Kayak Fishing for False Albacore

In mid-August, an electrical charge begins to pulse throughout New England fishing circles, whispers of them permeate typical conversations about stripers, and before you know it you’re walking up to the counter at your local tackle shop, five or six new epoxy jigs in hand, as you smile and admit that you’re buying into the hype and it’s time to start focusing on New England’s most hated, and loved, gamefish: False albacore, affectionately known as albies. 

What Are Albies? 

Albies are pelagic fish in the tuna family that spend the majority of their time far offshore. They are found as far south as Brazil, and our New England waters are considered the northern end of their range. While they aren’t good table fare due to their taste and difficult preparation, albies are prized gamefish in New England because of their short stay, their beautiful colors, and their drag peeling runs which top out at 40 miles per hour. When I moved to Connecticut a few years ago I had no clue that I’d soon become obsessed with chasing albies from the kayak, a style of targeting them which adds a whole new degree of difficulty. 

Usually, the first albie is seen in Martha’s Vineyard or Nantucket around mid or late August, and soon after in Block Island, and then Cape Cod, Rhode Island, Long Island, and lastly Connecticut. Each year varies, but that’s generally how it goes. When they move into Connecticut waters, typically by mid to late September, albie anglers go nuts. The fiery desire to pursue them is affectionately known as “albie fever,” and I have been stricken with it since I first started watching YouTube videos about them shortly after moving here.

Kayak Fishing for Albies

A couple of years into my obsession with albies, I have been fortunate enough to land 10 of them, 7 from boats and 3 from my kayak. Boats provide the advantage of being able to zip around to multiple spots, but their engines can scare off blitzing albies, which are most easily targeted when their slashing splashes rip through the surface of the water, often spraying peanut bunker into the fall sky. In a kayak, we are disadvantaged by our inability to cover large swaths of water, but once we settle into an area that’s holding albies our silence and small size allow us to cover small distances at high speeds in order to best give ourselves a chance at landing one. When it comes to targeting these incredible fish from a kayak, speed and agility are paramount, which is why the Old Town Sportsman BigWater PDL 132 is the perfect vessel.

For most of the summer, I fish from the Old Town Sportsman AutoPilot 120. However, when it’s albie time, the AutoPilot gets swapped out and I bust out the BigWater PDL. This happens for a few reasons. One, the BigWater is flat-out fast. The 10:1 gear ratio provides more than enough power to go from sitting still awaiting an albie blitz to full speed, charging towards them before they go down without worrying about using too much battery like I would in the AutoPilot. Secondly, the BigWater is surprisingly nimble for a 13-foot kayak. When albies aren’t rocketing through the water showing off their straight-line speed, they’re zigging and zagging, changing directions so fast your rod tip will go soft, making you think for a split second that you lost the fish. Often, albies will go behind or under the kayak, and if you can’t turn towards them quickly and easily there’s an increased chance you won’t be able to land it. They are notorious for pulling the hooks towards the end of the fight…ask me how I know. The BigWater only requires a quick turn of the steering knob and a few hard pedals before it responds and rapidly adjusts. Battling albies from a kayak requires chaotic multitasking, so the easier any given task can be done, the better. Lastly, sometimes kayak fishing for albies requires some spot-hopping. Often, my buddies and I will take some time in one spot, and if there’s not much going on we will pack up quickly and drive to another. If we scan from the shoreline or parking lot and see splashes, then a mad dash ensues so we can launch the kayaks and quickly take advantage of the active fish. While the BigWater is a bigger kayak, I can carry it short distances by its handles, and it doesn’t necessarily require a trailer for transportation. This means that I can launch quickly and easily without anyone’s help and without worrying about getting my car parked in a designated trailer parking spot. I’ve had days when I spent 6 or 7 hours targeting these fish and only got 2-3 casts into active blitzes, so I want to be able to take advantage of any feeds that I see.

In 2022, my goal for albies is twofold: I want to land one in August, September, and October, and I want to land at least 3 from the kayak in order to beat my number from last year. In late August, I took a spur-of-the-moment trip to Cape Cod to fish with a couple of buddies when one of them told me about some great action the day before. Despite these fish being finicky, another trait that adds to their mystique, I was able to get my August albie and my first from the kayak for the year. It was so good to be back in the BigWater 132 PDL. Both the AP and the BigWater are incredible fishing kayaks, but when these speedsters come to town the quickness and agility of the Old Town Sportsman BigWater 132 PDL make it the perfect albie-chaser.