6 Tips to Catch More False Albacore

The arrival of false albacore is a celebrated occasion each August within the Northeast, starting the transition from summer season to fall. We’ve all heard, watched, and examine typical albie methods. So, as a substitute of the identical details about albie etiquette and matching the hatch, my purpose is to ship just a few distinctive, outside-the-box suggestions that will add just a few extra digits to your albie totals on a given day. As a younger captain and angler on Cape Cod, I’ve chased these fish from the times when Lethal Dicks and metals have been all that have been wanted by the creation of epoxy jigs, mushy plastics, eggs, and flies. The whole panorama of false albacore fishing has become a extremely detailed, aggressive marketplace for lure makers to separate their product from the remainder. When it comes proper all the way down to it, the simpler you make the pursuit, the higher off you may be.

Deal with Casts, Not Shade

Typically, you simply should put the deal with field away and confidently fish one bait. On days when albies ignore all the pieces you throw at them, chances are you’ll shuffle by colours and sizes of lures, searching for a silver bullet. As an alternative, spend that power on the fish themselves.

Deal with precisely how the fish are appearing on that day. While you’re coping with choosy fish, a well-timed, well-placed solid and retrieve is extra essential than lure colour 9 occasions out of ten.

Deal with solid placement to enhance double-up possibilities.

When participating a college of feeding albies, solid past the feed, not into it. Don’t get overexcited after they pop up—learn the feed for a second and make the solid. When you’ve decided the route the albies are feeding, solid past the varsity, forward of its path, and put your jig on an intercept course with the fish. Matching the hatch is all the time be essential, however the subsequent time you might be fighting choosy fish, maintain this in thoughts.

Use Your Electronics

Consider it or not, electronics can play an enormous position in false albacore fishing. The same old method is to look for birds, bait, and floor exercise, then chase these down. Nonetheless, in case you have electronics at your disposal, utilizing them can assist put you in the proper place on the proper time.

Begin along with your charts. In case you are in an space the place albies have been persistently feeding, observe the situation in your charts. As a rule, the fish can be persistently exhibiting on a selected contour line, depth change, or construction. Figuring out the areas the place they’re prone to pop again up will maintain you one step forward of the fish whereas different fishermen are left chasing blitzes.

Additionally, use your sonar and, if obtainable, aspect imaging. Monitor these electronics across the fish to see when you can mark faculties of bait and the albies themselves. Staying on the transfer at a sluggish pace enables you to scan numerous areas till you mark fish or bait in your display. While you do, idle for a minute and see in the event that they push to the floor.

Tremendous-Tune Your Retrieve

One of the underexplained features of false albacore fishing is methods to retrieve epoxy-style jigs. On the water, I repeatedly see anglers casting into feeds and retrieving whereas imparting every kind of twitches, bumps, and motion with the rod. When the fish are closely feeding and committing to lures, that’s fantastic. Nonetheless, if you’re working choosy fish or making a number of blind casts, doing an excessive amount of will be ineffective.

Make lengthy casts, then maintain your rod tip down and keep a gradual retrieve. Keep away from pointless twitching and maintain the jig just under the floor on a straight line. I inform anglers to squeeze the rod deal with tight and lock your wrists. It will maintain the rod tip regular and permit the jig to maneuver just below the floor, flashing its colours. That is particularly efficient in the case of blind casting in areas the place the fish have proven.

Lock your wrists to maintain your jig swimming steadily and naturally just under the floor.

Get the Proper Gear

Whether or not you’re a seasoned false albacore fishing veteran or an entry-level angler, utilizing the right deal with can actually enhance success. Considered one of my favourite discoveries is utilizing a faster-action rod. You continue to need to go together with the lightest rod doable—many anglers take pleasure in catching them on medium-light and light-action rods—however a sooner motion makes it simpler to maintain the rod tip nonetheless whereas retrieving, which helps casting jigs swim completely just below the floor.

Leaping up a weight in your favourite albie rod to a medium-heavy or heavy also can make a distinction in perfecting the retrieve on an epoxy jig. A lightweight, whippy rod has an excessive amount of motion on the tip that can trigger the jig to leap out and in of the water as a substitute of staying persistently just below the floor. A faster-action rod can even add a ways to your solid when paired with the proper reel, which I prefer to maintain small and quick.

Maintain the Hookset

There’s a ton of power that goes into chasing these inshore footballs, which may make anglers a bit set off blissful. While you lastly get a chew after casting right into a blitz of finicky false albacore, what tends to return subsequent is a hard-hitting hookset derived from hours of awaiting that strike. Typically, a fish inhales it sufficient for the hookset to work, however extra usually, you’ll pull your lure proper from its mouth. Attempt to keep focused on the strike. While you really feel the hit, reel into the fish. Proceed the tempo of your retrieve proper up till your reel locks up. Keep away from the high-stick hookset and produce the rod throughout your physique, permitting the motion of the rod to set the hook.

Scale back your RPMs

There’s a methodology to this. Should you take note of your engine RPMs whereas wanting and ready for a pod to floor, you’ll see that staying at or beneath a sure stage will maintain the fish up longer. For me, that quantity is 700. Maintaining your motion underneath 700 rpms permits for mobility in addition to stealth.

Scanning the floor at a low RPM can enhance the possibilities of getting near a feed.

Nobody desires to be the man roaring from pod to pod at breakneck pace, however nobody desires to overlook out on feeds both. Observe and sample utilizing your eyes and electronics, then keep on the transfer at a low RPM stage.