WOULDN'T you know that after two and a half weeks of near summer, the winds yucked into the north and blew, the thermometer plummeted and just about all thought of angling went straight out the window. Certainly after a fine weekend, it was right back into Old Man Winter's clutches. This makes a trip south to the boat show even more inviting.

A further update on the Big Game Room at the Miami Boat Show is that there will be opportunities for "hands on" training by professionals. They will be teaching: basic ballyhoo rigs (w/variations ? skirts, leads, etc.), basic mullet rigs (w/variations ? leaded, split-tails, wire line, double hook rigs, etc.), squid rigging for swordfish, and mackerel rigging (best hooks, size bait, etc.). There will also be sessions on: lure rigging, strips (cutting, rigging), live bait rigging and rigging with circle hooks.

There will also be some time dedicated to wind on leaders and other techniques that are at variance with the norm for local anglers.

Any Bermudians travelling to the Show and who are willing to divulge some of the rigs favoured locally will be more than welcome to do so. Organisers will furnish all necessary bait, terminal tackle and tools. Anyone wishing to get involved should contact loveto(at)islands.vi on e-mail or call 1-888-234-7484.

The high winds and rough seas made it just about impossible for most commercial operators to get offshore and those that did tended to stay close to home and concentrate on barbers, coneys and other reef species willing to sacrifice a fillet or two.

The return of reasonable conditions should see the wahoo action on the Edge and Banks continue but there is no telling how long the present cold snap is going to last. And that doesn't leave much in the way of options for those desperate to wet a line.

Fish that have long earned the disdain of local anglers but which enjoy great following elsewhere are sharks. With the possible exception of the great white who is a nasty bit of work and full-sized and the mako which is another bad-tempered customer, they really aren't great game fish. But, for one thing, they will provide a pretty good pull on most tackle. At least for a few minutes. The one that don't like the blue actually offer a plethora of shots at a world records, particularly on light tackle.

There are plenty of charter boats who make a living out of promoting "monster" fishing or just plain shark fishing. The north-eastern United States has lots of such specialists and you only have to go back to Peter Benchley's "Jaws" for some clear insight into how these things work.

Incidentally, the main character in "Jaws" was based on a real-life charter skipper who made sport fishing for sharks famous.

Most shark fishing off New England, New York and New Jersey is limited to the summer months; here in Bermuda we can give it a try just about any day that we can get out. Actually, night time is better but as this is mid-winter, we'll stick to the daylight variety.

While not as active as they are in the summer months there are enough sharks around to make looking for them a worthwhile winter diversion. They occur everywhere, even if you don't really like the sound of that. Some huge sharks have been seen in the Great Sound (yes, even in February); there are lots of all sorts and sizes over the reefs and the offshore Banks and surrounding deep water harbour all sorts of terrors.

The largest shark readily available is the tiger shark. A few old-timers will insist on a variant, the "leopard" but they are still all tiger sharks. They attain huge sizes as evidenced by some of the car-sized monsters that hung around the tuna late last summer. Not so common during daylight hours they will go after nice chunks of oily fish like mackerel.

Needless to say wire leaders are called for and big, cheap hooks are a good bet. No sense wasting stainless on these maws.

Dusky sharks are the common reef shark. Actually, they are not duskies at all but we won't go into that. They can attain large sizes but there are plenty in the "puppy" class ? say, three to four feet long. They are probably the best bet, if you actually intend to eat your catch. At this size they are manageable and actually do produce some tasty flesh. It is a well-kept secret but a whole lot more of the world eats shark than even they think they do. There are plenty of trade names that sound exotic but really translate to "shark".

Hammerheads used to be commonly encountered here throughout the year but for a couple of decades now they have been pretty thin on the ground.

Actually, this can be said of just about all sharks. While it is easy to "save the dolphins or whales", it is not quite so easy to make sharks into endearing creatures. Commercial fisheries either directed at shark species or utilising them as by-catch have made tremendous inroads into the population and the fact that sharks are slow to reproduce and even then do so in small numbers only makes their reduction all the more serious from an ecological standpoint.

There are also some oddities. In open water, the white tip shark is common.

Chumming in the middle of nowhere and dumping garbage overboard often brings one of these critters into sight. Not a line class game fish, it is really an open ocean species and, as such, is not much pursued even by those who specialise in sharks.

Blue sharks are also pelagics and put in an appearance from time to time.

Although they appear docile and even stupid, they are a known man-eater and should be treated with caution.

It is a little early for mako sharks although they have been caught during the winter. Spring and summer are good times for these, especially when the wahoo start to run. The great white which actually prefers waters the temperature of the local area in winter is really so rare that to come across one is a result in and of itself. If you happen (one in a million) to hook up with one, it is probably best to cut the line and not antagonise it any more than you already have. This is especially true if you are in something like a 21-foot centre console.

In really deep water, there are deep water thresher sharks, instantly recognisable by their extended tail fin. There are giant (really huge, like whale-sized) six gill sharks and other scary creatures that the angler is unlikely to encounter.

The joy of all shark fishing is that there is a primal thrill in subduing a large well-armed toothy creature and there is the angling joy of being able to release it to fight again another day. And, of course, they do make for some Tight lines!!!