“Hang on,” Amanda says, and makes a short sprint to a cacophony of birds. I feel the anxiety, the desperate need for the feeling of a deeply bent rod, but still remember to check the angle of my backcast. A local favorite, a fly designed by Richard Reagan called the Albie Whore, falls into the melee.
“Just hang on to the line and let the boat momentum move the fly,” she says. An albie pulls the line right out of my fingers and tight to the reel. A few seconds later I feel the backing knot bump through the guides, and smile. Steve’s hooked up, too, and the fish are headed in opposite directions. Helter skelter! I can catch those things ’til I’m blue in the face at home in the Gulf Stream, where they eat anything and stay with the boat. But they act like a whole ’nother species up north and in shallow water. They go up and down like jacks-in-the box, are finicky about flies, and make long, horizontal runs instead of vertical sounds. On rougher days albie fishing in the Northeast can be compared to shooting clay pigeons while streaking across speedbumps on a bicycle. It’s as demanding as it is exhilarating. You must have good balance, and be quick, agile and precise. When you blow shots at them, it’s heartbreaking.
Amanda patterns these pods quickly, and keeps us in fish all day. They feed in a circular pattern around a rip, and want different retrieves at different places along the rip. At the top they fall for Crease Flies skittered across the surface. Mid-rip they belt an Albie Whore swinging through the rip at the pace of the tide. At the bottom, only a rapidly ascending minnow pattern fished on a heavy sinking line does the job. Although our shoulders are sore, fingers ripped raw and our stripping hands swollen with blood from all the fast downward motions, we chase the schools fanatically for hours. We slow down only to dredge a rip occasionally for a bass. Past three o’clock we realize we’re the only vessel on the water.
“The Redbone anglers had to be back at the dock by three,” Amanda grins. Suddenly, I understand the real reason for her diffidence about tournament fishing. For the most addicted, the completely obsessed, rules other than conservation measures just don’t set right with them. Rules are for landlubbers; there’s still plenty of daylight, and we need to keep fishing.
Montauk Tackle
Fly anglers should bring an 8- , 9- and a 10-weight rod. Most blitz fishing is done with intermediate sinking lines, short leaders and small flies, since the fish feed mainly on “rain bait.” But, the fish will take poppers and Crease Flies, so bring a floating line with an aggressive taper (with a heavy, wind-punching head.) Good casters can get away with an 8-weight, especially on calm days, but winds in excess of 10 knots are the rule. Sinking lines between 200 and 400 grains work best in the surf, unless it’s very calm. These lines are best handled on 9- and 10-weight rods. Some anglers are turning to double-handed fly rods in the surf. A 500-grain sinking line is useful when dredging the rips. You should cast these heavy lines with open, arcing loops, and a rod with a soft tip but a stiff butt section seems to accomplish that best.
Unless sight-fishing on the flats, there’s no need for long leaders. Wire bite tippets are good when fishing for bluefish or for bass under bluefish schools. Fly selection should include small green Clouser Minnows and sand eel patterns, Crease Flies, poppers and some large-bodied Deceivers to imitate bunker.
Hardware chunkers rely mainly on light/medium action spinners with 10- or 12-pound line, unless surf casting. A heavier plug rod for fishing large poppers and walking plugs, and for jigging the rips is also a useful tool. Small tins and swim baits work particularly well in the bass and albie blitzes. Large poppers, and Slug-Gos or similar jerkbaits work well in the surf and for prospecting the rips early. Slug-Gos fished on jigheads or white bucktails are the go-to lure in the rips.
