Now that we're approaching the second half of August, hardtail season is here in full swing. Make sure you're ready for the marathon by loading up on epoxy jigs, albie snax, flies, and whatever else you like to throw at the funny fish over the next couple months. I'll discuss and link the most popular products later on. We've had an incredible early run of bonito for the last 3-4 weeks or so. What began as a trickle turned into relatively widespread, great numbers of bonito from Nantucket to Rhode Island. We'll have to see what Debby is going to do to the bite this weekend - August storms generally aren't as detrimental as September or October. Even if it shuts down for a few days, we can be hopeful things will turn right back on. 

The past couple of weeks, the bonito bite really has been exceptional. Shore, kayak, and boat anglers have all been able to get a piece of the pie. Up until about a week ago, the prevalent bait seemed to be sea herring (or sardines) in the 4-6" range. This made for "easy" fishing where the bonito would hit just about anything that looked remotely like a baitfish. That said, the hottest bait has definitely been the Yo-Zuri Mag Minnow so far. Bone, double-white, and the sardine colors are all ideal options right now. Other minnow plugs like the Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnow, Daiwa SP Minnow, Nomad Shikari will all get the job done, too. The past week or so, the bait has definitely changed. There seems to be some herring still on their diet, but it's much more of a smorgasburg now including small bait dumping out of the ponds like tiny peanut bunker, silversides, and snot bait. No matter what bait they're on, Albie Snax always seem to be effective. Small Metals and Epoxies are great too, especially for casting distance. The colors haven't seemed to matter much during this early-season push, but you can't go wrong with white or pink. Although they haven't been picky so far, the recent influx of small bait will likely change that. This is where the fly fishermen shine. Check out our selection of Bonito & Albie Flies. If you're a spin fishermen but you want to get a fly into some feeds, make sure to grab a Larry Lurz Casting Egg. When the fish are on tiny bait and refusing other presentations, the "Float n' Fly" method shines. Just remember the egg is not only for casting distance and you don't need to retrieve it at mach 10 like many other bonito/albie presentations. If you keep your rod tip low and "sweep" the egg, it will pop the surface of the water. I always try to make the splash as similar to a bonito or albie splash as possible. The idea is the egg acts as an attractant to get their attention as they zoom by or underneath. When they sense the egg making commotion on the surface, thinking it's one of their buddies feeding, they go to check it out. That's when they see and (hopefully) eat your fly. It's also worth noting that there have been whispers of Albies showing up along the Cape and creeping into Rhode Island waters. Again, we'll have to see what Debby brings, but things could light up very soon locally.

Don't forget that tautog season reopened on the first of the month! August isn't necessarily the best time to be fishing for them, but it can be surprisingly good. It's a great opportunity to catch them on Metals/Epoxy jigs as they get keyed in on the small baitfish that becomes plentiful this time of year. It's not uncommon to run into them while targeting black sea bass or scup.  I tend to do best with theHogy Epoxy Jigin the shrimp or pink color. Particularly if there are lots of peanut bunker around, it can be pretty easy to catch tog on peanut jigs. The best options are the Hogy Peanut Bunker Jig and the Joe Baggs Peanut Resin.