IT will take some serious planning and a good bit of luck to take advantage of the last, and best, autumnal fishing that we have had for years.The problem, of course, is the weather. There tends to be just too much of it at this time of the year. The time also seems to be dreadful from the angler’s point of view. Through the week, the weather is mostly benign often with some absolutely gorgeous days intended to lure out the golfer and angler. The problem is most of us are at work and can do little more than admire the quality day through the office windows.

It is clear that the so-called “winter weather” pattern is setting in. It moves in quite subtly but takes over nonetheless. Once established, and this only takes a few weeks, the situation is pretty consistent. The wind goes from light and variable into the southeast and starts to puff up in advance of an approaching cold front. The wind grows in intensity and starts to move around into the southwest, later on howling out of the west or northwest, often along with a drop in temperature. Then the wind drops out over about a 24 hour period, leaving a welcome period of calm before the cycle starts all over again.

It is that little weather window that allows commercial fishermen and the more intrepid anglers to slip offshore and try to find some action. Right now, there seems to be lots of reasons to get out there and the weather will still offer the slightly longer windows that occur occasionally at this time of the year. Come February, the pattern is very reliable with, maybe one or two fishable days per week. Not surprisingly, many boats are out of water or undergoing maintenance or, quite simply, angling goes on the back burner until May.

Looking at the present, the wahoo fishing continues to be a welcome treat for this time of the year. Many boats are still managing double figures and the overall quality of the fish is good.

True enough, there are some tiny ‘hoos that barely make a fish sandwich and it would probably make sense to release these fish. Unfortunately, the nature of the beast is such that most of them end up in the fish box. There are not too many people willing to risk their fingers by trying to extract a hook from those razor-sharp jaws, especially if the fish is alive, which, after all, is the whole point of the release exercise! Many of the fish are really nice specimens in the 40-pound or better category. There seem to be plenty of 25 to 40-pounders and the weekender really only needs to score success with a couple of fish to justify the excursion offshore.

There is some more good news, too. While most of the information on the dolphin-fish, aka dorado, dolphin or mahi-mahi, suggests its presence in the tropical waters of the world, just now there is a nice little influx of this species offshore.

The fish usually show up in pairs or small schools with the smaller fish often forming larger schools. As a result most boats that have encountered dolphin over the last week or so have managed to catch two or three. Although none of the fish have been giants, the average size is something better than ten pounds and a few have been significantly larger. Most notable was a 44-pound fish which would get most people’s attention. On this occasion Capt. Alan Card’s Challenger came across a larger-than-usual school and was able to catch six or seven fish before they lost interest.

One nice thing about dolphin is that they are near suicidal and will attack almost anything that moves, even a bare hook. Given this propensity, it is not surprising that many sailors stranded at sea have been able to catch food in the form of dolphin. Their other knack is for hanging around under floating objects, including life rafts.

A survey of the literature says that the dolphin roams tropical and sub-tropical waters and with the local water temperature well and truly on its annual downward swing, this must be getting on for the limits of this species preference. While the hotspots for dolphin that come to mind are the Gulf Stream waters along the US East Coast, or Mexico or Costa Rica (the same species is found all over the world), there is evidence that the late season is best in Bermuda waters.S.L. “Pete” Perinchief, who did so much to promote Bermuda fishing, wrote that the best chance to catch a dolphin in local waters extended into the month of December. Several older books on Bermuda fishing also make a point of this and, so, maybe there is a reason for their relative abundance at a time when most sport fishing effort is on the downturn.

The only species that has given some disappointment seems to be the yellowfin tuna. While they have been present almost all year long around the Banks, their numbers have been lower than expected and, at the moment, they seem to be few and far between. Some middleweight fish are being taken by trollers and the fact that very few boats are concentrating on chumming for tuna means that the effort isn’t what is needed to identify any concentration of fish. Earlier in the month a few large tuna showed up in chum slicks but most commercial boats are now looking to catch bottom fish for the market.

There is still plenty of smaller game action to be had over the reefs. Mackerel and robins generally don’t take too long to put in an appearance and these offer the prospect of some live-baiting. Bouncing on the bottom will turn up some coneys and barbers with the occasional hind enhancing the day’s catch. If you get really lucky, and have enough chum, you may get into a school of yellowtail snapper and that will do nicely for most people.

Some of the non-game species such as turbots and white-water snappers will also please and even if they are not likely to get you into the record books, they do make for some nice fillets. So, if the day is unsettled and you are desperate to stock up the freezer in advance of winter, consider a trip over the reefs.

Unreliable weather and the shorter days do little to encourage the weekender to make plans and this is a shame because there is some good fishing to be had. In fact, historical records reveal that the fishing can be quite consistent up until mid-December after which the holiday season puts paid to most effort and then Old Man Winter moves firmly in early January. That will deter most amateurs and more than a few professionals from seeking any Tight lines!!!

Dolphins are fairly easy to catch