Each September I take off some time to fish saltwater from the kayak. September can be the best month of the year for weakfish and if the albies show, the month can produce some of the best variety of quality fish for the year.
The albies hadn't shown in force in this area since 2012. Last year, the inshore run of pelagics was short and only in a few isolated areas. This year, the albies showed up with a vengence and the fishing was very good for my two trips to Watch Hill, RI.
My two trips to Watch Hill were on September 17 and three days later on September 20 for the Stonington Invitational.
On my birthday, I took the day off and targeted false albacore from the kayak in western Rhode Island with Tom Comito. After a 4 am wakeup on LI, I opened the dawn on the water on the Block Island Sound to a nice September sunrise over the Watch Hill lighthouse. The albies were already busting out of the water by the time we got there and we both caught. There wasn't much wind, and the albies weren't up for too long, and I caught all my fish blindcasting and also one trolling. Today, flies were the order of the day and sand eel patterns produced. It was the first time that I caught an albie trolling and I wasn't disappointed - it gave me an unbelievable fight even on a stiff medium mini surf rod with a 5000 class reel.
A few days later, I went back to fish the Stonington Invitational with Rick Hacker. This was sponsored by Stonington Marina. This time, we encountered two different species. In addition to false albacore, Rick jigged up a couple of bonito as well. These were Ricks first pelagics and I believe he is addicted as well. It was a tough bite and the albies weren't crashing bait on the surface so they were tough to find and we had to blind cast to catch them. I hooked into 4 albies and landed 3. I also caught my personal best alibie, which measured 27". Three hookups on flies, one on plastic. I caught this fish on a medium spinning rod and the battle may have been the best I ever had. These fish are no joke and are the most tireless fighters in open water that I have encountered. The fight is constant, and sometimes they turn on a dime and come back towards the kayak, which makes you feel like you have lost them. The weather turned bad so I only stayed for the day. In fact, the surf was far worse than Magic Seaweed had predicted. Instead of 1' swells, it was a constant 4' swell by mid-morning, with standing waves up to 6' on the big rip. It was a white knuckler getting through the rip near low tide, but there was only shore break on the beach. Seas were predicted to be worse today so I cancelled my reservation and drove home in the mid-afternoon.
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