AFTER a week of, yes, unseasonably chilly weather, Saturday seemed to be perfect day for fishing. But more fool you if you planned on going out on Sunday. The wind swung back into the north, took it up a couple of notches and dropped the thermostat. Actually, Sunday morning saw a steady progression of boats down the western channel but by 11 o'clock, there was a strung-out sequence of boats heading for home. There was at least one report of a boat that had made it to the inside edge of Argus Bank that took almost five hours to make it home. Nothing like a head sea, rain and a steep chop to keep life interesting.

And that is why the sport fishing effort drops off to precious little at this time of the year. Gone are the days when intra-club competition would have the leaders trying to squeeze in as many fishing day s as possible in the hopes of eking out a win. In most clubs, the season's outcome is pretty much decided by the middle of August, with a possible burst of wahoo action providing a photo finish.

With the present effort pretty much limited to commercial operators and even then this is further limited by the vagaries of the weather, there really isn't a whole lot new to report.

Wahoo remain available and trollers have enjoyed some success with this species. The average fish is of a reasonable size even though numbers are not quite what one would like. Still, if a couple of hours worth of trolling can yield up a 45-pound 'hoo, that really isn't anything to complain about.

There are still yellowfin on the Bank and occasionally on Bermuda's Edge but these are a difficult proposition for chummers. Although the tuna have stayed through the winter in recent years, the water temperature has dropped rather markedly during the past week or so and if it gets a whole lot cooler, they may well depart in search of balmier climes.

The best measure of offshore activity comes from the commercial side of things and right now they are concentrating on bottom fish. This includes the so-called "floating" fish such as ambers and bonitas. This makes economic sense as the wahoo can be unreliable and with sporadic periods when it is impossible to get out, it can be hard to follow the fish.

The advice to the weekend warrior is similar: put in an hour or two on the troll and then drop the hook and see if you can scrounge up enough from the bottom to justify the expense of fuel and time. By chumming, you should manage to get the robins up and this will increase the likelihood of catching something respectable. Failing that, there should be enough bottom activity to provide a bucket of fillet.

In the absence of any heavy activity and the likelihood of too many heading offshore at the weekend it is time for a bit of education.

Terminology can mean everything and there are a few words that crop up regularly when talking about fishing and these are even more regularly misused.

Let's start with 'fisherman". Discount the fact that the politically correct term is now "fisher" (neither masculine nor feminine) and concentrate on the fact that most media refer to anyone who goes fishing as a fisherman. Not true! A fisherman is one who fishes for gain, that is, a commercial fisherman.

One who fishes for sport is a sport fisherman or, more classically, an "angler" (we shall also discount the once patronising feminine term "anglerette" that dates back to the 1950's and 60's). Just think of how often the newspaper has referred to a missing fisherman. Almost inevitably this has been a casual angler who happens to have gone to see with the intention of catching fish but having the misfortune to break down or otherwise fail to return to base on time. Local fishermen have often complained about the negative image that such headlines create when, in fact, they are usually the ones involved in the return of the errant amateur to shore.

Now for a personal favourite: the difference between "trolling" and "trawling" and other words derived from these roots. About the only thing that they have in common is the fact that they both involve boats and forward motion. To set the matter straight (hopefully once and for all, but it won't happen), trolling is dragging a number of lines behind a boat. There can be surface trolling, deep trolling, wire line trolling and lots of other variations but the bottom line is that the boat is dragging lines.

Trawling is a boat dragging a net. Often a very big net. The net may be near the surface at so-called mid-depths down to a hundred fathoms or more or (the most usual application) bottom trolling. The latter has proven highly effective at clearing out most of the north Atlantic's most prolific fishing grounds. Fairly recently it has also been shown that such gear has demolished many important marine habitats, making them unsuitable to support populations of fish. They are also unselective capturing everything that lies in their path. Often there is so much fish and other organisms balled into them that they are literally crushed by the weight of the catch, making the release of unwanted fish impossible. Effective but environmentally unsound. Like many other things, man has learned too little too late.

The truth is that these terms are often interposed by even some learned colleagues. While they do sound a bit similar, they are really very different. Trolling usually involves a boat (yes, even a rather large sportfisherman) while trawling usually involves something more like a ship, often with freezing or factory capability and tons of storage space. Not exactly what the day angler expects in his search for wahoo, tuna or marlin. In any case, the word conjures up very different scenarios in the minds of everyone who really knows the difference and, hopefully, now you do too.

Although the officially recognised angling season runs for another couple of weeks (May through November), there will be precious little sport fishing effort expended by the faithful. While understandable, it is a bit of a shame because there will be those absolutely gorgeous days that just cry out for Tight lines!!!