It’s the second half of the fishing season and time to start targeting bonito and false albacore. Last year few false albacore were around but local anglers caught their share of bonito. Both of these species are hard to catch, but have thrilled local fishermen with their furious runs stripping line from light tackle giving anglers a memorable fight.
Many times false albacore and bonito are mixed in with striped bass and bluefish, like last year. They can be caught from boat and shore with lures and even on the troll. They generally range in the two foot range, weigh four to five pounds but have been caught as large as twelve to fifteen pounds.
Atlantic bonito are part of the same mackerel family (Scombridae) as tuna. Their meat has a darkish color and a firm texture, with a moderate fat content. The meat of young or small bonito can be of lighter color, close to that of skipjack tuna. They are often grilled or baked. However, false albacore are usually not eaten.
Capt. Eric Thomas of Teezer 77 Charters out of Portsmouth, RI (teezer77.com) has been fishing all his life and targeting bonito and false albacore for many years. He uses both fly rods and spinning gear to target them and even has a special rig with a spinning reel and a fly fishing rod.
Capt. Thomas said, “Presentation is key when targeting bonito or false albacore. The idea is to present your lure away from the school. I would never cast into them at a 90 degree angle or behind them so you have to pull it through the school. These fish are so fast that you have to anticipate their moves. They ram feed on bait likely going over 25 miles an hour. So, you have to place your bait in their path.”
LURES AND BAITS
Capt. Thomas likes to have the fish and conditions dictate what to use. For example Thomas said, “If I am in an open area off Narragansett I like to use a lure that allows me to cover a lot of ground, like metal lures such as Deadly Dicks, a Pt. Judith lure… something that allows we to cover a lot of water. However, in a more confined space like off the rocks at Newport, I like to use a soft plastic bait or lure that allows me to stay in the strike zone for a longer period of time. The baits are small, no more than four inches so you cannot throw them as far as the metals. I often use white or off white soft plastics such as Ronz soft baits and Slug-Go lures.” Al Gag’s soft plastic lures work well too.
“Ideally I prefer to target these fish with fly fishing gear, however, the challenge for fly fishermen is to layout the line quickly enough to get your bait to the school. This is something that fly fishermen are not use to.” said Capt. Thomas.
Local fishing experts Susan and Roger Lema have targeted bonito and false albacore for years as a team. In fact they and a few other boats have a private network. “One of us will head toward Watch Hill and someone else will take off toward Narragansett or Newport.” said Roger Lima. “This way we can cover a lot of ground and notify each other as to where the fish are.”
I asked the Lemas for their top tips on how to catch bonito and false albacore. Susa Lema said, “The first tip is use as little hardware has possible. We tie directly to a 25 pound fluorocarbon leader with a uni-knot and no swivel. This keeps things simple with no hardware flashing in the water to spook the fish.” Roger Lema said, “The second tip is to fish the outgoing tide in front of rivers, coves and ponds as the water and bait have to be moving.” Susan said, “These fish are ram feeders. They open their mouths and hit the bait at high speed so things are moving.”
BE PREPARED TO MIX IT UP
Another tip is be prepared to mix it up. Roger said, “When we go out we have five rods ready to go. Some prepared to cast silver lures like Deadly Dicks and Kastmaster lures. But, we are also ready to troll (at four knots) with broken back lures, shallow swimming and deep swimming lures to use depending on where the fish are in the water column.” And, one last tip, “You have to anticipate where these speedsters will surface again and be there when they do. So we like to fish the sides of the schools rather than getting out in front of them,” said Roger Lema.
Bonito and false albacore like deep, moving water that is clear because they feed by sight. They like bay anchovies, silversides, sand eels, peanut bunker, small squid and shrimp… so silver lures do a fine job mimicking these baits in CT and often fishes the RI coast. He been fishing for false albacore, bonito, skipjack and bluefin tuna for abut twenty years. Mike said, “I use both spin fishing gear and fly fishing gear but tend to use the fly gear exclusively for the exotics when they arrive. That is because you can more easily ‘match the hatch’ so to speak with the flies than with the spinning gear. The spinning gear however does have its place and can at times easily out fish the fly rod 10-1.”
Michael often fishes from shore at the West Wall of the Harbor of Refuge at Pt. Judith, RI. Mike said, “Took me many trips there before I finally hooked and landed a false albacore on fly gear off the jetty there. It is one of the most difficult places to hook and land bonito, false albacore, and skipjack due to the environment and lobster gear that is always present. But for the shore bound angler it is one of only a few spots I am aware of where you can reasonably expect a good opportunity at hooking and landing one of these speedsters.”
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