout the season. A good reel is just as, or maybe even more important. This is a fishery where cheaply made reels with weak drags won't last very long. I am a big fan of the Hatch Iconic 9+ reels, but any well made machined aluminum reel with a quality drag should be fine. I like large arbor reels with at least 200 yards of 30lb dacron backing on them.
These fish make long runs, and it's not unusual to see them dump 100 yards of backing on their initial run. I personally prefer intermediate fly lines over floating lines, for two reasons. You can punch an overweight intermediate line into a stiff wind better than you can a floating line. Second, an intermediate line rides just a few inches below the surface avoiding any slack that could be caused by surface chop. The one big advantage to a floating line is that it's much easier to pick up your entire line and recast, but personally I think the advantages of an intermediate outweigh those of a floating line. I always keep a spare rod rigged up with a 300-400 grain fast sinking line, for the occasions when the fish are cruising deep and not busting on the surface. My leaders are very simple, and most of the time a straight 5 or 6ft shot of 20lb fluorocarbon is all you need. Flies vary depending on the bait situation, but you'll find most of my box to be full of 2-3" surf candies and clousers in colors that mimic the Anchovies and Silversides. There are times though, when the Albies are feeding on tiny larval bait less than 1" long, and sometimes they are feeding on large 6" baitfish. I keep enough variety in my fly box to cover all the bases.
So you've got all that stuff and you finally hooked into your first Albie....what's next? First thing is to clear your line. Most Albies waste no time burning away from you as fast as possible, and they will be taking your fly line and backing with them as they make their escape. Spread your hands far apart, using just enough finger pressure to keep control of the fly line as it zips through your stripping hand. We call this technique "driving the bus". Too much pressure and you'll break the fish off, too little pressure and your pile of line will levitate off the deck and either knot up or wrap around something. I have seen fly lines wrap around reel seats, rod butts, stripping guides, fingers, ankles, waists, and even someone's neck (twice). Control your line, do a little dance to get your feet off of it and let the fish take you to the reel. When that line goes tight to the reel, it's going to start spinning backwards, and fast.
Get your hand away from the reel handle, or you'll have a busted knuckle...you'll only make that mistake once. As the fish runs away from you, point your rod towards the fish with just a slight angle and bend in the rod, letting your reel's drag do most of the work. When the fish stops running, start reeling fast. If it feels like you lost him, reel even faster, it's likely that he's just making a run straight at the boat at breakneck speeds. If you are reeling on your fish, and you feel a sudden tightening of your line, the Albie is probably preparing to make a second run. Take your hand off the reel and let him run and wear himself out again. Fight the fish down and dirty, keeping the rod parallel to the water. When the Albie runs left, you pull low and to the right. When the fish runs to the right, you pull low and to the left.
Once you get your fish to the boat, the fight is only halfway done. This is also where most of your rod breaks occur. Albies dive down deep under your boat and swim in a tight circle as a last ditch effort to escape. You are going to have to fight the fish with the butt section of your rod to win this game. You can do this by putting the butt section of your rod parallel to the water while letting the rod tip relax, even if that means having your rod tip down in the water. Pump the Albie up to the surface little by little, but be sure to never lift any part of the rod above your eye level. Angling your rod up too high is called high sticking, and it's bad for two reasons. For one, it puts the pressure on your rod tip, the weakest part of the rod for fighting a fish. Two, it puts the rod at the risk of breaking.
One quick dive from an Albie will fold your rod in half and cause it to break, often in several places. Keeping the rod at a lower angle throughout the fight will protect it from folding in half, while putting the strongest part of the rod to work. As you play vertical tug o' war with your fish, you need to be ready for the fish to make a run under the boat to the other side.
As soon as you feel that happening you'll need to quickly move the rod around the boat's bow or stern (watch the motor) and meet the fish on the other side. Failure to do so, will allow the Albie to slam your rod against the gunnel of the boat causing it to explode. Under no circumstances should you let your rod touch the boat while under the pressure of fighting an Albie. Loosen your drag or pull the line off your reel if you have to, just don't let it make contact. What's the third most popular way to break a rod while fighting an Albie? That would be reaching out and grabbing the rod blank forward of the cork.
It's an instinctual thing to do when trying to lift a tough fish. When you do that you instantly change the pressure points on the rod, shocking the blank, and often causing it to break in your hand. Keep your hands on the cork and you'll be golden. When you've finally whipped your Albie, it helps to have a buddy land it for you. Depending on the situation you can either net the fish, or reach over and grab them by their tail. Just check below your fish first, to make sure the tax man isn't circling below...yikes!
Albies are a fan favorite among fly anglers - what's your approach to finding and hooking into these speedsters?
Albies are awesome, and for 60-90 days each fall, it's all us fly anglers think about. When these fish are migrating through, I spend almost every single day in pursuit of them with my anglers. Here on the Crystal Coast, we have one of the biggest concentrations of Albies anywhere around, from mid-September through Thanksgiving. These fish move extremely fast, up to 40mph, and can show up anywhere where the bait is. Having bait around is key. These fish feed heavily on silversides and anchovies and we can find concentrations of them in the inlets, along the beachfront, or several miles off the beach. We can cover a lot of ground in the search for these speedsters, and we are always on the lookout for signs of them. This could be seeing fish bust on the surface, sprays of whitewater, bait skipping across the surface, piles of birds feeding, or even just a single bird zig zagging across the sky.
The more you pursue these fish, the more in tune you become with what's going on out there. Wind direction is huge. We have south facing beaches on the Crystal Coast, so the predominant N, NE, or NW winds we see in the fall both calm the seas and drive fish to the beaches. A south wind can change everything and scatter the fish miles offshore. Tides are important too. Sometimes the fish will arrive out of nowhere to feed on the last hour of the falling tide. They may do that for a week and then start feeding on the rising tide the following week. We try to figure out a pattern with these fish, based on tides, times of day, wind direction, bait, etc and stick with it until these fish throw a wrench in our plan. Something that has become a huge help for me, is developing a network of friends on the water. Our small circle of guides and rec anglers that stay in touch out on the water, really speeds up the process of getting our anglers on fish. Once we locate fish, the approach is everything.
95% of catching Albies is positioning of the boat and positioning of the cast. A new Albie angler will burn right up to the blitzing school putting the fish down. A seasoned angler will watch the direction the blitzing fish are headed, and calmly place his boat in their path, allowing them to come to the boat. A new angler will point the boat right at the fish, put it in neutral, and make a 12 o'clock cast to them while still drifting forward. Meanwhile they are stripping as fast as they can, as the boat floats over their fly line, creating slack and causing the fly to sit dead in the water. A seasoned angler will put the fish to the side of the boat, at 9 o'clock or 3 o'clock, allowing the cast to be fished perpendicular to the movement of the boat, and getting as much speed out the fly as possible. When I first started fishing for Albies, a veteran angler told me "one good cast is better than 3 bad casts". That's so important. So many anglers get excited as we approach a school of fish,and cast one second too soon. Their fly lands 5ft short of the school and by the time they can strip in the line and recast, the fish are gone.
Patience catches Albies. Wait until you can "get it in the meat" and then cast. If you can get your fly in the middle of the chaos and get it moving immediately, you will get bit. It sounds easy, but when all heck is breaking loose around you and your heart is beating out of your chest, mistakes happen. You jump the gun, get a knot in your line, hook your buddy, or worse of all, wrap your fly line in the prop. It takes landing a few fish before you can calm your nerves enough to operate calmly amidst the chaos.
What advice would you give someone new to fly fishing in saltwater, especially in the unique conditions of your home waters?
It's about the journey, not the destination. The answer to everything I have talked about is "time on the water". You can watch youtube, read blogs, listen to podcasts, practice your cast, etc...but everything comes from time on the water. All of your real life scenarios come together out there. Every day is different and it takes an accumulation of many days on the water to build enough knowledge to have that "fishy intuition" the really successful anglers have. Journal about your experiences, draw maps, take notes on conditions, it will come in handy one day. I have been fly fishing the Crystal Coast for 20 years and I have a much better understanding than when I started, but I am still learning with every trip, with every fish. So enjoy the journey, appreciate all the cool experiences you have on the water, and try to learn something new every day.
