After a week of “iffy” weather,

sunny skies on Sunday brought the crowd out for the Bermuda Anglers Club Front Street weigh-in for their Junior Angling Tournament.

This was a great success with over 100 children attending the proceedings and exhibiting the green T-shirts given to each entrant. With plenty of prize categories, there was considerable excitement as a parade of often unlikely fish were taken to the weighmaster for evaluation.

In the under six years age category and fishing from a boat, the winners were Dahmony Hill who caught an 8.5 pound turbot on rod and reel; Peyton Hines won the girls’ with a 23.5 pound wahoo. Fishing from a boat with a hand line resulted in Anaiya Bascome winning the girls’ with a 3.5 pound porgy.

In the same age category but fishing from the shore Sami Carlo won the boy’s rod and reel section with a 3.0 pound jack while the girls’ went to Logan Flood’s 1-3/8 oz bream. Khwai Mendoza took the honours for boys’ hand line with a 4 oz yellow grunt and Zimai Davis won the girls’ with a 14-3/4 ounce bream.

In the next age grouping (7-10 years) the winners were: from a boat using rod and reel, Ethan Soares’s 42.5 pound wahoo; and on hand line, Emma Butterfield with a 15-1/4 ounce jack. From the shore, on rod and reel, Zakee Doers had a three pound yellowtail snapper with Christianna Warren’s 8 oz bream also a winner. On hand line from shore, Destiny Winters-Taite 2-1/4 ounce yellowtail grunt was a winner in the shoreline girls’ hand line section; in the boys’ counterpart Jacob Batista and Christian Warren tied with 13-3/4 oz breams.

Entries were a little thinner on the ground in the 11-16 years category but there was no lack of quality with Kaleb Medeiros’s 33 pound wahoo taking the boys’ boat rod and reel award. With a hand line form a boat, Tommy Marshall won with a 2.5-pound turbot while Gaby Furr came up with a 4.25 pound cowfish to win the girls’ hand line from a boat.

In the shore fishing section, Jacari Renfroe was a winner with a 5.25 pound snapper as was Zahra Wilson’s 2-3/4 ounce squirrelfish.

All the age groups were represented in the overall categories. The largest fish, by a boy was ten-year-old Ethan Soares’s 42.5 pound wahoo with 13-year-old Kaleb Medeiros coming second with a 33 pound wahoo.

The largest fish caught by a girl was four-year-old Peyton Hines’s 23.5 pound wahoo. Top shore fish were six-year-old Sami Carlo’s three pound jack and seven-year-old Zahkee Doers’s three pound yellowtail. The first fish weighed in was Destiny Winters-Taite’s grunt. The award for being first to enter went to Sami Carlo who signed up on Facebook within three minutes of the event opening. A special award sponsored by Digicel went to Saltus Grammar School which had the most participation. This was a near-run thing with 29 schools represented and Saltus only coming ahead by one.

This level of participation is indicative of the interest in angling among the younger set and full kudos are due to Bermuda Anglers Club who go to the lengths to actually stage this important event. The prize presentation will take place at 10am today at the Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club and all the winners are expected to attend. Despite all the rain and rather nasty weather the offshore scene continues to be a lively one especially as commercial operators are also in the process of gearing up for the lobster season.

Although the concentration should be shifting from the deep blue briny to the edge of the drop-off where wahoo and tuna are the more likely candidates, there are still those who are obsessed with billfish and are determined to keep pursuing them until the first caresses of winter send the fish to points out of the range of local boats.

Capt. James Robinson’s Wound Up enjoyed a nice double header earlier in the week, catching and releasing both fish. One was estimated at around 150 pounds while the larger fish was thought to be close to 600 pounds.

Capt. Allen DeSilva’s Mako went one for three on one day and followed this up with a grip that included two shots at billfish and a nice 120-pound yellowfin tuna. The other Alan DeSilva and his Treasure Isle also managed to release a blue marlin. A related observation going back many years was that there used to be something of a run of largish yellowfin tuna along the northern portion of Bermuda’s Edge; sort of “back of North Rock”.

There is every possibility that something similar might be taking place at present. Could be worth a look; and it might reveal a few wahoo as well.

In any case, the emphasis this week will be on wahoo and those wishing to take part in The Royal Gazette Wahoo Tournament can find online entry forms and copies of the rules on The Royal Gazette website.

Old school entrants will find paper entries in today’s and Wednesday’s newspapers.

All entries must be made by the deadline on Wednesday, September 2. Paper entries and weigh-in forms are available at Flybridge Tackle.

So, with the last major event of the season slated for next Sunday and a suspicion that there won’t be too much fishing over the next few months, now would be a good time to get some fresh fish into the freezer. And the only sure way that is going to happen is for you to get yourself some Tight Lines!!!