Competitors could not have asked for a better day when the Bacardi Rum Tournament went off on schedule last Sunday.

There was a light slightly easterly breeze, a moderate ground swell and plenty of sunshine. The swell was put down to the tropical disturbance off the southeastern coast of the United States, a reminder that we are now into that time of year when systems can brew up quite quickly with hurricanes a very real possibility.

While the weather was more than conducive to angling there were reports that the fish were not all that co-operative, with a number of anglers disappointed. Unfortunately, sometimes people forget the subtle difference between fishing and catching.

As it happened a total of 17 boats came to the weigh-in at the Hamilton Princess, bringing in a total of 80 fish. These consisted of 60 wahoo, 11 blackfin tuna, four bonita, two barracuda, two dolphin and a single amberjack.

Amazingly not one yellowfin tuna was weighed in, suggesting that they were very thin on the ground offshore.

While it was the wahoo that dominated the proceedings many of these fish were the type of school fish so often seen in the summer, with many not making the minimum weight requirement. Some were taken by traditional trolling but others were taken using other tactics.

The real successes were had by boats that did live baiting, generally using robins. Although this technique is aimed at catching the larger wahoo, even small wahoo have the ability to slice one in half and suck it right down, so using a largish bait is no guarantee that a large fish will be hooked.

As it turned out the winning wahoo in each class was a respectable fish with Paulo Sousa taking the A class with a 40.4 pounder. The B class was won by Chris Duperreault’s 53.9lbs specimen, and Daniel Rance was the C class winner with a 47.6lbs wahoo.

Using live robins is also a preferred method of fishing for large bonita and amberjack. Some nice specimens were caught by anglers in the different classes, but it was Niel Jones’s 39.3lbs amber that won the B class “other” species award.

In C class Lindsey Power’s 34.7lbs blackfin won this category. There was no eligible entry in the A class “other” category.

The High Point Boat awards in each of the three classes were won by: captain Paulo Sousa’s Paulo Filipe, captain Larry Martin’s Ocean Mile and captain Bobby Lambe’s Last Chance. The runners-up were: captain Brian Mello’s Bite Me, captain Niel Jones’s Maverick and captain Scott Barnes’s Hakuna Matata.

The big winners in the overall category were Andre Durham, whose three best fish amassed him 96.9 points to take Overall High Point Angler, and captain Joey Dawson’s Gringo which won the Bacardi Rum Trophy as the Overall High Point Boat.

The lack of tuna is a bit of a surprise, although there have been reports that the water in the immediate area is a couple of degrees cooler than the water surrounding that area. Fish often stay in certain temperature ranges, and they may actually move with that body of water as it shifts location.

In any case, the water here is warming up so this may become a non-issue in the near future.

There continue to be just enough dolphin around to make life interesting. There is no apparent flotsam, so these fish must simply be on the move. Rarely abundant here, the dolphin is one of the great light tackle fish, providing aerial acrobatics when hooked on suitable tackle.

They are also much sought after for the galley.

Billfish are still keeping a low profile, although there is no doubt that there are some on the offshore grounds. The number of small blackfin tuna on and around the Banks must surely be enough in the way of bait to make any passing migrants remain in the area.

A few foreign sport-fishing boats have already arrived and as soon as they start putting in any significant effort, the results will speak for themselves. Local boats are largely ignoring marlin as they are still trying to take advantage of the wahoo, and are hoping that the yellowfin tuna will arrive in time to satisfy the local market.

This Sunday, the recognised local angling clubs will again attempt to get the BFCAT tournament off the ground.

This team event is a light tackle tournament and the weigh-in will be held at Spanish Point Boat Club from about 4pm.

The main target species will be tuna. This is partly because these fish are well-suited to the class of tackle involved, and partly because they can be released which also scores points. Above all, they are capable of really providing some very Tight Lines!