Ahoy, you bunch of seasonal landlubbers! It’s high time to crawl out from under the rocks where you have spent the winter hibernating and realise that it is, once again, fishing season. There is no time to tarry; it is well into spring and summer is just around the corner.

It may not be obvious because the weather is still fickle and often blustery, but Mother Nature does not lie. The humpback whales have been parading past for weeks now and are now leaving this part of the ocean behind them as the rich northern coastlines beckon.

While most anglers have spent the last months in mothballs, the commercial fleet and a very few hearties continued to work the surrounding ocean and have enjoyed mixed results.

Local longliners caught swordfish and bigeye tuna; species seldom encountered by the more traditional methods in use locally. Although it is highly unlikely that any sports fishers will change their modus operandi to allow them to catch these species regularly, it is nice to know that there is a huge variety out there, some of which are well beyond our usual expectations.

The winter months, now slipped by, saw a limited amount of fishing from the commercial fleet. As always, the weather was a significant factor and although some operators concentrated on the pelagic species, most returned to bottom fishing as a more reliable means of ensuring that they had something to sell. A very few had the luxury of lobster traps and, for them, that was the main focus.

The primary pelagic species that found its way into fish boxes was wahoo. As may have been expected, the average fish was larger than the normal summer specimens, but numbers tended to be very low. There were occasions when small concentrations of wahoo were located and brief flurries of activity but for the most part, the off-season was just that ... “off”.

On a hopefully positive note, there does not seem to have been sufficient wahoo activity to indicate that the spring run has taken place just yet. All things being equal, this should be something for early-season anglers to look forward to.

Normally this run takes place over a very short period of time; schools of wahoo suddenly appear and then spend a few days moving very quickly along the drop-offs before scattering throughout the local area. The trick is to catch this run and then to remain ahead of the fish. The one thing that is for certain is: where the fish were yesterday will not be where they are today. They move really rapidly sometimes covering most of the perimeter of Bermuda’s Edge in two or three days. This is another reason to be proactive and to have the boat and gear ready to go at short notice. Just this past week, one boat had a notable haul and, while there were no other reports of such, it is that time of the year.

Trolling at the moment is exceptionally slow with blanks being scored by many attempting this sort of fishing. Much more productive has been the chumming for tuna, given suitable weather conditions. One commercial boat recently caught 17 yellowfin tuna and a few other boats have had similar, although less spectacular, results. Most of these fish are small school-sized tuna and their presence here mirrors that the boats fishing out of the North Carolina harbours are also catching school yellowfin.

Most trolling has been along the edges of the drop-off, traditionally most productive for wahoo and tuna. At this juncture, there is a slim possibility of sailfish, a species never numerous here but present often enough early and late in the season to make them something to watch out for now.

Working the deeper water with a brightly coloured lure is most likely to attract the attention of a white marlin, another early-season species, although the number of bite-sized yellowfin around suggest that big blue marlin are not far behind. Dolphinfish, or mahi mahi, usually show up when the wahoo do, often running with them. Again, don’t expect the numbers usually found off Florida or elsewhere.

The Bermuda Game Fishing Association, the amalgamated organisation involving the local clubs and the island’s IGFA representatives, has released the official tournament schedule for this year. As always, it does not pretend to be infallible or totally accurate. Circumstances invariably will arise that cause alterations and maybe even cancellations of events. Such decisions are made by the various organising bodies and their sponsors. What the calendar does allow for is for individuals to have a bird’s-eye view of what the season is going to shape up to. It will allow both casual and competitive anglers to plan their strategies and ensure their participation in whichever events appeal to them.

So, there is a brief recap of what has transpired, a look at the present state of affairs and a guide for the future. These prospects should be enough to get you off the couch and to start getting the gear in order and to give the boat some attention. The latter is going to need it in any case because it is less than three weeks to the May 24 summer holiday! In the interim, there is every chance of some early-season Tight Lines!!!