It was fun while it lasted

I had known I'd have Thursday/ Friday off from work this week in September since February. In my opinion, the best time to fish for albies is between September 11-18. I had off Sept 15, 16. Better yet, my days off this week are Thurs/Fri so I could avoid the weekend crowds.

I got up extremely early on Thursday and was fishing by 7:10 am. There were fish breaking all along the Narragansett shoreline. I hooked a fish on my second cast but it came off. I caught a couple in the next hour. At 8:40 all hell broke loose in front of me. Albies were busting bait all over the place for a couple hundred yards for ten minutes. Birds were diving, bait was jumping out of the water, it was wild! I caught two in this time period.

After the fish stopped showing, they were still around and I was catching fish. It was dead calm when I got there. There was a light breeze out of the north. Around 9:30 the wind shifted east. Of course conditions were still calm at first but I could clearly tell the water was getting choppier.

I was still catching. At 12:30 my total for the day was ten hits, fought nine, released eight (one came
off during the fight). Any day when you can catch an albie from shore is a good day. So having fought all those fish made for a great morning!

However, during this time, the east wind was getting stronger and the waves were building. I never got another hit all day. I fished for four more hours.

I'm sure other fish were caught during the calm conditions of the morning. Hazard and Newton Ave were so busy I couldn't park there. By mid-afternoon there was barely a fisherman around. Many guys would come down look at the water for a minute and leave or talk to others doing the same. I didn't just look, I casted and casted. The fish took off in the damn east wind.

This wind is not going to let up for a few days. Will the albies return when the wind turns west? Who knows. I sure hope so. I dream all year of fishing for albies. I got down to the ocean three times for them this week catching 2, 4, 8. I sure hope they come back, if not, I will be crushed, but it was fun while it lasted