Albacore on NC outer banks

Hi All,

I spent last week on the NC coast fly fishing for "False
Albacore/Bonito/Little Tunny" (
http://www.landbigfish.com/fish/fish.cfm?ID=161 ) at Cape Lookout.

We fished out of Harker's Island with a great fly fishing/light tackle
guide, Sarah Gardner, who uses a 21' Jones Brothers (built off the "Sea Ox"
mound) wide center console with a 150hp high pressure injected Yamaha 2
stroke. It was my first time fly fishing the east coast salt water so I
learned a lot. Sarah chases these big schools of albacore that are busting
baitfish on the surface from about mid-October to the end of November in
that area. Most of the rest of the year she guides out of Nags Head, NC. Her
husband Brian Horsley is also a world class fishing guide. They also write
articles and take people on exotic hosted trips like to Costa Rica in the
winter to fly fish for billfish.

http://www.outerbanksflyfishing.com/


We fished almost all day long with the aid of others on the VHF radio and
cell phones too. Sarah uses her fish locator/bottom sounder to find
structure like off shore wrecks and man made reefs. She also uses it to find
schools of bait fish and game fish too. A GPS is also a great tool for
finding previously located structure. We fished as far as 20 miles off shore
and ran as far as 100 miles in a day looking for fish. At times it was like
off shore racing.

I really enjoyed seeing so many fantastic boats. Jones Brothers Boats and
Parker Boats are two very popular fishing boats on the east coast.

This was not a good season so far because it was still too warm, but it was
way better fishing than I have at home. The albacore run 5 to 25 pounds
according to Sarah. We used 9/10 weight rods with full floating weight
forward fly lines most of the time because all the action was on top. We
did use Rio Deep Sea 400 extra fast sinking lines for wreck fishing.

I was invited to go on this trip by my good friend Paul Johnson, marketing
director for Sage Fly Rod Company in Washington state. It is called the
"writer's weekend" because it is a tradition started about 5 or more years
ago by Lefty Kreh, Tom Earnhardt, Jones Brothers Boats and others.

There are parties almost every night.

On Friday night, "Calico Jack's Inn & Marina" on Harker's Island put on a
"boil" which was made up of chunks of corn on the cob, cut up large sausage
and fresh jumbo shrimp plus home made pie and cheese cake. It was a
wonderful evening right on the water and I can't thank them enough.

http://www.visitnc.com/cst/cst_relat...ropertyID=8378

On Saturday night there was a real big outdoor feed at retired attorney,
famous coastal fly fisherman and outdoor writer, Tom Earnhardt's house on
the water. They had roast pig, roast chicken, hush puppies, potato salad,
cole slaw and deserts. Lots of noted fly fishermen, outdoor writers, fly
fishing tackle manufacturers, magazine staff, fly fishing guides, boat
manufacturers and "would be" fly fisherman like me. There were lots of
interesting people like Lefty Kreh, Bruce Richards(3M/SA), Steve
Rajeff(G.Loomis), Raz Reed(Sage Rep), Henry Cowen(GA striper guide) Buz
Bryson (outdoor writer) to mention a few.

For me it was one of my most enjoyable trips and I hope to return some day.

--
Bill Kiene

Kiene's Fly Shop
Sacramento, CA
www.kiene.com

We are leaving Sat for Harkers Island. I hear that the water temperatures are
still a little too high to see the False Albacore in close. Oh well, there's
still reds, flounder, and trout.

interesting bill...thanks. reports are that the weather has been too
warm for the albies to turn on yet, so it'll probably be late november
before it really kicks up. sorry you missed the run, as it's been
getting a lot of attention by writers and flyfishers the last few years.
apparently it stirred wally's salt-fever, so maybe he'll come down east
and show us flatlanders how it's done. did you do any puppy drum
fishing? ms. gardner is gaining an excellent reputation for nc sal****er
flyfishing (despite her jersey roots g), and i've heard she does a
good job chasing the redfish. let us know if you're out this way again,
and perhaps we can gather a few kindred souls for some salt and fresh
water fishing.

jeff

Bill Kiene wrote:

Hi All,

I spent last week on the NC coast fly fishing for "False
Albacore/Bonito/Little Tunny" (
http://www.landbigfish.com/fish/fish.cfm?ID=161 ) at Cape Lookout.

We fished out of Harker's Island with a great fly fishing/light tackle
guide, Sarah Gardner, who uses a 21' Jones Brothers (built off the "Sea Ox"
mound) wide center console with a 150hp high pressure injected Yamaha 2
stroke. It was my first time fly fishing the east coast salt water so I
learned a lot. Sarah chases these big schools of albacore that are busting
baitfish on the surface from about mid-October to the end of November in
that area. Most of the rest of the year she guides out of Nags Head, NC. Her
husband Brian Horsley is also a world class fishing guide. They also write
articles and take people on exotic hosted trips like to Costa Rica in the
winter to fly fish for billfish.

http://www.outerbanksflyfishing.com/


We fished almost all day long with the aid of others on the VHF radio and
cell phones too. Sarah uses her fish locator/bottom sounder to find
structure like off shore wrecks and man made reefs. She also uses it to find
schools of bait fish and game fish too. A GPS is also a great tool for
finding previously located structure. We fished as far as 20 miles off shore
and ran as far as 100 miles in a day looking for fish. At times it was like
off shore racing.

I really enjoyed seeing so many fantastic boats. Jones Brothers Boats and
Parker Boats are two very popular fishing boats on the east coast.

This was not a good season so far because it was still too warm, but it was
way better fishing than I have at home. The albacore run 5 to 25 pounds
according to Sarah. We used 9/10 weight rods with full floating weight
forward fly lines most of the time because all the action was on top. We
did use Rio Deep Sea 400 extra fast sinking lines for wreck fishing.

I was invited to go on this trip by my good friend Paul Johnson, marketing
director for Sage Fly Rod Company in Washington state. It is called the
"writer's weekend" because it is a tradition started about 5 or more years
ago by Lefty Kreh, Tom Earnhardt, Jones Brothers Boats and others.

There are parties almost every night.

On Friday night, "Calico Jack's Inn & Marina" on Harker's Island put on a
"boil" which was made up of chunks of corn on the cob, cut up large sausage
and fresh jumbo shrimp plus home made pie and cheese cake. It was a
wonderful evening right on the water and I can't thank them enough.

http://www.visitnc.com/cst/cst_relat...ropertyID=8378

On Saturday night there was a real big outdoor feed at retired attorney,
famous coastal fly fisherman and outdoor writer, Tom Earnhardt's house on
the water. They had roast pig, roast chicken, hush puppies, potato salad,
cole slaw and deserts. Lots of noted fly fishermen, outdoor writers, fly
fishing tackle manufacturers, magazine staff, fly fishing guides, boat
manufacturers and "would be" fly fisherman like me. There were lots of
interesting people like Lefty Kreh, Bruce Richards(3M/SA), Steve
Rajeff(G.Loomis), Raz Reed(Sage Rep), Henry Cowen(GA striper guide) Buz
Bryson (outdoor writer) to mention a few.

For me it was one of my most enjoyable trips and I hope to return some day.

"Jeff Miller" wrote in message
news:z3rqb.3094$0d2.487@lakeread06...
interesting bill...thanks. reports are that the weather has been too
warm for the albies to turn on yet, so it'll probably be late november
before it really kicks up. sorry you missed the run, as it's been
getting a lot of attention by writers and flyfishers the last few years.

IJ says----yes it is still warm--I toured the golf course on my bike at 6am
this morning and it was 73 degrees.
Acually Bill you did not miss much by failing to find the albies. Spent a
few days out of Beufort last year and rode around in a boat and reeled in
fish. No skill involved- just ride around in big waves- find a pod of
tuna- toss your fly --listen to the reel humm and reel in a fish.
Let it go and toss your fly back into the fish pod.
However the evening parties and the folks involved sounded like fun.
Jeff- travelocity lists a round trip flight to Montana for 248$ this
morning-----almost begin packing until I looked at the weather map.

"Joe McIntosh"

Jeff- travelocity lists a round trip flight to Montana for
248$

Joe, check the fares to "albuquerque, nm" while you're at it. San Juan
clave December 6-9. If you thought I was a pain in the ass on Rock Creek,
you should see me on the San Juan! Lodging available at
http://www.rizutos.net

And hey, our group may not have Lefty or the 3M guy and we'll be fishing
with "off the rack" gear but we've got RW and Willi and we *do* have a party
every night.

bruce h

Cool trip Bill. When I was catching stripers out of Oregon Inlet last
Dec., Sara came blasting by with a boat load of sports. It so happens
she picked the moment I was taking a "coffee break" over that side of
the boat. She didn't pay much attention but a couple of her clients
were stunned!

Did you fish off the point of the Cape? That sandy bar is where I was
camping last November fishing for Albies in the surf. One of the few
places you can stand in ankle deep water and fish in 30 ft. deep ocean
water and the Albies come right by the beach. Calico Jack's is where
I stayed and ferried out to the Cape last year. Good people! Not
many folks will hop in a boat and run 30 minutes out to pick you up
early off the beach just because fishing slowed down. BTW, while you
guys were chasing Albies, there were flounder all over the place
around the Cape. The guides seldom seem to want to put their fly
fishing customers on flatties. We saw some awsome flounder caught
last year on the fly and I put quite a few back in the ocean myself.

Wayne
to fish is human....to release Divine!!!

"Bill Kiene" wrote in message om...
Hi All,

I spent last week on the NC coast fly fishing for "False
Albacore/Bonito/Little Tunny" (
http://www.landbigfish.com/fish/fish.cfm?ID=161 ) at Cape Lookout.

"Joe McIntosh" wrote in message
...


However the evening parties and the folks involved sounded like fun.
Jeff- travelocity lists a round trip flight to Montana for 248$ this
morning-----almost begin packing until I looked at the weather map.



WTF!! its damn near 1 degree F this a.m. Bitch about 100 d f being to hot,
so we gots ya 1- and yer bitchin' again. I gaurandamtee ya that the frikin
water isn't too warm to fish. Christallmighty 1 degree is just damn near
balmy compared to some places (say the dark side of the moon).

Rant mode off :-)

jh

went elk hunting yesterday- 4 miles from the car and I see the elk, easy
broadside shot at 125 yds- all I would have had to do is pop my bro to get
him him out of the dam way- I figured the elk wouldn't stand still that
long. 359 degrees of safe shooting angles, and where the f*** were the elk-
that last 1 degree. :-(

Joe McIntosh wrote:


Jeff- travelocity lists a round trip flight to Montana for 248$ this
morning-----almost begin packing until I looked at the weather map.



buy our tickets immediately and i'll send you my check. when i checked
it was 499 out of rdu to bozeman...

jeff

Hi Wayne,

I saw those guys on the point with vehicles. It looked real cool to me. I
bet you had a great time. I can't wait to go back and take my wife.

--
Bill Kiene

Kiene's Fly Shop
Sacramento, CA
www.kiene.com

"Wayne" wrote in message
om...

Cool trip Bill. When I was catching stripers out of Oregon Inlet last
Dec., Sara came blasting by with a boat load of sports. It so happens
she picked the moment I was taking a "coffee break" over that side of
the boat. She didn't pay much attention but a couple of her clients
were stunned!

Did you fish off the point of the Cape? That sandy bar is where I was
camping last November fishing for Albies in the surf. One of the few
places you can stand in ankle deep water and fish in 30 ft. deep ocean
water and the Albies come right by the beach. Calico Jack's is where
I stayed and ferried out to the Cape last year. Good people! Not
many folks will hop in a boat and run 30 minutes out to pick you up
early off the beach just because fishing slowed down. BTW, while you
guys were chasing Albies, there were flounder all over the place
around the Cape. The guides seldom seem to want to put their fly
fishing customers on flatties. We saw some awsome flounder caught
last year on the fly and I put quite a few back in the ocean myself.

Wayne
to fish is human....to release Divine!!!

"Bill Kiene" wrote in message
om...
Hi All,

I spent last week on the NC coast fly fishing for "False
Albacore/Bonito/Little Tunny" (
http://www.landbigfish.com/fish/fish.cfm?ID=161 ) at Cape Lookout.