REEL WOMAN
I’d been dreaming of catching a false albacore—a feisty, hard-pulling member of the tuna family—for at least 20 years. I started fumbling my way around the internet and flipping through fishing magazines to find a guide. One name kept popping up: Capt. Sarah Gardner.
About two months later, my fishing buddy and I arrive at Harkers Island, North Carolina, a salty locale with access to the Cape Lookout fishing grounds. It’s early—about 45 minutes before sunrise—when we shuffle down the dock toward Gardner’s 23-foot Jones Brothers Marine Cape Fisherman, Fly Girl.
“How’s it going?” Gardner asks as we load our gear. “Fishing has been good! Let me take a look at your flies and tackle to make sure you’re rigged up the right way.”
Gardner examines everything we’ve brought along, swaps out a couple of our flies for ones that she tied, and then casts off the dock lines and sets a course toward Barden Inlet.
As we plow through the inlet, false albacore bust everywhere, greedily feeding on a school of bay anchovies. “Get up there, Gary!” Gardner shouts. She motors us into position, I aim my fly rod at the school, and then I flop the cast.
“Looks like we need to work on your wind casting,” she says, joining me at the bow. She tells me to cast lower to the water, to keep the fly line and fly under the wind. She stands beside me and coaches my arms
