Category Archives: 2010 IN THE NEWS

My Fellow Fisherman just scored a World Record.  So I  am posting in his own words the Story and a link to his book………..Enjoy !

Congratulations John !

John Skinner with new World Record 16.4 lbs False Albacore

 
Surf-Caught New York State Record False Albacore by John Skinner

I’m still smiling about this one. I just got the certification this week. I told the story in my next column, so I’ll just post that here along with a couple of nice pictures.

For a few weeks each October, I forget about stripers to target false albacore on the North Shore beaches. We had a good run in 2009, but the cold shut it down early and we were hampered by one nor’easter after another. The last day I had them was between storms, and it was a tough day that took about an hour of casting for each hit. I had already landed one, which was enough to keep me casting. When a guy upwind of me lit up a cigar, I moved upwind of him to get out of the smoke. Within a few casts with my green #2 Deadly Dick, I connected with a surface explosion that didn’t seem larger than usual, but the resulting run felt like I had hooked a speeding boat. I was using a 7-foot, 12-pound class Fin-nor rod, and a Penn 440 spooled with plenty of 20-pound Tuf-Line XP braid.
The main braid was backed by some older braid, and finally some 12-pound mono. I had already landed 72 albies in the preceding weeks without ever coming close to the backing, but this time was different. I felt uneasy as I watched the first backing knot fly through the guides. It was 20-pound braid to 20-pound braid. I wasn’t too worried about that knot, but I was scared to death of the next one. A clicking sound indicated that the mono-braid knot was going through the guides, yet the fish still hadn’t slowed down. I backed down immediately on the drag to accommodate the 12-pound test line. This was the first time I had ever had a braid/mono splice go off the reel. I knew I was finished at that point. There wasn’t much line left, the fish was very far away, still going, and about to cross some rocks to my right that had cut off plenty of screaming albies.
“This one wins.” I figured. Then my luck changed. A set of big waves swept in from the east, and as the fish hit them, it turned and started running west and into the current. As the fish crossed in front of me and way out, I carefully began putting some of the mono back on the reel. I followed the fish as it kept going west, gaining line slowly as I went along. I felt better getting all of the mono back on the reel, and in another minute or so, the older braid. Then the fish took off to the northwest. Out went the first backing knot again, but this time the spool stopped spinning a few revolutions short of the mono. I continued to follow west, pumping precious line onto the spool as I carefully maintained a safe amount of pressure. Other anglers stopped casting so I could pass by. I knew there were no more obstructions to deal with as long as the fish stayed its course.
When I was within a hundred feet of the fish, it turned and headed back east. I reeled quickly to keep slack out of the line, and when it crossed in front of me, I could see its fins slicing the water. It looked strange to me because I had never seen an albie with so much space between the dorsal and tail. In a few more pumps I could see the entire silver and green football-shaped form in the wave faces. I couldn’t believe the size. It wasn’t thrashing the way they usually are, just rhythmically cutting the water. I yelled to my friend Mike (the Astronomer) to get my camera, figuring if he was ready with the camera when I landed it, we could get pictures quickly and then release it.
Sizeable waves were coming in and I timed a horizontal pull on the rod with an approaching roller to surf the fish onto the shore. I hoisted it immediately for a quick picture, and then repositioned it for a horizontal shot. The fish was hooked solidly in the jaw, and it took some effort to get the hook out. I had a Boga scale in my truck, but there was no time to get it and still have a chance to save the fish, so I plunged it back into the water to try to revive it. Then I tried again and again, but it was bleeding and just too spent. I decided to keep the inedible tuna and give it to a friend for shark bait. There were a couple of experienced albie guys there at the time, and all agreed they’d never seen one that big. I definitely hadn’t seen anything close. Someone wondered what the state record was.
On the way home I bumped into Rick Girzadis, and he put it on his digital scale. It went 15 pounds 11 ounces. I put it on my digital scale at home and got 16 pounds 6 ounces. I couldn’t find a NYS record for false albacore online, but saw that the Connecticut record of 14.7 pounds had stood since 2000. It was too late to hit a tackle shop, so I iced the fish.
The next morning I emailed Fred Golofaro, who oversees the NYS saltwater records. He indicated that there wasn’t a current NYS record albie listed, but if I had one over 15 pounds, one would be initiated. I made a few calls and located a recently county-certified scale at Smiths Point Bait and Tackle. Mike and Craig had the scale ready when I got there, and it registered 16.4 pounds, which was in agreement with my digital. The fish was 33 inches long. They helped me complete the weigh-in sheet. I had it notarized at a bank and sent it off to Fred. The catch was made in mid-October, and the certification arrived in early February.
There was a “teachable moment” in the story of this catch – you need enough line to handle the most unexpected of circumstances. Once I was into the mono backing, my odds of landing the fish decreased substantially. It was due only to the luck of the fish changing directions that I was bailed out of my carelessness. I’m diligent about this when it comes to stripers, and always start with a 300-yard spool of braid. Twice in my life I’ve seen half of a Penn 706 spool empty of braid as a cow striper surged seaward. Knowing there was no backing knot in sight was one less thing to think about in the middle of those dramatic runs. What I always felt was the larger fish of those two encounters won the battle by cutting the leader on a rock. The somewhat lesser powered fish turned out to be a 50-pound plus bass.
The big albie remains in my freezer, while I decide whether I go through the expense of taking it to a taxidermist, or send it off to a piece by piece burial at sea in an offshore chum slick. Thanks go out to Craig and Mike for helping with the weigh-in, and tons of thanks go out to Fred for working with the DEC to complete the certification. Finally, I’d like to thank the guy fishing next to me that day who lit up the smelly cigar. Had I not moved to get out of the smoke cloud, I would probably have never connected with that fish!

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