Albie & Bonito Video

Hard tail fishing this year has been tough for me, for the most part. Like many other fly fishermen, I’ve heard many times “You should have been here yesterday.” Or, I have been driven off the water by wind and rain. For me, it was a typical day- 15-20 knot winds, and waves that soaked you to the bone, that I first ran into Jeremy. I was fishing a fairly well-known inlet, and was about to call it quits when a couple of fly fishermen walked out to the tip of the jetty and struck up a conversation. That’s when I recognized one of them as our very own Jeremy. I told him that I was a member of Flies And Fins, and after that meeting, we began exchanging Tuna reports. Then one day a week or so later, I pulled into the Mobil station at Dunn’s corners and saw that same familiar face washing off his boat. We were obviously surprised to see one another, and took it as a sign to fish together, as Jeremy had found some fish that day. While the next day we did find the fish, we weren’t able to hook any. However, Jeremy told me that he would be in Rhode Island for a few more days, and so I told him that I’d call him and let him know if I ran into any fish. I fished again two days later, and had a phenomenal day. Fishing solo, I boated 5 bonito and 3 albies. I called Jeremy, trying to contain my excitement, and told them that we had to fish the next day. He was wicked excited, but told me that he had his friend Alex up from Argentina. Not wanting to leave his friend onshore, Jeremy asked me if Alex could come along. I didn’t have a problem with this, and we made arrangements for me to pick Alex and Jeremy at 6:00 the next morning. I found them waiting for me the next day at the marina. Jeremy introduced Alex and I, they boarded my luxury fly fishing vessel (see video), and we headed out to chase some hard tails. On the way to our destination, we saw loads of life. Birds, blues, bass, and bait were everywhere. However, none of us are birdwatchers, and we weren’t interested in non-tuna species. We were focused on a goal, and we were determined not to be distracted. Luckily, we did not have to wait long to find some funny fish. Alex was the first in the bow, and after a few shots at fish, hooked up. The fish took him deep into his backing, and after a bit of a struggle, we boated the first fish; a false albacore. He was stoked, and his excitement spread to Jeremy and I in nanoseconds. Over the course of the next few hours, we had numerous shots at fish. Alex landed one more albie; however, the fish seemed to have lockjaw. However, we knew that they had to eat eventually. It turned out that we had to wait about 6 hours for this to happen. Late in the afternoon, the harbor lit up. There were a lot of bonito mixed in with the albies, and they were all hungry. I finally landed one bonito, after popping off several fish. Jeremy landed one, too, and after that, we decided to just see how many fish we could get in the boat. All three of us began fishing, no easy task, and on virtually every cast for the next hour at least one of us hooked a fish. Somehow, despite fish running all over the place, and all three of us casting from a small boat, there was not one tangle. Everything clicked. The fish were eating, and we were all casting well enough to avoid one anothers lines. In about an hour, we landed 4 bonito, in addition to several dropped fish. Later on, a school of albies tore things up in the harbor. Alex again hooked a fish. However, the fish was an animal, and he had to pop it off to keep it out of some pots. We were all exhausted after that day. We spent 13 hours on the water, with probably 9 of those hours spent casting to fish. In total, we landed 2 albies and 4 bonito. It was one of the best days fishing I have had, not just because of the fish but because of the camaraderie with my fellow tuna chasers.