Once, last fall, on his first albie trip, Schotta made a rookie mistake when he placed his rod on the gunwale with the fly dangling inches above the ocean. An overachieving albie socked the fly. When Schotta looked up, all but the butt end of his rod was already in the drink. He made a valiant leap just in time. Albies straighten hooks and are famous for making last-ditch runs at the boat.
Action can be gloriously chaotic.
When an albie hits, you'd better have a good hold on the rod. You hope your loose casting line is not wrapped around your feet, or, worse, your crotch. Schotta recalls the time last year when all four anglers on his boat and another floating amid a pod of breaking albies all hooked up. The fishers landed all four fish by dancing around and trading rods between boats. I an mot even discouraged when our first morning dawns with 25-knot winds.