April as a spring month might hold true in some places but here it can be an awfully good mimic of high summer.With the Annual Exhibition taking place, the weather is often as hot and dry as June even though there are persistent old wives’ tales that the event is cursed and there will be rain at least on one day.Bottom line: the seasons are doing what they have done since the beginning of time and all creatures; yes even the lethargic anglers, are starting to put a bit of step into their stride. Wahoo are due on the Edge and Banks and some of the tuna that have over-wintered should be looking for their mates to join up with them or to have whatever a spring bait bloom brings all to themselves. This will all happen, to one extent or another.One thing worth remembering is that mackerel are a prime source of bait. This is obvious in the late summer when the juvenile mackerel, popularly called “frigates” show up.Figure this: everything has to be small at some point in its life. In any case, the presence of mackerel on the fishing grounds is a pretty reliable indicator that there is enough bait around to attract and hold predators.No one should be trolling the drop-offs at this time of the year without having a daisy chain out. One, this will quickly confirm that there are fish in the area when a school of mackerel suddenly attacks it, leaving a few of its number impaled on the hooks. Two, if the catch turns out too big to be used as a live bait, it will make excellent bait for chumming for tuna and other floating fish as well as being a fine bait for bottom bouncing.A variation on the standard daisy chain can also pay off; often enough to make it worthwhile. The addition of a lure feather or plug attached to a short piece of wire leader at the end of the chain will snag the occasional wahoo. It is bad enough to have a wahoo pirate a mackerel off the chain but they can and do hit at the lures; for some reason, almost inevitably, the last one. Thus the effectiveness of this modified daisy chain.So will the inshore come to life, there will be grunts and snappers lurking around docks; jacks will be breaking water; bonefish will mully up the shallows along Somerset Long Bay and in the shallows between the Castle Harbour Islands. Succinctly put, it is all going to happen. Enjoy!With the latest potential initiative being put forward as a means of luring tourists to the Island having the potential to be an ecological nightmare, it is to be hoped that the powers that be give it careful consideration before enabling it to come into existence.Local anglers have no problem with the present number of keen spear fishermen on the Island. These have never been particularly numerous and while they have met with some success, their impact has certainly not exceeded an acceptable level. Where the thought has to be given includes the changes to the law that will have to be taken into account.Spear fishing does require a licence and, at present, licences are restricted to local residents. The fee is not outrageous but, given the numbers involved, not a great revenue generator either. That is the first place where some special attention has to be paid.Just how many new licences will be issued? Will they be issued to non-residents? Will there be any limit on the number of licences available to the public? What will the cost of such licences be? Will there be a dichotomy between resident rates and non-residents rates?Now, to two more pithy matters. The first is that while there may now be enough large groupers and other fish to get the attention of spear fishers, just how much more pressure can the stock sustain? What happens if effort and success double? Treble? Increase even more? Does anyone know how many of any species; say, rockfish, can be harvested without negatively impacting the existing commercial fishery or the general health of the marine environment?Also, how many fish have to be lost before the attraction of the spear fishing in Bermuda loses its lustre? A season or two of bumper production might quickly diminish to an impoverished set of reefs and there are a whole lot of ecological problems that could rear their ugly heads.There is also a related problem. If a visiting angler catches/kills a decent fish, he is limited in options. He and his party could eat the whole thing unlikely, but possible. He cannot sell it subject to the existing fishing legislation and woe betide anyone who wants to tamper with that situation at the present. Then there is the possibility that it might be given away to locals as pay back for hosting, etc. Nothing really wrong with that, even though it does have some effect on the local economy it really isn’t too different to that which goes on now when an amateur angler has a good day and hooks up his mates.There is also another nasty thought that, as unsportsmanlike as it is, has been seen elsewhere and that is just leaving the catch to rot or feed the cow pollies.Another comment, rather than criticism, of spear fishing is that; unlike line fishing where you get pretty much whatever makes the mistake of biting, the fisherman is highly selective. This means that the big ones or the better looking ones, or whatever become the targets. There is not a whole lot of research relating to how such selectivity affects the status of a fish population but what there is is suggestive of it adversely affecting reproductive rates. That, in terms of fecundity (or the production of replacement offspring) means that there will be less fish stock for the future.Looking ahead, the competitive season gets underway on Sunday, May 13, with the Bermuda Fishing Clubs Annual Tournament taking place. Things get a bit of a premature start a week earlier when Bermuda Anglers stage one of their “in house” fun tournaments and go out to test the waters, so to speak.This means that you still have a couple of weeks to get the gear serviced and the boat seaworthy, or to convince your boat-owning friends that that will indeed be tha day. This early on in the season, with little evidence to suggest that a piscatorial excursion might be productive, you really do need some sort of excuse to go offshore in search of Tight lines!!!