“Right now we’re real busy with false albacore, but they’re not in the (Beaufort) Inlet; they’re in the ocean in 30 to 50 feet of water,” he said. “And you don’t have to be an expert with a fly rod to catch them.”

Shute said anglers are using spin or bait-casting tackle to find some action after a short trip off the beaches.

“Stingsilvers (jigs) work good on albacore, and there’s also a little soft-plastic lure called a Vision Glass Minnow that mimics their favorite food; they’ll eat them just as well,” said Shute, who owns and operates Cape Lookout Fly Shop (800-868-0941) across the causeway bridge from Morehead City at Atlantic Beach.

Depending upon the size of the jighead used with these Vision glass-minnow imitations, anglers can cast them a long way, far enough to reach school of Fat Alberts.

“You’ll see big balls of baitfish, glass minnows, on the surface and the albacore will be busting through them,” Shute said, noting sizes of the fish range from 8 to 12 pounds, which he called smaller specimens.

“Bigger ones will show up later,” he said.