2025 Fall Nearshore (Albie Season) Report - Part 2

Now that Albie season is complete for 2025, I wanted to pick back up with that second half of the season report I promised.  If you saw the first report (late August through mid-October), you'll remember that we started off with a bang.  We had Albies that showed up really early and by mid-September the fishing was just top notch.  Coming into late-September, we had a couple nasty storms push through that kept us off the water a few days and began a series of constantly changing weather patterns.  And with those completely inconsistent weather patterns, we struggled to get the fish to do the same thing 2 days in a row.  

Well, that continued on into late October and early November making it nearly impossible to pattern these fish.  Quite a few anglers and guides talked a lot this season, about how much the fishing sucked.  Let me be clear, the fishing did not suck, and there was not a lack of fish.  We just couldn't anticipate where the fish were day to day.  Literally these fish would be east of Cape Lookout Shoals one day, offshore the next, and then sitting outside of Bogue Inlet the day after that.  I was constantly reminded that I cannot predict these fish, and if the weather was safe for us to be out there, we needed to go hunting!

During the 3rd week of October, we had some really cold and windy weather.  We spent a lot of time being wet, and a lot of time riding and looking for fish.  The hard work paid off when enough time was put in.  Most of the anglers who stuck it out, ended up with enough fish to keep them entertained.  It was not easy pickings, by any means, but we got it done.

Thankfully we had some great schools of quality Bluefish around.  If you are open to a species other than Albies, on days when Albies are AWOL, then you can have a heck of good time.  I appreciate these fish so much!

So much aggression and anger in such a pretty fish.  They destroyed our leaders, our wire, our flies, our swivels, and our top-waters.  Money well spent!

The 4th week of October brought better weather and better fishing.  We had a good showing of Albies along the beaches.

On some pretty days we slipped off the beaches to some of the deeper wrecks.  We found a ton of small Amberjacks and Almaco Jacks but we were lacking in big Jacks on those trips.

The water temps were too low for Spanish Mackerel along the beaches, but the wrecks still held some nice Macks with water temps above 70 deg F.

There were Albies on the wrecks too.

Back along the beaches, we still had plenty of Bluefish.  

Was the season tough?  Sure, tougher than normal, but we still caught plenty of fish!

Had some more weird weather the final week of October but we caught fish.  We had a few days that I would have never expected the fish to show up, and they arrived in droves.  I couldn't wrap my mind around it, I just went, and often showing up paid off.

The first week of November brought enough Albies to keep us entertained.  They weren't jumping in the boat, but my anglers didn't have a problem catching some each day if they put in the effort.

There were several days where we found them piled up in some spot in the middle of nowhere.  Some days when they weren't on the beach, we just went riding open water until we found them.  Burning gas and constantly scanning for activity paid off more often than not.

A lot of days we found fish a good bit west of their normal stomping grounds.  These fish like to feed into the wind, and we had a lot of west in our wind this season, so that westward push makes sense.

The second week of November brought good numbers of fish and kept my anglers busy.  

Most of my Albie anglers are repeat clients (Albie Fanatics), and it's great seeing everyone show back on my boat each year.  Catching up and catching fish!

The quality of the fish finally began to increase too.  We were getting some occasional biggins throughout the season, but we were now seeing an overall general improvement in fish size.

We were also blessed with a few big Albies, that really put my gear and anglers to the test.

I really love these fish, and probably appreciated them even more this season due to the fact that they weren't exactly a dime a dozen.

As the third week of November rolled in, the weather started feeling much more like fall, and the whole deal felt much more like Albie season.  The Spanish were gone, the big Bluefish were missing, and we had yet to run into a school of big Bull Redfish, but the Albies finally started acting like Albies.

Water temps were hovering right around 60 degrees or a little under, the winds began to more steadily blow out of the North, and the fish were waiting for us each morning along the beaches.  

Felt good to see birds working the second you broke the inlet and to be hooked up before the sun even got up in the sky.

Releasing a tagged fish.

The full grown Albies started making more appearances too and we lucked into a handful of studs.

By the 4th week of Albie season, we were back in the game big time with some incredible blitzes down the beaches each morning and afternoon.  It felt great to be back to normal, but I wished it could have come sooner.  I guess late is better than never!

I had a few last-minute cancellations, and my amazing, awesome, fantastic clients came to my rescue, by answering the call and re-booking them last minute.  And it paid off!

Felt good to be winning again.  I put so much pressure on myself as a guide.  I really had to come to terms with the fact that so much is out of my control (the weather, the fish, errant casts, other boats), and that I needed to control what I could and let the rest go.  The last week of Albie season was a sigh of relief after fighting all season to control what wasn't mine to control.

I freaking love happy anglers during Albie season.  

And there's nothing better than a boat full of smiles!

I really do have the best job ever.

The last several years, I have ended my Albie season with Travis and his crew.  It's something I look forward to every year, with these last couple trips leading right into Thanksgiving.

Scott has come out fishing with Travis the last few seasons and I've been really impressed with watching him go from not knowing what an Albie was, to being a skilled Albie marksman.  I love seeing these things develop over the seasons.

Scott brough his daughter Haley, who had never done this type of fishing before, and she put everyone to shame.  

And guess what?!  The Bulls showed up!  (Thanks Gumby for the call!)  Man everything really started to come together and I had so much to be grateful for on this week of Thanksgiving!

What's thanksgiving without a pumpkin blitz?

Not to be outshined, Travis went to work and put one in the boat that made me need to back up a few steps when I looked through the camera. 

The following morning, Travis brought Cyndi and Rose out for some more Albie madness.

It didn't take long before we were into doubles and triples along the beachfront.

My favorite kind of family portraits!

Rose came through and ended my 2025 Albie guiding season with one to remember.  She's been fishing with me and her mom and dad for several years now, and its a blast to watch her go to work when a school of Albies pop up in front of the boat.

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At that point, I was officially done with my booked Albie trips, and I left town with my family for Thanksgiving.  After Thanksgiving the fish were still blitzing like crazy down the beaches, so I went out and finished out the season catching a few on my own, and just taking it all in.  Our Albie bite finally tapered off at the end of the first week of December.  This may have been one of the strangest Albie seasons ever, but it was also one of the longest, with the first fish arriving in mid-August and the last leaving in early December.

There's a good chance you heard someone say that our Albie season was terrible this year.  It wasn't terrible by any means.  It was really challenging compared to last season.  We really got spoiled last season.  This year, we did miss some days on the water due to storms, and we did have a few days when the fish were very hard to find.  That's fishing.  I think we've set the bar very high when it comes to Albie fishing after having some spectacular season in past years.  I was thinking about how a fly angler would be stoked to see a few dozen Redfish and catch 2 on fly during a trip but is let down when they see a couple hundred Albies and catch 3 or 4.  It's all about expectations, and we all, myself included have to be mindful about that.  I had my moments this season, but all in all, I had a very good fall on the water with friends and fish, and I already miss it!

A huge thanks to all of my amazing angling clients that came and fished with me this fall.  I love you all!