FINALLY the weather is starting to show signs of breaking. This means that another season is now upon us and with that there will be a change to the fishing. Inevitably, the water will start to cool off and the days will noticeably shorten. Just look at how late it gets light these mornings. That doesn't bother the fish simply because they don't look at clocks or watches. They do however, notice the length of the day and as the hours of darkness increase or those of daylight decrease (depending on how you want to look at it) and there is little doubt that this sort of cue affects their migrations.

It is usually September when the offshore action really heats up but with things running about a month behind this year, there could well be some top class angling yet to come. As temperatures drop and days shorten the fish start to go on the move and feed as they travel. Although we get our share of wahoo, tuna and other species, how many go past us on their northward trek and now have to come back past us on their way to their southern wintering grounds. As they travel, we should get a crack at them.

To start with, there are plenty of wahoo offshore. So many, in fact, that many commercial operators are putting in significantly more effort for other species such as the bottom dwellers and other "floating" fish like ambers. The reason for this has a lot less to do with the fishing than it has to do with the market. Simply stated, the local fish market is flooded with wahoo and commercial operators are having trouble selling wahoo.

This is a great sign for weekenders. Less competition and lots of fish. Just about everyone who has put in any effort has been rewarded and you don't have to resort to specialised methods like live baiting. Just plain old-fashioned trolling will get results. The fish may not all be giants but the supply is good enough to pretty much ensure that everyone gets to go home with a piece of fish.

Standard bait techniques work just fine and, for those who can afford the fuel or have an ultra-efficient boat, there is the option of high speed trolling artificials. This gets results, negates the need to rig baits, then check them every so often. Provided it doesn't pick up any weed or trash, an artificial lure works just fine, even on the deep trolls. Super-slow tolling of Rapala-like lures also works but this can be a frustrating exercise because even with all those hooks, the fish often hit the lure without getting snagged.

By the way, any fish taken while trolling on such a lure armed with treble hooks is ineligible for I.G.F.A.-sanctioned events.

Those looking down the road to the not too distant winter months might want to think about broadsiding or filleting some school-sized wahoo. These slabs can be further reduced into family size packages and deep frozen. If properly wrapped they can and will keep for months. Rest assured, the present offshore supply will dry up and the fish will disappear. Not to mention, the weather will be sufficiently bad to dissuade anglers from heading offshore. And that may be sooner than you think.

Consistent with the rest of this season is the lack of yellowfin tuna. For some inexplicable reason, they have simply not shown up in any numbers this year. There have been and continue to be some larger specimens that will please but chumming and expecting to find five or six tuna scooting through the slick is simply just not happening. Going up shallower, away from the edge of the drop-off will see the blackfin tuna put in an appearance but both the commercial and sport fishermen seem to have gone off that species in recent years.

This is the time of the year when the mixed bag predominates. Mixed in with wahoo will be the very occasional tuna and, best of all, dolphin. While Bermuda is not one of those locations where you can actively seek dolphin, there are enough fish around to add a bit of variety to the fish box. A great game fish in its own right, most dolphin here are caught on tackle that is way too heavy. A 30-pounder is big but obviously unable to do too much on 50 or 80-pound gear. With the average Bermuda dolphin considerable smaller than that, there is a lot of light tackle action being missed out on. An interesting solution is to look carefully when reeling in a dolphin. They are school fish and bigger ones occur in pairs. If there is a hooked one alongside the boat, often others can be seen following. That is the time to get out a spinning rod with just about any sort of lure. A few pops and something should attach itself and proceed to give a good account of itself. That is what sport fishing is all about.

Not usually thought of as part of a mixed bag, there are still enough marlin around to make catching one a reasonable proposition. The tricky bit is that they often show up when least expected and can be a nuisance if it coincides with the middle of a hot wahoo bite. Popping the marlin off is an option but most experts equate this to ensuring the fish's demise. Dragging even a relatively short piece of line around is a handicap that will eventually exhaust the fish.

Other options while the weather remains clement is reef fishing. There are quite a few bonita and small amberjack around. They can easily be chummed to the boat. Yellowtail snapper are another desirable species also likely to please and there is almost always hinds, coneys or barbers willing to take a bait fished near the bottom.

Although it is not the best time of the year for them, porgy also constitute a nice catch when reef fishing. They are large and hard to match when chowder comes to mind which it will do when the weather turns just that little bit cooler.

Looking at things realistically, there won't be more than a couple of weekends suitable for fishing in the near future so anytime now might be the last time to get in on the action offshore. Cold fronts are starting to sweep across the continent and the local shift into winter mode is usually swift. Once that happens, it is nigh on impossible to plan a weekend with any certainty and that usually puts paid to any amateur hopes of Tight lines!!!