Albies Around, but No Numbers

I can tell you with certainty that some albies, false albacore,  have been caught by shore fishermen.  Last weekend there was a short spurt of activity and some were taken by shore fishermen I know.  Since then there has been little around although I am almost sure I saw several break way out in front of me on Thursday. I could not reach them from shore.
While there are some of these sought after fish, the numbers are not there, and your chances of catching one in RI waters are quite slim right now.  In order to get a lot of them to stay in our waters, we would need a lot of bait and the bait is lacking right now.  The bait has come and gone in the last month and right now it is gone.  I fished the oceanfront and really scouted around on Thursday and Friday and could not find a stitch of bait anywhere within a five to seven mile stretch of the oceanfront.  I was looking for albies by day and found nothing.  In the evening and night my attention turned to finding stripers.  I did find a few but they were all schoolies.  Don't expect to get many stripers either if you don't have a lot of bait.
It's still early in September for big numbers of albies. Mid to late September has been the peak period in other years.  Hopefully, more fish are on the way.