Time marches on and with it dwindles the number of angling opportunities open to locals.

With the holiday season not all that far away and the clean-up thanks to Tropical Storm Fay and Hurricane Gonzalo still on-going, many will be tasked with getting home and hearth ready for the festivities.

That and the regular onset of wintry gales pretty much keep the aficionados ashore.

Commercial efforts still include a few wahoo and the very odd dolphinfish. Tuna are very thin on the ground with even the usually ubiquitous blackfin playing hard to get.

Bottom bouncing does get its share of hinds, coneys and barbers with a few so-called “floating” fish species mixed in.

Working the reef areas should produce some porgies and snappers along with the coneys and barbers while the channel waters are home to triggerfish and the lane or white water snappers.

The inshore has the bream and pinfish taking over; neither of which is going to excite even the most casual angler much.

Even though the actual fishing has eased off here, there is still enough to keep the Island in the news. Just recently the International Game Fish Association released confirmation of three new world records that have been set here by two anglers earlier this year.

These are the Women’s 12lb test and 16lb test line class records for Almaco jack (locally called bonita) set by Fiona Beck with a 27lb 1oz. fish and a 37lb 6oz. specimen respectively.

Both were caught on Challenger Bank from Capt. Kevin Winter’s Playmate on the July 2 this year.

The third record also came off the Playmate and is a new All-Tackle mark for cottonmouth jack. The 5lb even catch was made on Argus Bank by Cindy Mitchell on the June 28.

Although Bermuda does not hold as many records as it once did, it is still possible to seek out certain marks which can be set here and held for long periods.

Some species, notably amberjack, bonita and other jack species seem to attain larger than normal sizes here and offer the potential for new records.

Blackfin tuna, which some believe to be a resident population here, do grow big and are prime targets for some of the lighter line classes even though Florid and elsewhere in and around the Gulf of Mexico also boast some hefty blackfin. Many of these simply live behind shrimp boats, feasting on the discarded catch and, quite simply, getting fat.

Historically, the wahoo and yellowfin tuna were the species that set records but those are now very much of secondary importance with many new locations in the world proving to hold stocks of large specimens.

Of the 34 records held for wahoo, only three have come from Bermuda with one of these, the 20lb test record, having been set 53 years ago. The others come from the Bahamas, Vanuatu, Fiji, Tonga and other exotic locations.

Yellowfin tuna records, there are 40, come from across the globe. It is a bit unfortunate that the International Game Fish Association only recognises a single species even though this fish occurs in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans with the latter tending to have larger fish, thereby giving locations in that part of the world a distinct advantage..

The species that really sets the mark here is the yellowtail snapper. Although it took, literally, years of trying to have this species included in the recognised line class record category, doing so paid off in spades with 16 records held here. Given that yellowtails grow to extremes here, there is every likelihood that some of the existing records will be bettered by local fish.

Largely ignored locally, for whatever reason, are the Junior (ages 11 to 16) and Smallfry (0-10 years of age) records.

Of the 47 world records currently held here only one is for a junior and there are two for smallfry. Thirteen are fly rod records while the remainder are either line class or all-tackle records. There must be some potential for new records here as well as offering the younger set an additional incentive.

Also going begging is the all-tackle length category. This is for fish that have been released alive with just a length measurement being taken. Obviously, marlin would be thought to be the most likely candidates around here but there is no billfish species eligible for such records.

Among the species eligible for such records and likely to be encountered here are: amberjack, almaco jack, bonefish, blackfin tuna, grey snapper, yellowtail snapper and little tunny (mackerel). This is not surprising considering that most other large fish are boated for food purposes.

Just how many local anglers are going to release a six foot long wahoo?

It was with terrible shock that the fishing fraternity learned of the loss of Dr Neil Burnie. From early in life, among his many interests and pursuits, Neil was a keen angler, first in his native England and then here as he was introduced to the denizens of salt water.

As he progressed, he developed a keen interest in the creatures that lurked in the deep, most recently devoting himself to the study of tiger sharks. His contributions to local angling annals and to the sport itself are many and his absence will be sorely missed.

The Happy Hunting Ground was a concept that embodied the American Plains tribes’ version of a great afterlife. Plenty of game and easy hunting, a veritable Paradise. One hopes that Neil Burnie has found peace in a place with such endless Tight Lines!!!