If anyone is in any doubt as to whether summer has finally arrived or not, you need only to take a step outside to feel the heat. With the Cup Match holiday barely a week away, this is as much summer as anyone is ever going to find here.

The offshore situation reflects this: it is plenty warm enough for the high-summer species to be dominating the scene, and there are a few surprises around as well. Much of this is the result of a month’s worth of deepwater exploitation by professional crews who have proved their ability throughout the sportfishing world. These boats often fish areas that are largely ignored by local anglers, who generally confine their exertions to the edges of the drop-offs around Bermuda’s Edge and the offshore Banks.

This continued this week as the final leg of the Bermuda Triple Crown commenced, giving local angling club Sea Horse Anglers its billfish tournament’s golden jubilee. What a success it turned out to be.

The big winner in the Sea Horse tournament was Captain Corey Gillespie’s Lunatico, which was the High Point Overall Team and the first-place Overall Release Points Boat with a total of 3,400 points.

In second place in both total release points and overall position was Captain KJ Zeher’s Debaitable with 2,600 points. In third place with a like number of points, based on time, was Captain Paul Alderman’s El Cazador. Worth noting was that immediately behind these leaders were three other boats with 2,500 points each.

The High Point Lady Angler also had the distinction of being the Overall High Point Angler with five blue marlin and one white marlin releases. This was Linda Russell fishing on board Debaitable. The High Point Junior Angler was Jack Eudy, who, fishing on board Black Jack, released five blue marlin.

The largest fish award for the first day went to Captain John MacIntyre’s Mama Who with a 581-pound blue marlin. The second-day largest fish and overall largest fish was a 692lb blue marlin caught on board Captain Brian Rabbit’s Big Deal.

The Bermuda boats jackpot was won by Captain Joe Vieira’s Unwined, while the largest non-billfish game fish of the tournament was a fine 168.1lb yellowfin tuna caught by Marcus Dias on board Captain Andrew Dias’s Triple Play. This tuna turned out to be the largest of nine contending large yellowfin that were weighed in, with all the fish weighing in excess of 100 pounds.

The Sea Horse Anglers Club’s 50th Bermuda Billfish Tournament also proved to be one of its most successful ever with 33 boats competing over the three days of fishing. This flotilla caught 75 blue marlin and 16 white marlin for a total of 91 billfish, along with a single wahoo and 15 yellowfin tuna. This gave an average of almost three billfish per team — an admirable result by any standard.

As the finale of the Bermuda Triple Crown, all the Sea Horse results were taken into consideration when arriving at the overall winner. This year it turned out to be Captain Brent Gaskill’s Builder’s Choice with a massive 8,500 points garnered from its efforts in all three events. In second place was Captain Chris Weeks’s Plane Simple with an impressive 7,800 points, while Captain Paul Alderman’s El Cazador was back in third with 7,200 points.

Now that the dust has started to settle, most of the foreign boats will depart for the other big tournaments along the East Coast or down to the Caribbean for the rest of the summer. While those competitions are a big draw, so is the consideration that hurricane season is progressing as well, and a tiny mid-Atlantic Island is probably not the best place for a multimillion-dollar craft should the weather take a turn for the worst. Expect virtually all these boats to have left by month’s end.

The important consideration is that the time spent here by that fleet is invaluable to Bermuda, not only economically — and it is huge input to the local exchequer — but it also exposes local fishermen and anglers to new equipment and techniques that may also have some value here.

They also continue to prove that there are trophy fish here on a consistent basis. Over the month, a few fish were released that were estimated to be in excess of the 1,000lb mark, and there was even an 876lb blue marlin weighed in that did not qualify because of an infraction of the angling rules. No doubt that there are big fish here at this time of the year.

Best of all, some of the waters they work are so infrequently accessed that they locate and point out natural resources that might otherwise go untapped

Certainly, the locating of schools of very large yellowfin proved to be a revelation for many and ultimately benefited the local fishing fleet.

While the marlin population could probably do with a rest — remember that visiting boats fish not only on tournament days — this weekend will see the Marlin Release Challenge. This smaller tournament, which is a release-only format, is more low-key than those just gone by and should attract more local boats wishing to indulge in a champagne diet on a beer budget. All doubts aside, those billfish know how to provide Tight Lines!!!