IGH winds, rain showers etc. ? will it ever be time to go fishing again? You might well ask but there is only one sure-fire way to find out and that is to go fishing yourself. It is a fact that no one can catch the fish you were meant to catch. That is why even when the fishing is slow there is always some lucky character who happens to fill the cooler or bag a trophy wahoo.

Of course it helps to know what you are doing but even amateurs can get lucky. This is not to suggest that the fishing is fast-paced at the moment but boats that have managed to make it offshore have had some success.

Perhaps surprisingly, a lot of this has come from yellowfin tuna. While the fish are not large, they have taken trolled rigs quite readily and this begs the question as to how many might be caught by that most effective means, chumming. True conditions have seldom been suitable as of late but one suspects that there might be an opportunity to catch a nice bunch of school-sized fish if the weather and tide conditions moderate a bit.

Wahoo continue to be caught on a sporadic basis but that could change radically at any time. The spring run is probably not too far into the future and staying at home could well mean that you miss it. Remember that when it does happen, it is generally short-lived and that the pros who discover it won't mention it until after the fact. And who can blame them? Over the reef areas, it is peak time for porgy fishing. It simply does not get any better than it is at present. One of the nice things about it is that even if there is a bit of weather on, you can usually anchor up reasonably comfortably and safely over a porgy hole and give it a working over. Apart from providing a bit of sport, it can make for some serious chowder.

Did you ever wonder why there are so many species of fish that are held in high regard as game fish along the US East Coast but that we never see here? High on the list are things like striped bass and blue fish, followed closely by cobia, sea trout and redfish.

Tarpon don't really make the list. They do occur here and in numbers that are significant enough. There have been instances where anglers have actually sought after this species and been successful. Put their relative scarcity down to lack of habitat. We simply don't have hundreds of square miles of mangrove marsh and swamp. It is those other species that we will look at in a bit more depth.

Well, to allay your anxieties, please know that bluefish have been recorded from Bermuda. This in the form of three smallish, around one-pound, specimens that were caught in Hamilton Harbour some 20 years ago. Cobia have also been recorded from here with a large 70-pounder being caught on Argus Bank in the not so distant past.

It is not so difficult to account for the lack of redfish (aka channel bass) and sea trout. These are fish that are associated with the tidal waters of estuaries Spare a thought for the complicated lives of fishes and just how little we know about them.

For instance, the common American eel. Although they enjoy a wide range throughout the eastern United States, and are found in many bodies of freshwater about the only thing that is really known is that they spawn in salt water. The spawning area is believed to be somewhere in the vicinity of Bermuda.

Ditto for the European eel. Although this is a separate species from the American eel, it too undergoes some long range migration in order to spawn somewhere in the Sargasso Sea. The early science done on these species found the larvae of the eel in the ocean and it was by backtracking rather than following their movements that this odd mode of reproduction was established.

With such reproductive habits, you might have thought that eel would be commonplace here in Bermuda. The fact of the matter is that they are not. There are a few museum-type specimens and a number of stories relating to sightings. There aren't too many of these either and most of them are some years old. These possible occurrences usually occurred in areas where there was some limited freshwater input. For instance, these tales often related to the Mill's Creek area, but, like the eels, the stories themselves are few and far between.

A possible reason for their scarcity here is that they are actually freshwater fish and the lack of suitable habitat here has long since been programmed into their genes. There is some driving natural force that directs them to the river systems of North America. The proper name for species such as this that live their lives in freshwater but that return to the sea to reproduce is catadromous.

Then there are the anadromous species. Of these the best known is the Atlantic salmon. These fish start off life as tiny little larval fish and make their way downstream to the ocean where they spend most of their life. It is only when the need to reproduce overtakes them that they once again invade freshwater usually homing in on the river or stream from which they were hatched to once again deposit their eggs and, in certain species, die.

Between these two words, you will be well armed for a selection of crossword puzzles. Also you will have picked up a hint of just how complicated Mother Nature can be. Truth to tell, we don't know a whole lot about the life cycles of the game fish most familiar to us, including marlin, wahoo and tuna.

Speaking of which, despite the wind and rain, it will not be long now. Although the passage of chilly fronts has cooled the air temperature, the offshore water temperature has continued to rise as a result of oceanic currents and the influx of solar energy. Yes, the longer days do make a difference and the northern hemisphere is moving into that phase when it is in a position to receive the maximum heat from the sun. Mind you, it does seem strange to think that in just three months' time, we will be reversing this order of things. In the meantime, let's hope that there are plenty of Tight lines!!!