On 11/20/2011 8:45 PM, Giles wrote:
On Nov 20, 10:20 am, wrote:

weather sucked and the fishing was off - even the local guides
complained. the albies never really showed in any consistent pattern or
numbers...they were around, just not like they usually are, and up/down
so fast they were hard to find and get a cast to. one guide traveled
over 95 miles of water searching with no success. the albies and
migrating bait were probably out closer to the gulf stream this year.
we caught a few...posted some photos on the facebook roff site...but not
enough to satisfy the greed in a a month's effort at it. wind, weather,
and water conspired against us. of course, for me, it was way better
than the alternative of work at the office in groanville.

Any way to know (or even offer a reasonable guess) whether this is
just one of those things that happens sometimes, or if it hints at
something more sinister?

Either way, it sounds like you had a grand time. Maybe it's time to
start thinking about retirement?

giles

lots of anecdotal guessing by others. i've no idea if it's a
sustainability/ecosystem issue, or just a bad weather/water temp year. i
read a note on one of the guide's web pages written by a fellow from
virginia that has been coming to harkers for years. his group has kept
records about their numbers of false albies caught from shore and from
boats each year. not exactly scientific, but assuming they had normal
skill every year, it appears cyclical according to their data. some good
years, some bad. this was the worst i've seen in the few years i've been
after the fish. water temps and winds drive the bait fish, which
attract the albacore. the baitfish stayed down most of the month...and
we never saw the big schools up top. my first year i got spoiled by
acres of baitfish schooled on top, with the albies slicing through them.
i caught one that took my fly in the air.

retirement?? when you read (or learn of) my obituary you'll know i've
retired.

jeff