SOME

First off, better late than never.  Yes, the albies have been around.  How many depends on who you talk to.  Some guys are boasting about big numbers, but I have not seen it. Let's also get something straight....this is not last year, not even close. Last year saw record numbers, and I could find fish on just about every outing from mid September on from shore. Most of the better albie fishermen have caught far less this year than last year.

Yes, there are some around from shore,
but you will have to be lucky to find them.
This one was caught last week.

I have been out just about every day from shore in the last week and I have not seen that many fish caught.  When thirty guys are fishing an "albie hotspot" and about thirty fish are caught, that amounts to an average of one fish a guy.  Not exactly hot fishing.  Of all those days I have been out, there was only one day that I saw good numbers of fish breaking, and that was a day that they showed just about everywhere along the RI oceanfront.

Still, there are fish to be had.  Boaters seem to catching far more than the shore guys.  That is always the case. I also think you could luck out from shore and stumble on a big pile of fish. But, for consistency, let's just say there are some around.  Not that many, just some.

My plan is still to target stripers and if I find some albies, I am prepared with the stuff to fish for them.  Striper fishing has been more consistent than albie fishing so far in September, and the fish seem to be running bigger and bigger.  My son, Jon, was out today in this messy weather.  He didn't get any albies, but he landed 13 stripers from 24 to 32 inches. Pretty darn good.