Patterning Albies
On station shot from Saturday. I’ve worked at becoming a more patient albie hunter, and it’s not easy for me. Guilty of being too patient at times on the flats stalking stripers, I have an opposite reaction looking for these fish. But over the past three seasons I’ve become better at the grind it out game, at posting up and waiting at the right tide, at blind casting work around structure. And man, has it paid off. Sometimes with A fish that salvages the midday period and other times with near continuous shots at happy fish.
I purposely try to learn from other albie guides and anglers and have to give Capt. Jon Tregea credit for helping me here. I distinctly recall a trip three years ago during a mid-season lull in the albie action. We’d had some outstanding fishing early in the week, but for two days it seemed like someone shut off the switch. I ran 120 nautical miles that day - not to get to a far away feed - but just looking for the feeds that we all want to find. We saw very few fish, made fewer casts, and caught none. Jon covered a fraction of the distance, working likely spots at idle speed or drift, playing the tide and structure, working for a shot at a couple of fish. He landed five albies that day.
A key for me is having confidence in diagnosis of a pattern. The albies don’t always follow our rules or expectations, but their behavior can be more predictable than we sometimes think. Using waypoints to mark fish sightings is a game changer. In many instances, where they pop up is driven by variables that are different day to day, tide to tide. But… start amassing lots of data points on cartography that has a very high level of bottom contour detail. Correlate those locations with timing of current movement - direction and velocity - and patterns start to become clear. Go to those areas at the right time and have the albies show up, ascribing success to more than chance, sharp eyes, or covering ground, and you’ll build the confidence to do so more often.
I’ve been using the Humminbird CoastMaster charts for two seasons now and am astounded at the value of having that level of bottom contour detail for the albie game. It’s not always important or relevant, but it has led to far more recognition of patterns for me. That insight has helped me stay on fish during a segment of a particular tide and it’s helped me become more proficient at predicting where the albies MIGHT show up on a different day.
I’m still a fan of leaving fish to find happy fish. My innate curiosity about what’s around the next bend often serves me well. Let’s go looking! But my strong preference for finding our own fish is really well served by channeling my inner Jon Tregea.
What’s an albie lesson you’ve learned?