Of course, you can't go it alone. We duffers need a bit of coaching, in this case our guides are: Capt. Benjie Halsel of Nantucket, Harker's and Key Largo (this boy is a mover) and Capt. Chris Toman of Charleston, SC. These coach/guides fish these waters every fall and really know them. My fishing buddy, Perry, met me down there and proceeded, as always, to outfish me, even with the coaches' help. Perry, the intense, strong, silent type, says my problem is that I talk to the guides (and everyone else!) too much while he just keeps his line in the water and fishes. He's right of course.

But you have to talk. A coach has to communicate with his team. There is a lot to learn about Harker's especially for a striper guy like me from New England — where to stay, where to fish, when to fish what equipment to have.

You gotta have the right equipment! 9 wt. rods work fine although 10 and 11 wt. are recommended. "It's the way you bend the rods that break them." I was told by coach Benjie (and it works) "to point your rod at a running fish. Keep the rod straight even when they sound." That way your line and drag takes the stress not your rod. Of course those of you who paid attention in knot class will keep your fishes on -- the others will be wishing they had paid attention. Remember -- a bent rod is a broken rod.

Different days call for different lines. I mostly used a floater with a medium sinking tip, that way I could control the rate of sink and still stay on top when the albies were breaking on a baitball. On a very calm day with no surface action fishing a chum line I was successful (though it was not as much fun) with a 350 grain sinking line. There your fly just sinks and looks like a piece of chum. Get a good reel with a big drag and a lot of capacity for backing line; you'll need it. A 16-lb. 10-ft. leader worked well. Flies, it pays -- just like for striper or bone fishing...to have a variety of kinds with you, both surface and fast sinking. All can work and produce fish at different times and under different conditions. Rhody anchovies, Clousers, Surf Candies, Glass Minnows, etc., all work. Remember that they are eating anchovies, glass minnows and sand eels. When albies are attacking the baitballs or following a chum line, they aren't choosy!

But even with all the right stuff, and the best coaching that money can buy (Guides are about $400 to $450 a day per boat.) I still manage to play my own amateur game: It was the third time that morning that I had reached my hand into the screaming vortex of my Vortex. I had been warned! Yeow! *&%@#! Again my reel had become a tree-shredder. I'm not knocking my Vortex -- any direct drive reel would do the same thing under the circumstances. The incredible albie run had stupefied me once more. When the albie felt he was caught and shot across the shallows inside "The Hook" I reacted normally by trying to grab the reel handle to stop the fish. Nothing is normal here though. I still had two days of fishing. I hoped my throbbing fingers would unwrap the foil from the bagel that I had packed for lunch later. My thumb and first three fingers felt like they were slammed hard with a big hammer. Wow! That's fishing, and you gotta play hurt in this league.

The albie season runs from the end of September to the first weeks of December. The fishing is crowded and guides can be scarce. It's unforgiving on equipment and can be dangerous for the overly enthusiastic player (see Vortex above)! It is also one of the best times fishing that I have ever had and I'm already booked for the same time next year.