Not another one! The frustration level is reaching a high and many have given up all hope of wetting any further lines this season.

It makes you wonder if the folks who decided to take their boats out of the water in advance of Hurricane Ernesto and have not bothered to put them back overboard must have known something the rest of us didn’t. The aftermath of Hurricane Milton is ensuring that there will be another lousy weekend on the cards and guaranteeing that there will not be any offshore fishing for the next few days. Just what the weekend angler wants at a time when there are probably precious few opportunities before the onset of winter.

A brief analysis of the tropical systems over the last few weeks, apart from the obvious storm impacts and the damage wrought, shows something that goes unconnected for most people. It is hard to fathom that a storm churning its way through the North Atlantic can cause massive waves and surges on coastlines up to 2,000 miles away.

It really is like tossing a rock into a pond and watching the ripples travel all the way to the edge of the shore in every direction. Coverage of the Florida storm gave evidence of increasing water levels at the shoreline as the water pushed ahead of the storm made landfall. This, apparently, is always the case even when the storm is many miles distant, giving rise to strong currents, undertows and enormous swells.

With the offshore here unsettled, there has been little fishing activity. Many of the commercial operators are working their lobster gear nearer shore instead of heading out to the Banks to troll for wahoo and tuna.

The generally foul weather has been effective in reducing offshore effort even though this time of year often sees some of the best fishing. A surprising boost occasionally comes in the form of flotsam resulting from storms that hammer the Caribbean and elsewhere to our South with even entire palm trees making their way into the marine gyre that is the Sargasso Sea that surrounds us.

An encounter with these often results in numbers of wahoo and dolphin pleasing fishermen. Naturally, these are not without some risks because in poor conditions or even in a calm but rolling sea, they may be difficult to see and become navigational hazards. There is a serious difference in trolling around a large floating object and whacking into it at speed.

Bearing witness to the difficulty in seeing these objects, some boats carry a flag buoy that they can throw overboard to mark the location of such, should they want to fish around it. Often the first sign of such flotsam is a strike or multiple strikes, seemingly in the middle of nowhere that turns out to be in proximity to something which is just under the surface or maybe bobbing a few inches above.

Notoriously hard to keep track of while trying to catch fish, the buoy can be used to mark the location so that a further pass can be made in the hope of eliciting more strikes. This may sound strange but almost every seasoned skipper can relate multiple tales of bumper hauls resulting from flotsam or jetsam encountered on the ocean.

Whatever the storms are doing, one inescapable fact is that the water temperature is dropping. Nowhere is this more obvious than in inshore waters. While swimming probably isn’t on anyone’s agenda at this juncture, these falling temperatures should remind inshore anglers that time is rapidly running out. Most game fish that can be caught from the shore will very shortly be returning to deep water, putting an end to such activity.

There are still some trophy bonefish to be had and it is sad to think that this prime game species, once a centrepiece of Bermuda light tackle angling, evokes little interest any more. Cooling water will see them leave the shallows and become elusive until the spring lures them back again. This is now or never for the rest of the year.

The same holds true for the palometa which call South Shore home. The late season sees the largest of these, with a two-pounder being a monster. Doubters should note that the Bermuda record 4lb palometa has held the top spot for more than 50 years.

While artificial lures like small silvery spoons will catch these tasty critters, a little bit of chum in the form of cat food or sardine oil can do wonders. They will hit a bait fished on the surface with abandon and put up a battle worthy of a fish twice or even thrice its size, a justification for the use of suitable tackle rather than the heavy stuff.

With fewer beachgoers to distract, now is the near perfect time to go after this delightful quarry. Rain won’t dissuade them and the lee afforded by the Island will keep the northerly winds at bay, making for ideal conditions for some shoreline Tight Lines.