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| Jon Pickering holds one of two albies that he landed from shore one morning this week. Yes, they are in but we are not seeing big numbers yet. |
By now, many of you have probably heard that the albies arrived very early this year. By the last days of August they were being caught in various spots along the oceanfront. There has only been one year (a long time ago) in which I landed an albie in the month of August. I landed my second albie in August a few days ago on August 31. They are rare here in RI in August. In the last couple of days I have gotten two more. All my fish so far have come on the egg float and fly. The fly is a pink Deceiver.
While the albies arrived early, there are not a lot of them. One guy I fish with called these first arrivals "the scouts". Many fishermen I know have already put in a lot of time and effort and have yet to catch one. To give you an idea of your chances from shore, I know of one location this morning, a "hotspot", that saw about 15 guys casting from shore. There was exactly one albie landed. In another location, another "hotspot" there were roughly 40 guys fishing. Exactly four fish were landed.
Despite the low numbers, those early arrivals have touched off a frenzy of albie seekers. Loads of fishermen trying from shore and a fleet of boats is chasing them down daily. I suspect a lot of fishermen will be out trying this holiday weekend.
I'm still sticking with my September 10th prediction (give or take a few days) for the big numbers of albies to arrive (if it happens). That should start the regular season.
