False Albacore Fly Woes: Day 1

 Little tunny- more commonly but less correctly called false albacore -are one of the most coveted species for light tackle saltwater anglers in the northeast. They are as hard fighting a fish as you can tie into with your feet on dry ground. The're also very pretty. I caught my first tunny in 2016. Then I really hammered them with consistency in 2017. 2018 wasn't bad either. Then I didn't target them much at all through two very poor seasons in 2019 and 2020. I decided that 2021 would be different and have chose to target hardtails at ever opportunity. Welllll... it has not been good. Despite and early showing and quite a few days with good numbers of fish around, I've struggled to catch any. Some of it was poor timing, some of it was bad luck, some of it was me having m head up m own ass when fish actually showed in range. Whatever the story the first month of my tunny targeting went down painfully. This post is about the day it started. 

On August 27th I set out hopeful but uncertain of what to expect, Henri had hit Rhode Island just days prior and I knew there had been some albies caught near Fallmouth just prior to the storm. I hoped the storm had pushed them further west. When I started out, nothing was showing on the surface. I dragged the fly along the bottom hoping to pick up something not so fast while I waited to see some life. I did pick up some fish: small seabass and fluke. 

It went on like that for quite a while. Then, suddenly, at the bottom of the tide, there they were. The shining forms arcing into the air, the violent surface slashes... they were unmistakable. The tunny were here. With my heart beating out of my chest I set off in pursuit. 

Why running and gunning isn't effective

And that's where it all went south for me. The fish were cycling predictably and were feeding on good sized silversides. It was a good setup for success. I, however, had been forced to cast back handed most of the day and had developed some wicked line twist. Once you have severe line twist it's all over. Tangles just keep coming and they will happen the most right when you need them not to. I missed opportunity after opportunity due to the gobs of looped up fly line that constantly formed in my stripping basket. I tried to clean the line (I missed two schools that cam by during that) but it was hopeless. The first day of tunny time had been ruined. 

That turned out to be the beginning not only of the tunny season but many days of agonizing fishing for yours truly. 

Until next time, 

Fish for the love of fish.

Fish for the love of places fish live.

Fish for you.

And stay safe and healthy.

Thank you to my Patrons; Erin, David, John, Elizabeth, Brandon, Christopher, Shawn, Mike, Sara, Leo, C, Franky, Geof, Luke, Streamer Swinger, and Noah for making Connecticut Fly Angler possible. If you want to support this blog, look for the Patreon link at the top of the right side-bar in web version.

June Scup on the Fly

 I've become very interested in catching saltwater bottom fish on the fly in recent years. Scup, fluke, black seabass, tautog... they're not frequently targeted by fly anglers but most of the time they're perfectly willing to take a well presented artificial fly. My methodology has evolved, or rather simplified, withing about the last year to using simple sinking and sink tip lines with a pair of flies and fishing on slow drifts. I'd spent a lot of time trying to use all sorts of drop shot rigs and other such things, most of which proved to be effective at times. They were mostly unnecessary though. What I do now is akin to a typical Great Lakes steelhead and salmon "nymphing" swing, but with a far heavier line and in much deeper water. It works well though. 

Not long ago Noah and I went out for some of the first scup and fluke of the season. He'd already been out a couple times, but this was my first run of the year. He fished primarily with a cheb rig, which is something knew to us and a methodology I intend to apply to tautog in the fall. I was using my 400 grain sink tip, 12 foot leader to 12lb tippet, and a Clouser and worm fly, one tipped with a thing called "fish bites". Fish bites are an artificial attractant Noah had been experimenting with, and being artificial I didn't particularly think it was cheating. Nor do I really care if you do. It wasn't necessary but I did catch more fish because of it.

The fish were averaging pretty large, and most were extremely hefty. We're pretty sure many were gravid females. Though fought pretty well, even on a 10wt. Both Noah and I were having a lot of brief fights though, and having a pretty hard time keeping fish pinned. Had we landed even half of the fish we dropped it would have been a really stellar day, and it wasn't bad to start with. We even tripled up at one point. 

We also got a few other species out there, including a couple sizable sea robins and one small fluke. It was a fun outing and a good start to a season of dredging flies for underrated fish. Most will go back to the depths but a few will end up in the pan.

 Until next time, 

Fish for the love of fish.

Fish for the love of places fish live.

Fish for you.

And stay safe and healthy.

Thank you to my Patrons; Erin, David, John, Elizabeth, Brandon, Christopher, Shawn, Mike, Sara, Leo, C, Franky, Geof, Luke, and Noah for making Connecticut Fly Angler possible. If you want to support this blog, look for the Patreon link at the top of the right side-bar in web version. 

Blitzes and Bottom Fish: Summer "Doldrums"

 On August 8th, Noah, New Noah, and I went out seeking fish. Nothing out of the ordinary here, this is just what we do. This was one of those hot humid, near windless summer days that could most adequately be described simply as "sticky". This would be a typical doldrum day, were it not for two things. One, bottom fish will almost always eat.

And it was already micro bait season.

We started out in our favorite "everything" spot, bottom fishing. It was a steady pick made a little slower by an utter lack of wind for a drift. But we picked at sea robins and scup for a while before we saw chaos unfolding and made a bee-line for it. Upon arrival, we found schoolies chowing on tiny bait, and it was party time for all. Well, not the bait. 

It was quite the show. Hundreds of bass churning up the water, gulls going crazy, all under a bright blue sky... it was a fishing photographer's dream scenario. And I spent a lot of time with camera in hand, but not so much that I didn't catch a couple of my favorite fish to fish for.

A tide change ended the blitz, but also brought around some chub mackerel. We attempted to intercept them for a short time, but weren't successful. Back to bottom fishing it was. More scup, some fluke, and the typical amount of striped sea robins found their way into the boat. We kept some of the scup. 

Noah then started to feel the need to make a move. The fishing wasn't crazy and he and I both had interest in another spot for better fluke potential. We pulled the boat and found ourselves launching it in an out-of-the-way small launch after our first choice proved to be full. Our ride to the grounds we were headed to was now longer, but not without worth. As we went I spotted the first banded rudderfish I'd seen this season under a buoy. It was a solitary individual, and I'd found these tricky in the pass, but Noah gave it a shot. This was, at the time, as species he'd not yet caught. Unfortunately this one was too spooky.

Once on our intended bottom fishing grounds, we discovered that it was indeed more productive than the cove we'd started the day in. Scup came in one after another, they were definitely the predominant fish. Fluke were there, but not in the abundance we'd hoped for. I spent most of the time fishing jig flies on a mono rig, which was effective but not as much as I would have liked.

Eventually I picked up the 450 grain sink tip, and instead of fishing vertically, casted and retrieved a Clouser along the bottom. It took a very short time for me to realize that this was wildly more effective. All these years I've been messing around with different methods to try to replicate the bottom fishing success my friends using spinning and conventional gear were having. I made specialized saltwater mono rigs, toyed with long braid leaders, drop shot rigs and egg sinkers... and the answer was actually something that can much more appropriately still be called fly fishing. 

As the evening progressed, more fish made it into the boat. New Noah caught a northern puffer on a blade bait, much to Noah's and my annoyance (a species that has given us an extremely hard time). One chub mackerel also came home, I myself hooked and lost one as well. We killed that chub and a bunch of scup, but released more. It was a healthy take of meat, one of the rewards for our efforts. It's largely true that the world's fisheries simply cannot sustain the human population's demands, but there are fortunately species that, at least locally, can sustain selective harvest. Release the bass, even the fluke. Keep a few sea robins and scup, maybe a few black sea bass if you find them big enough. And, done right, I hear chub mackerel are delicious. The problem is the freezer stuffing mentality is often not spread out enough, and now fish like striped bass, bluefish, weakfish, and fluke genuinely cannot handle any increase in take. We shouldn't be killing these species at the present time, if it is possible to avoid doing so. Be smart. Diversify your take, and harvest selectively. 

Until next time,
Fish for the love of fish.
Fish for the love of places fish live.
Fish for you.
And stay safe and healthy.

Thank you to my Patrons; Erin, David, John, Elizabeth, Brandon, Christopher, Shawn, Mike, Sara, Leo, and Franky for supporting this blog on Patreon. 

Shorties and Getting Bit by a Skate

One foggy dog day morning, Noah and I drifted around an Eastern CT bay, bottom fishing. It was a short fluke filled day, we caught them with consistency. Though most wouldn't be particularly thrilled, I don't fish for fluke often and that's the only way to get big ones in today's fishery. I'm just happy to catch any flat fish, because they're wicked cool animals.

Most of the time I was fishing with a strip of sea robin on my jigs, But I did make sure I fished without it enough to get a couple properly on the fly. I don't catch flatfish on the fly nearly as much as I'd like to.
Towards the end of one drift, as we started to come up into shallower water, I got some fluke like taps then set into a fairly heavy fish that bent my 5wt to the cork. It didn't feel at all fluke like. It was either a ray or a skate. Given that we'd been wade fishing the same flat the previous evening and had seen and fouled a bunch of clearnose skates, more than I'd seen my entire fishing career prior, I had a feeling it was one of those. And that's exactly what it was.

We netted it. This proved to be an ill advised move.

The skate bit down on the net and decided it didn't feel like letting go. I decided to flick in on the snout just above its mouth to try to get it to let go. I'd forgotten how protractile a skate's mouth is....

Before I'd realized what was occurring, I found my finger very firmly in the jaws of an unhappy and impressively strong skate. I gasped in utter shock at how strong this fish's jaws were. And how much my finger now hurt. I could not simply pull my finger out of the skate's mouth. I asked Noah for help... and to take a photo. The photo was prioritized over my finger... documentation and story telling over my own safety is the name of the game.

Photo courtesy Noah Johnson

I was convinced that if the fish decided to start thrashing I would at best have severe lacerations and at worst lose my finger. The latter seems pretty unlikely, but at the time I really felt like that was a possibility. It f****** hurt! Noah and I, using pliers, managed to open the mouth and remove my now damaged middle finger.

I don't recommend getting bit by a skate. It isn't fun. If you, for any reason, need to get a skate to let go of something, don't flick it about it's mouth, just grab the pliers.
Until next time,

Fish for the love of fish.

Fish for the love of places fish live.

Fish for you.

And stay safe and healthy.

Thank you to my Patrons; Erin, David, John, Elizabeth, Brandon, Christopher, Shawn, Mike, Sara, Leo, and Franky for supporting this blog on Patreon. 

Connecticut Bonito

Before I'd even heard any rumors of bonito in CT this year I was already out hoping I'd get shots at them. I'm not one to follow reports, so I'm sure somewhere somebody had reported in one of the local publications that there were a few around, but I didn't look for that information and didn't even want to see it  if it did exist. I'll chase a really good report, but I'd also rather find my own bite. Often, its just on a whim. In 2017, Noah and I were among the first catch little tunny from shore in CT on September 11th. I saw the conditions line up, we went, and they were there. I hadn't heard a single report yet and nobody else was there targeting them at a quite popular location. Well, on the 4th of August I went to likely water with plans to target other species, but fully prepared for shots at the elusive and beautiful Sarda sarda. Nothing showed, as I expected. There was bait but it wasn't the right tide. I fished for bottom dwelling species, catching some bergals and the first fluke I've brought to hand on the fly in a long while.

A move was made that provided futile, and with very little time left to fish I decided I wanted to go back to the first location. The tide was right, and as if on command, there they were. Nothing locally feeds quite like bones. Superficially, blues or albies could be mistaken for them, but if you have been chasing these fish for a while, there can be no doubt. I was seeing my first definitive bonito blitz in CT waters. I got one shot, a few boils behind my fly, then I had to leave. But you know I was going back the very next day! 

On August 5th, Noah and I got out before I thought the fish would show, always a good policy when tunoids, bass, or bluefish are involved, especially in the days of phone chain bite finding, when a good blitz gets pounced on faster than ever. Before the bonito showed, we sight fished sea robins and drifted for scup and fluke. 

Then, around the top of the tide, I saw some big splashes to my west. I shouted to Noah and we paddled like hell towards the chaos being wrought on a school of silversides. I was the first to get a take, and it was a good one. But I had also just stopped paddling, so the fish and I were both traveling straight towards each other. Lots of slack, no way to really catch up, no hookup. Noah took first blood on a small plug we are inclined to keep a secret for now. Suffice to say, it's going to be a serious game changer for bonito and albies and NOBODY up here is using it right now but him.

Noah's lifer Atlantic bonito.

The fish stayed on a predictable course and I missed another take before hooking up. My first tunoid of the year in the first week of August, and my first bonito in CT! A small chartreuse and white clouser did the job. I managed to keep some amount of tension through the fish's rapid direction changes. These little bonito don't make the long initial run larger member of their species of their cousins the little tunny do, so they end up turning sooner and more and can really make things, uh, exciting for one using a reel with a one to one gear ratio. Keeping tension can be tricky, especially in a kayak and without current. Don't use barbless if you like getting to touch your fish.

We didn't really get another shot that day, though we did bottom fish a bit more. Suffice to say, tunoids were around, we were on them, and I could now think of very little else. It was time to hammer down on the salt.

Until next time.

Fish for the love of fish.

Fish for the love of places fish live.

Fish for you.

 If you enjoy what I'm doing here, please share and comment. It is increasingly difficult to maintain this blog under dwindling readership. What best keeps me going so is knowing that I am engaging people and getting them interested in different aspects of fly fishing, the natural world, and art. Follow, like on Facebook, share wherever, comment wherever. Also, consider supporting me on Patreon (link at the top of the bar to the right of your screen, on web version). Every little bit is appreciated! Thank you to my Patrons; Erin, David, john, Elizabeth, and Christopher, for supporting this blog.

Marsh Scup, Channel Flatties, and Flats Edge Birds

Noah and I put in some hours yesterday fishing for a variety of saltwater species with a variety of tactics, him on his new SUP and me in my kayak, which I indeed do stand in when the water is flat enough. Initially we searched for stripers on the flats. They really weren't there in good numbers, unsurprisingly given the time of year, temperatures, and tide timing, but there were some see robins in targetable numbers with a few cruising stripers and tailing tautog in between. Tag teaming sea robins is one of my favorite summer tactics. We found groups and individual robins working the edge of the flat. If I was in a position to present the fly I would right away. If not I pointed them out to Noah and got myself into position. Getting doubles, or even triples if you are fishing with two other people is pretty easy when working groups of marauding robins, is easy with coordinated effort. When one angler hooks up the other robins tend to follow the hooked one, and with precise casts and carefully timed fights and releases it can be possible to hook every one of a group, which could be as much as eight.

We fished a short channel edge behind the flat too, I missed a couple stripers, Noah got one then caught a short fluke on a fluke. To that end he had already gotten sea robin, striper, bluefish, and summer flounder. It was shaping to be a real "who's who" of CT inshore water kind of day. Our next move took us to pleasure boater city, which really annoyed me. Mucked up water, no larger stripers around, and the annoyance of having to keep one eye open for either drunken idiots or just sober stupid idiots became to theme of the day. Living in the heavily populated land that is Southern New England you learn quickly that there are a lot of people around with large, dangerous, fast moving things that should never have been entrusted with large, dangerous, fast moving things. We fished the backwaters, where the boat traffic was still startlingly frequent, and we found marsh porgies. 

It is, I think, quite unlikely that marsh porgies would be a thing were it not for the massive effect that man has had of the shoreline. The two places Noah and I found these scup featured deeper water specifically due to man made structure. In all likelihood these deep holes would never have existed in that kind of marsh water without manmade structure. In this case, bridges. Bridges draw fish like streetlights draw insects in the night. 

I was a little surprised, honestly, that we encountered porgies there. Even when I find them in inshore water it typically isn't that far in. But they were there and for a few hours we caught them on sandworms and some on the fly, and were we more equipped we probably would have had a damned good meal afterwards. Which reminds me...

At one of the launches we used on this day Noah and I found a pile of discarded fish carcasses. Not unusual and not a bad thin in my opinion either as it feeds the ecosystem from which those fish were taken rather than the garbage dump. But in this case, it appeared the only meat that had been taken was from the only keeper sized sea bass there and a short fluke. The short seabass had been filleted and everything discarded and the scup hadn't even been filleted. Anyone who does this kind of thing has a special place in hell waiting for them. If you are going to use the resource you damned well better respect it. CT, as far as I have researched, has no wanton waste laws regarding fish, only migratory birds. That needs to change. 

Noah's last fish of the day was also the second and final fluke of the day, once again in a channel but a much more subtle one.

Though it can be much more difficult to have consistent daylight striper action this time of year there is a lot of action to be had with a fly rod inshore. Sometimes it takes thinking outside the box, sometimes "cheating", but it is all fun and well worthwhile.