Best Day Ever

The fantastic September fishing is getting even better. I probably experienced the best fishing of my life today. I went to the ocean in southern Rhode Island early this morning. I woke up at 5:15 this morning and drove down hoping to catch the early morning bite.

Did I ever! From first light until about noon time false albacore were everywhere. Early in the morning they were breaking all over. They were not in schools. It was more like single fish, however there were so many fish it didn't matter. They were aggressive, as they nearly ripped my rod out of my hands while I was using a float and fly. The guy to my left always seemed to have a fish on and he was using metal.

The hits slowed down about 10 o'clock (so I thought). At that time my friend Dave came down. He noticed fish breaking far to the right and went towards them. Ten minutes later I followed him down to the breaking fish. In the matter of fifteen minutes I caught a huge blue,  a keeper striper, and another albie! The albie was actually caught on a Rebel Jumping Minnow.

After this blitz ended we went back to my original spot where we landed even more albacore. As I

This is how my day started. I got to watch dolphins
off shore. I should have known today
was going to be special

said, about noon things slowed down. We decided to try another spot. Sure enough, within five minutes I caught another albie. Then Dave hooked up. Then me again but I missed it

. At this point Dave's friend Dennis showed up. Nothing else happened at this spot so we tried another. For the first time all day, we failed to see any fish. Dave and Dennis decided they were going one place, but I wanted to try another. So we split up for an hour.

When I hit the shoreline at my next spot, I walked into breaking fish on my left. I ran to them as fast as I could over uneven rocks. I got there just as it was stopping. I managed a hit, but not a hook up. I waited and a few minutes later more albies erupted in front of me. This time I caught one. Nothing else happened, so I went back to meet Dave and Dennis, who at this time were where I started out my day.

And yet again we saw breaking fish. Between us I think we got three albies and two stripers. At this point the sun was dropping behind the trees. The fish seemed to shut off, but man, what an amazing day.

All total I caught/fought somewhere around twenty albies.I had over thirty five hits for a species, you
just hope for a chance to catch. I was actually trying to have them come off at the end of the fight. Assuming if I didn't land them, they would most likely survive the battle. How many did I actually put my hands on? I lost count, but safe to say it was around fifteen. Throw in the three stripers (one keeper) and the big blue and I ended up with a RI hat trick. Dave got seven albies and EIGHT keeper bass. Dennis who got there late, picked up two albies and a bass. Besides myself and my friends, I saw at least fifteen other albies caught today by the very few fishermen that were out.

One of Dave's first fish

Other than bottom fishermen I saw, less than ten guys were fishing today. All four spots we went had sight lines of a half mile. Yet I saw so few guys. I have no idea why. This is shaping up to be the best September I can remember. As for myself I've had days where I caught more fish. I've had days where I caught bigger stripers. But in terms of overall experience (hat trick and I obsess over albies) then I would say today was the best day I have ever had fishing!


How caught-

Albies- about 3/4 on a float and homemade Deciever
one shockingly on a Jumpin Minnow, the rest on a four inch Kastmaster XL
I saw many others caught, mostly on Kastmaster XL

Bluefish-  popper
Stripers- one on float and fly
one on a Jumpin Minnow and the keeper was caught on a popper

Now that's a blue!

Dave fighting another false albacore