Ó Ed Mitchell 2002
In that last few year a lot has been written about fishing for false albacore. And why not? They’re a fascinating fish. Still I though it time to take a different approach, one that stepped back and look at them more as a species. To that end I dug through the scientific journals and pulled out the pertain facts. Hopefully, what I found will help you better understand these wonderful creatures, and catch more of them too. I know it helped me. So rather than covering tackle and flies, what lies ahead is an examination of where albies are found, what types of places they prefer, how they behave, what they eat, and how they eat it. And lastly we’ll finish up with a look at the special physical attributes that make them so awesomely powerful.
False albacore are part of the tuna tribe, which makes them mackerels and more specifically members of the Scrombriadae family. Their life span is upwards of 10 to 15 years, about that of a bluefish, and half of a striped bass. By tuna standards they’re welterweights. In southern New England albies average between 6 and 12 pounds, with fish from 15 to 20 pounds occurring along the North Carolina coast. Weight at length varies, but some data indicates that a two-footer is about 9 pounds, and thirty inch fish is 16. And overall they reach a maximum length of 4 feet and a weight of 35 pounds. Got enough backing for that one?
The albie is likely the most numerous tuna in the Atlantic and is equally at home on both sides of the ocean. For the most part they’re warm water beasts and therefore most abundant in tropical waters. Still, in season, the false albacore is found over an enormous range. Along our coast it is well known from the south arm of Cape Cod - including the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket - southward to the Florida Keys. They are also found throughout the Caribbean, and likewise throughout much of the Gulf of Mexico. Farther south still, they range on down to the Brazil.
On the far side of
the great pond, false albacore prowl the Mediterranean and also hunt its
adjoining seas -- the Aegean, the Marmara, and the Black. They can be found off
the coast of Spain too, and occasionally wander northward past southwest corner
of Britain, through the English Channel and up into the North Sea. False
albacore are home south of Spain as well, found along the entire west coast of
Africa including the Cape Verde Islands. They are less wide spread on the east
coast of Africa, but are known to live in the Red Sea, including the Gulf of
Aqaba.
Tuna are largely creatures of the deep briny blue, but fortunately for fly rodders, “albies” are an exception – they’re green water fish. Young-of-the-year albies inhabit offshore waters, adults may too, but overall they live primary near shore in depths of less than 100 feet of water. And yes, as angler in southern New England well know, these fish will, at times, roar right down the beach practically at your feet.
By nature the “albie” is schooling predator that groups by size. They typically fed heavily during daylight hours, with peak action usually occurring on a running tide in early morning or mid afternoon. They love places with well-defined bottom structure particular those accompanied steep contours and ample current. That translates into rips, especially those associated with inlets and points of land, and humps and reefs far out from shore.
The swiggley lines on their backs are likely camouflage for working near the surface in clear sun lit waters. And much to the delight of fly rodder albies frequently do dine on top, although they rarely stay thee very long. More on that subject later. By the way I have watched from a boat as albies zoomed after bait in transparent shallow water. As they passed by the hull in chest deep water I could see that the green along their backs glowed like bright neon. My guess is that electric color is most like a signal to their buddies that they have the prey in locked into their sights. Nature is always thinking.
Naturally schooling predators move around from day to day following the most abundant bait, but false albacore seem to do it in the extreme. One day they’re all around the boat, kicking butt and taking names, and the following day you can’t buy one for love nor money. So it is not uncommon for false albacore fishing to be feast and famine, much to the chagrin of anglers and guides alike. Moreover, the quantity bait in an area is apt to have a noticeable effect on your hookup rate. When schools of forage fish get large and highly concentrated, false albacore tend to attack in large numbers too, and are usually very aggressive, ready to sock any fly thrown into their midst. The reverse is also true. When the bait is in small pods and spread out, the albies split up into small squadrons, of perhaps only five to ten fish. The action becomes sporadic, harder to predict, and more challenging. Still this type of fishing has its bright side. The more spread out the action, the more spread out the anglers. So while the fishing is apt to be difficult, may also be more fun.
Over hundreds of years of evolution predator fish have developed strategies with which to surrounding and attacking bait. And those strategies vary accordance with the particular strengths of individual species. For example some species are ambush oriented, launching sudden attacks at short range, and other high-speed warrior, over coming their prey with sheer speed. Albies fit into that category. And they do it in a certain style.
Once over at Montauk with Captain Joe Keegan I saw false albacore feeding on a grand scale. While we were casting off the port side, an odd sound made us turn and look to starboard. There an entire herd of albies, likely numbering over a hundred, had come to the surface in a phalanx line. And the noise we heard was the sound of them literally mowed their way across the top. White water, flying bait - awesome. Since then I have watched small pods of false albacore do the same thing. The lead fish approach the bait traveling side by side. This frontal assault maybe only three or four fish wide. But any fly dropped just ahead of it usually provokes an immediate strike.
No
Swim Bladder
Albies seem to have only two gears: either they are cruising at fair clip just under the surface, or they are rocketing through prey at breakneck speed. The reason they are rarely at rest is that contrary to nearly all other fish, “albies” lack a swim bladder. A swim bladder is an internal gas balloon that allows fish to suspend in the water column. Without it, for albies it’s literally sink or swim. Still, the lack of a swim bladder has its positive points. Since albies need not adjust a swim bladder change depth, they can move up and down in the water column at full throttle, much to the angler’s dismay. One second their on top, and the next second they’re gone. It happens all the time.
Eagle Eyes
Before we head on to discuss the forage, let me relay something I read regarding false albacore’s legendary eyesight. This report comes from Bermuda, one of the few spots where adult false albacore regularly operate in water of great depths. As the story goes false albacore sitting over 90 feet deep rose to the surface to attack plugs trolled on the surface behind a boat. Granted these fish may have also heard the engines, but perhaps as fly rodder have long assumed, albies have eyes like eagles.
Research done along the southeastern Atlantic and in the Gulf of Mexico on the dining habits of false albacore found that 67 percent of their stomach contents was baitfish. No surprise here; and I don’t think you’ll be surprised to learn that albies exhibited a preference for oily baits. That’s true of many predators including striped bass and bluefish. In southern New England waters that translates into a taste for small menhaden, bay anchovy, sand eels and such. And therefore most fly patterns mimic the size and shape of these baits.
Now you may be asking yourself if baitfish made up 67 percent of the diet what was the rest? Excellent question, and the answer may surprise you. The study found that invertebrates account for nearly all the remaining stomach contents. When you think of invertebrates, squid come first to mind, and squid did make up the bulk of that. And for that reason large squid-like streamer or squid patterns can work magic at times. Still there is something else going on here; something very intriguing. False albacore also wolf down stuff small enough to qualify as plankton. You heard me right. And that small stuff was largely made up of one specific type of invertebrate -- crab larvae. Now if you fish in my home waters of southern New England that fact should set of bells and whistles. And that fact I believe accounts for a good deal of the mysterious behavior we see from feeding albies in my waters. They are right on top in plain view and refuse every streamer s thrown at them. They are eating small crabs. And when that happens, streamer flies just don’t cut it. And it is my believe that other similar small matter is at times to blame for the false albacores refusal to eat flies that are other wise known killers.
Besides this plankton business, studies of the albie’s diet revealed one other thing of interest to anglers. Because fly rodders target albies near the surface, many of them assume that when you don’t see albies on top they’re simply not around. Well, not true. Bottom dwelling fish were found in the stomachs of false albacore too. So clearly albies can feed right on the bottom at times. Not sure you believe it? Divers have witnessed albies in the act. They report seeing false albacore drive a school of forage fish down and pin it to the bottom, before blasting through them. These divers also reported actually hearing the albie’s jaws clicking as they snapped up the bait. That must have been quite a sight!
What makes false albacore so swift, so powerful? Well for one thing tuna swim funny. Most fish wiggle their way through the water, but not tuna. They have a unique skeleton they allows them to keep their body rigid and simply drive it ahead like spear. That alone greatly reduces hydrodynamic drag, but there is a lot more going on here. Tuna have streamlined bodies shaped for speed. Moreover Nature has taken care of the details. Ever wonder what about those small finlets along the top and bottom of their caudal peduncle? All mackerel have them, and these little fins have a purpose. They lower the turbulence created by the tuna’s vibrating tail. Albies have all of this and more. First they’re slicker than most tunas, almost totally free of scales. That helps reduce turbulence along the body even further. Consider this too: The albie’s dorsal and pectoral fins are setup like the blades of a jack knife, capable of being folded in flat. That further reduces resistance.
Being smooth and streamlined doesn’t, however, necessarily mean you’re fast, any more than a Ferrari with lawn mower motor is going to smoke the tires. You need power too and fact is tuna have plenty of it. They are high-energy, high-metabolism critters. And members of the mackerel family – it turns out - are the most muscle packed fish on earth. As adults, sixty percent or more of their body weight is musculature. And to boot, those muscles are backed up by a heart that is huge in proportion to the body. Tuna are truly champion athletes. Now you have to deliver that power to the wheels, and here too Nature has a plan. A tuna’s caudal peduncle is a narrow rigid bridge fully able to transmit all this muscle power to the tail. And once in gear, a tuna can beat this boomerang shaped thing faster than a set of drumsticks in a rock musicians hands.
As if it all of these attributes weren’t enough, “albies “ have one more ace up their sleeve. They have hot bodies. You heard right, they’re a small furnace. Nearly all fish are cold-blooded, and cannot therefore regulate their internal body temperature. As a result their swimming strength, and endurance is greatly effected the temperature of the surrounding water. Not so with a false albacore, or with tuna in general. Scientific evidence indicates that a false albacore’s body temperature can be twenty degrees warmer than the surrounding water. That’s incredible. Think of it this way. If you caught one in 78 degree water, that fish’s body temperature is much like your own. And that internal heat increases both the false albacore’s strength and endurance. And their stocky build helps them retain that warmth.
Having a hot body may have two other advantages as well. The ability to control their internal temperature probably permits them to rapidly change depth without being adversely effected by shifts in water temperature. In a similar fashion, I bet this temperature control gives them more latitude as water temperatures cool in the late fall. If during a particular year the bait is super abundant, the albies can adapt to stay longer and feed.
The End
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Given the power of false albacore and the fact that you have to pump them up at the gunwale, I’m sticking with my ten-weight. Less suffering on both ends of the stick. If albies are consistently coming to the surface, an intermediate line is super and I prefer the clear ones. These are also my choice in most fishing situations from shore. Fast sinking lines are, however, a must have. Day in and day out they produce the most fish. I personally have never seen an albie run over 150 yards. Still if you ever lock horns with one over twenty pounds, or you find yourself in a position where you can’t follow the fish, it makes sense to have more. I suggest 200 yards and 250 isn’t out of order.
Now a word of warning. There is such a thing as too much backing! In the rush to pack as much backing as possible, some anglers overfill the reel. Remember that you need clearance between the fly line and the reel pillars. How much? A pencil makes a handy gauge; it should fit in the gap. Without this clearance, as you load line back on the reel during the fight it may stack unevenly and jam tight!
As far as casting is concerned, speed is often the key to success. Bass and blues stay up for a time so you can fumble around and make a couple of false casts - no real problem. But albies can be a blur. One second they’re in front of you and the next they’re gone. So a speedy delivery is imperative, in fact don’t be surprised if the first angler to cast is the only one to hookup. It happens all the time.
Making a quick delivery requires preparation. Stretch and lubricate your fly line before hand. While you’re motoring around looking for the action, have enough of the head out of the rod tip to facilitate a speedy shot. Weight forward lines with short tapers are helpful in that regard, but you have to retrieve them a long way before you can pickup and cast again, so there’s a trade Even in a boat consider using a stripping basket. It keeps your line organized and ready to fly.
I have used flies from 2-inch to 7-inches riding hooks from 4 to 3/0. Still the vast majority of the time a fly of 3 to 4 inches riding either a number 1 or 1/0 hook does the trick. The only clear exception is when matching juvenile bay anchovy; then a 2-inch fly is usually best. Albies likely have excellent vision, but I don’t think they’re exceptionally leader shy for one reason. Albies are often aggressive. No tiptoeing around; they tend to charge the fly and pound it hard. So 12 to 15 pound tippets seem perfectly adequate. Yeah chumming isn’t popular above the Mason Dixon line. Still it works in northern waters too. And when the fish are sporadic and spread out, it can save the day.