Duncan's fuzzed memories of Albiefest ought 5
Yeah--Friday everybody arrived by 4am or so (Miles and Duncan at the New Bern Wally World at 3am). Craig and Brandon appeared out of the darkness. We splashed the boats at 4, noticed first light at 430, took a nappie until maybe 530. Was kind of ugly getting the boats started--they did not want to go out, it seemed, but we prevailed. It was fricking COLD. Breezy too. Had to wait for enough light to cross over--hurricanes changed the channel? Anyways, set camp in the usual spot and headed out. Wind 10-15 in the am, maybe picking up toward noon. Duncan Miles Heath in AG, Craig/Brandon in the Whaler. Probably 6-8 albies caught total for two boats by noon. Some whitecaps,seas 2-4, fair number of birds, fish in twos and threes up/down. Craig and Brandon look like pros in the Whaler. Have they done this before? We headed back upwind to get closer to shore for some relief and as we did so the wind began to lay down and it began to feel almost warm.
Fishing not red hot; then C&B zoomed up and said a flotilla was heading thru the shoal to the east side. They raced off, we reeled up and started to follow, but we got kinda lost in the rollers as we headed thru, no obvious way, so we turned around. But we didnt stay turned around--how could we? So we resolved to press thru and turn around if it got hairy. But what happened is, as the wind quit, the rshoals laid down, so the rollers evaporated over about a 30 minute period. So there we were with 25 other boats (everybody came out right after lunch), middle of the shoals, in 8 feet of clear water and the birds are on and the splashes are on and we are hooked up! To one-pound bluefish.
Now if we are keeping score on albies caught, subtract one quarter albie for each blue.
But as we fished (and had gear bitten off) the splashes got bigger and greenfish started roaring thru. What a sight! A lot of hookups resulted. We did this for awhile, chased east and west after the birds, when Craig and Brandon waved us over to them. Something wrong with the Mercury! Oh no! Tilt up, look...tilt back down, look....outa gas! Subtract two albies!
So we spliced up a tow rope and started hauling them in to get some gas. Of course we stopped at a promising blitz, threw stuff at it, pressed on. We took them around the hook (Miles at the helm--can we get both boats on plane? See Brandon putting on a life jacket, Craig checking the rip cord on his Sospenders). Dropped B and C and Whaler at the hook (maybe the albies will come in) on anchor, AG went to CJ's to get 5 gallons. Return, gas up the Whaler, restart, head back out. Seemed dead though, so came back in.
Sat am clear, not so cold. Duncan/Heath in the Whaler, Craig/Brandon/Miles AG. Long story short we got separated, so didnt hear about AG fun until 6 pm. Whaler headed out, saw 3 trawlers and 100,000 birds just past the rock jetty buoy, about 1 mile out, so we went at 'em. Nothing much happening on the surface, but we veered off a bit and found breaking fish right away, Heath on! There were so many pods in that area that we stuck around. Maybe fished a 4 mile square area going pod to pod. Not much joy though. Fish up and down, a lot of boats now. Actually getting ugly in some instances. Gestures and so on. Most people pretty cool though. Total for Whaler before lunch only 3 albies.
Heath had to go in to meet Stephanie, so Duncan took him in, returned to rock jetty area (about a mile out). Many boats, some trollers passing thru, but not much happening on the surface. AG not reachable on VHS or cell phone (and they had the lunch!). Flyfishing alone (caught enough of them on metal-time to switch) not easy. Good strategy was to putt putt to a likely-looking spot and drift/cast. Copied this from other singleton flyfishers. So this worked pretty well. Got one and some good whacks blind casting; frequent pauses for PBR.
Then (330pm?) trouble with the Mercury? Noticed no cooling water coming from the telltale on the motor. Spent a fair amount of time motor up/motor down looking for cooling water stream, but no dice. No peeps from the motor indicating overheating, but decided to go in just in case. No replies from AG. VHS batteries dead? So ran in just on plane, doing a straight route so AG could find me. Return to dock, motor running, I could see water dribbling from the telltale. So motor OK (should clean out the hole) head back out! Some action near shore past the jetty so headed there fearing bluefish. Again, drift and cast, hookup one albie (using a surf candy fly). Couple hits, break off fly, almost sundown now, head on in, arrive 5 minutes before AG.
Sunday as Craig already said. Headed out, immediately spotted birds (dozens of boats a hint) and got into raging albies right off. Bait spraying everywhere! Fished a one square mile area just drifting and putting. Several on metal and Megabaits (corrected for bluefish landings), then switched to flies. Everybody but Duncan hooked up. Kind of a lull from about 915 to 10 am, heated up again as we left!
Miles big rig awesome as it kind of idles up the ramp, not noticing AG in tow.
Thanks guys, albies, weather for a most excellent fest!
Bookeeping for Rytas:
*In the sleeping bag stuffer--VHS, Okuma fly reel, Heath's DEET, cover for Garmin.
*Mercury ok but should be able to see the telltale cooling water stream (I would describe it as seepage now). Just poke out the hole with a piece of wire as the motor is running on the ear muffs.
*Rytas have you got a safety switch? I didn't see one.
*Stern nav light gone. It was there Friday night, not there Saturday eve. Duncan owes Rytas.
I have a few bad dig pix I will get up a little later. Luggage lost so no charger for the cam.
Fishing not red hot; then C&B zoomed up and said a flotilla was heading thru the shoal to the east side. They raced off, we reeled up and started to follow, but we got kinda lost in the rollers as we headed thru, no obvious way, so we turned around. But we didnt stay turned around--how could we? So we resolved to press thru and turn around if it got hairy. But what happened is, as the wind quit, the rshoals laid down, so the rollers evaporated over about a 30 minute period. So there we were with 25 other boats (everybody came out right after lunch), middle of the shoals, in 8 feet of clear water and the birds are on and the splashes are on and we are hooked up! To one-pound bluefish.
Now if we are keeping score on albies caught, subtract one quarter albie for each blue.
But as we fished (and had gear bitten off) the splashes got bigger and greenfish started roaring thru. What a sight! A lot of hookups resulted. We did this for awhile, chased east and west after the birds, when Craig and Brandon waved us over to them. Something wrong with the Mercury! Oh no! Tilt up, look...tilt back down, look....outa gas! Subtract two albies!
So we spliced up a tow rope and started hauling them in to get some gas. Of course we stopped at a promising blitz, threw stuff at it, pressed on. We took them around the hook (Miles at the helm--can we get both boats on plane? See Brandon putting on a life jacket, Craig checking the rip cord on his Sospenders). Dropped B and C and Whaler at the hook (maybe the albies will come in) on anchor, AG went to CJ's to get 5 gallons. Return, gas up the Whaler, restart, head back out. Seemed dead though, so came back in.
Sat am clear, not so cold. Duncan/Heath in the Whaler, Craig/Brandon/Miles AG. Long story short we got separated, so didnt hear about AG fun until 6 pm. Whaler headed out, saw 3 trawlers and 100,000 birds just past the rock jetty buoy, about 1 mile out, so we went at 'em. Nothing much happening on the surface, but we veered off a bit and found breaking fish right away, Heath on! There were so many pods in that area that we stuck around. Maybe fished a 4 mile square area going pod to pod. Not much joy though. Fish up and down, a lot of boats now. Actually getting ugly in some instances. Gestures and so on. Most people pretty cool though. Total for Whaler before lunch only 3 albies.
Heath had to go in to meet Stephanie, so Duncan took him in, returned to rock jetty area (about a mile out). Many boats, some trollers passing thru, but not much happening on the surface. AG not reachable on VHS or cell phone (and they had the lunch!). Flyfishing alone (caught enough of them on metal-time to switch) not easy. Good strategy was to putt putt to a likely-looking spot and drift/cast. Copied this from other singleton flyfishers. So this worked pretty well. Got one and some good whacks blind casting; frequent pauses for PBR.
Then (330pm?) trouble with the Mercury? Noticed no cooling water coming from the telltale on the motor. Spent a fair amount of time motor up/motor down looking for cooling water stream, but no dice. No peeps from the motor indicating overheating, but decided to go in just in case. No replies from AG. VHS batteries dead? So ran in just on plane, doing a straight route so AG could find me. Return to dock, motor running, I could see water dribbling from the telltale. So motor OK (should clean out the hole) head back out! Some action near shore past the jetty so headed there fearing bluefish. Again, drift and cast, hookup one albie (using a surf candy fly). Couple hits, break off fly, almost sundown now, head on in, arrive 5 minutes before AG.
Sunday as Craig already said. Headed out, immediately spotted birds (dozens of boats a hint) and got into raging albies right off. Bait spraying everywhere! Fished a one square mile area just drifting and putting. Several on metal and Megabaits (corrected for bluefish landings), then switched to flies. Everybody but Duncan hooked up. Kind of a lull from about 915 to 10 am, heated up again as we left!
Miles big rig awesome as it kind of idles up the ramp, not noticing AG in tow.
Thanks guys, albies, weather for a most excellent fest!
Bookeeping for Rytas:
*In the sleeping bag stuffer--VHS, Okuma fly reel, Heath's DEET, cover for Garmin.
*Mercury ok but should be able to see the telltale cooling water stream (I would describe it as seepage now). Just poke out the hole with a piece of wire as the motor is running on the ear muffs.
*Rytas have you got a safety switch? I didn't see one.
*Stern nav light gone. It was there Friday night, not there Saturday eve. Duncan owes Rytas.
I have a few bad dig pix I will get up a little later. Luggage lost so no charger for the cam.
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