It may be high summer but it is later than you think. Fair enough, it is mid-August and the kids are still out of school (at least, here they are), and there is till one more summer holiday weekend to come but rest assured you don't have very many fishing trips left ahead of you.

Running the risk of making an assumption or two, you are probably restricted to weekend activity and there are really only a couple of weekends that can be classified as summer. Once we get into September, the weather slides into change mode and the chances of fair weather coinciding with a weekend are notably diminished.

If you are in any doubt of this, consider the reasoning behind the Wahoo Tournament having three or even four alternate dates. In the many years that this popular tournament has been fished, on very few occasions has it gone off on its first appointed day. Frequently, even the second week was also inclement and, back in the bad old days, fears resulting from a first postponement led to the tournament being fished in seriously foul conditions.

As things became more enlightened in the 1970s (see, this really is a tournament that has been around a long time!), postponements were accepted as being part of the seasonal scene and a policy of moving the competition to the first fishable weekend was adopted. This was fine even though, on one occasion, the actual tournament did not take place until October!

Perhaps the real surprise is that the tournament has really not been affected by tropical activity. Most people would quickly come to the conclusion that with September being in the heart of the hurricane season, the tournament's postponements would be as a result of tropical storms or worse. The truth of the matter is that the passage of fronts or depressions originating to our north and west are a more real source of the problems.

Back in 1987, when Hurricane Emily rose to fame, the tournament was postponed but not because of the weather. The tournament followed the hurricane and it was delayed a week because of the damage to the Island's infrastructure and the fact that many people remained without electricity so that getting organised was a mite difficult.

Anyway, with that background to the weather ramifications, the reason that the amateur doesn't have many fishing days left stems from the onset of the autumnal/winter conditions making it virtually impossible to predict a good weather day more than about 24 hours in advance. That makes forward planning difficult, if not impossible; then the clocks change and slowly but ever so surely the annual holiday season puts the kaibosh on any angling activity. Despite the fact that the old Fishing Information Bureau used to maintain that the angling season went until the end of November, all the locals knew better and hung up their rods considerably earlier.

So to put all that into perspective, the best you can figure on is another weekend this month and maybe a couple next month and then fishable weekends will be like hen's teeth.

That's what brings us to a more pressing problem. It is all well and good to go fishing but it is nice to have the knowledge that there is something out there to catch. And right now, that seems to be the problem.

Polling the commercial operators paints a rather bleak scene. There are a few wahoo around but nothing anywhere near suggestive of a run in the offing. There are no large schools of bait to entice the tuna to put on a show and there is certainly no indication of the presence of any juvenile mackerels that would fit the description of "frigate". Where that name comes from is a whole other story but it is a major misnomer!

For the most part, the fishing has consisted of a bit of trolling which is largely unrewarded and some chumming that produces mixed bags, occasionally including yellowtail snappers or bonitas which liven up the otherwise melancholic proceedings. An appearance by the robins can make for some potential but even the live-baiting has left something to be desired.

The problem seems to be a lack of the major predators, other than out in the deep where the numbers of smaller blues should be on the upsurge. Marlin are a definite source of success for charter boat operators with a paying party hopeful of encountering big game fish but are not exactly what the local angler or commercial man wants when some edible fish is the target.

Bottom fishing on the Banks is an option. Boring but sometimes productive. It is a little early for this fishing to be at its best but there are still (amazingly after all the years of exploitation) some hinds and coneys that will please. Something that hardly anyone tries anymore is to drift across the bank or along the Edge with a live robin fished down deep. You run the risk of getting tied up with a big tiger shark but this can be counteracted by using a monofilament leader. A large amber or rockfish that latches on can be caught on monofilament while a shark will either part the leader with its teeth or its sandpaper skin will chafe it through.

Anglers with less ambition or who are less willing to spend a fortune on fuel in exchange for a few fish (maybe) could do a lot worse than to work the channels. Even during the day, the white-waters will please and there are loads of turbots (more properly, triggerfish) that aren't reticent when it comes to taking a bait. Both species are anything but game but they do produce really nice, firm white fillets.

They also make for a good fishing experience for children. The fish are willing to please, they can be caught even on the "kiddie" tackle that they all seem to have and there aren't too many dangers involved. Apart from the obvious when it comes to hooks and other sharp objects, the only other thing to watch out for is the turbots' teeth. They are a lot bigger than they look and they have a habit of playing possum until a hand strays nearby and then there will be screaming or swearing depending on the age and sex of the victim. Just something to watch out for.

So here we are then. The last major event just a few weeks away and some good fishing will hopefully be had, provided that the wahoo put in their expected appearance. If they fail to do so then we will find ourselves in a season woefully short of Tight lines!!!