North Fork
False Albacore

The albie bite along the North Fork beaches has been really good this fall. If you want to try catching one of these speedsters using spinning or fly fishing rods this is the time time to do it. 

When using spinning rods, the albies have been hitting epoxy jigs like the Hogy Epoxy Jig Lure, and I've heard that green color is the ticket, but often they strike my pink jigs.

Hogy's albie jigs page is titled "ALBIE SEASON ESSENTIALS" which is pretty cool because they have lots of information and instructional videos on how to fish them, very helpful for the new angler.

Hogy: https://hogylures.com/collections/albie-season-essentials

A lot of epoxy jigs are sold with treble hooks, but I recommend you buy or change to a single, because most of the time, its easier to remove one instead of three, resulting in less damage to the fish.

If you are not going to harvest an albie, be prepared to release it when you land it. Have your pliers, gloves, camera or whatever you need ready before you start fishing for them.

I've seen anglers leaving fish unattended, while they go look for something and later toss it back on the water, in terrible shape if not already dead.

This is an aerial picture of an albie that was not properly released, and went right to the bottom.

As anglers, we've all made mistakes, but we need to improve our skills in order to consistently release fish in good condition, so they can survive to fight another day.

My preferred method to target albies is on the fly, and the NOFO beaches are a great place to fish for them using this method, in fact, I prefer the beaches to the usual jetties, because it is easier to land albies.

The flies that are working are small bait patterns and the color doesn't seem to make a lot difference, but if you're not sure what to use, stick to well know flies like UV resin minnows, albie whores,  bonito bunny in sizes 2, 1 and 1/0 in white, tan, pink or yellow. 

You don't need to wade deep, or making amazingly long casts for a shot at them. You may not see the fish, but the albies charge the shore chasing bait and they often strike my fly no more than 10 feet from where I'm casting..

An 8 or 9wt fly rod with intermediate line and a 9ft leader using a fast steady retrieve should do the trick.

And don't forget your stripping basket, it helps a lot!

If you don't tie flies, a good place to buy them is, The Saltwater Edge. A tackle shop with as great selection of proven albie flies.

Visit them at: https://saltwateredge.com/collections/albie-and-bonito-flies

This short clip is from recent action along the beaches in the North Fork and should give you an idea of how good it has been.

The full video will be available on YouTube soon.

Lets keep our fingers crossed for an extended 2022 albie season and if you have any question let me know.

Sergio

#flyfishinglongisland