@$:BODY-FRANK:DESPITE fears that the fish were not as numerous as they have been in previous years; that the frigate mackerel had not put in an appearance and that the tropical activity would provide discomfort, the Mid-Ocean News Wahoo Tournament on Sunday was as successful as both organisers and participants could want.BODY-FRANK-2:This was the 42nd annual tournament ¿ Bermuda's biggest and longest running.And a large crowd gathered at the new weigh-in station near the cruise ship wharf in Dockyard, with many bringing their cameras to capture the scores of fish that came to the scales.Especially pleasing was the fact that almost all the boats that arrived at the weigh-in had completed the necessary paperwork and this did a lot to facilitate the processing of entries. That meant less waiting time and the quicker the weighing operation could be carried out, the quicker the boat could be on its way to the moorings. After a long, and exceptionally hot, day, any little respite was welcomed both by the tournament participants and the weigh-station crew.The top award ¿ for Overall Heaviest Wahoo ¿ was won by John Ringold with a 50.9 lbs fish caught on 30-lb test aboard Bobby Rego's Sandpiper.In the line class awards, the winners were: Andrew Dias with a 43.7 lbs (1326.17 pts) wahoo on 12- lb test; on 16-lb test it was Mark Henneberger who had a 47.0 lbs wahoo (862.89 pts); on 20-lb test Quinton Butterfield's 49.6 pounder took the honours and Jonathon Flood won the 30-lb category with a 46.6-pound fish.The High Point Junior Angler award was won by Thomas Curley who caught a 30.1 lbs wahoo on 12-lb test which accrued 629.17 points.The High Point Boat was Andrew Dias' Triple Play which amassed a whopping 7,356.4 points from 17 wahoo, all caught on 12-lb test line. Entries were caught on the entire eligible range of line classes. There were 33 entries on 12-lb test, five entries on 16-lb test, 22 entries on 20-lb test and there were 22 fish caught on 30-lb test. The lightest line class favoured the accumulation of points by more experienced anglers while others opted for the heavier classes to maximise their chances of catching the tournaments largest fish. This tactic paid off for John Ringold.The least entries were made on 16-lb test which, for some reason, has never really found favour amongst light tackle anglers. Although light tackle purists will drop down to 8-lb and even 6-lb test, the line class of choice seems to be 12-lb test and this has long been the case.The class of fish caught were very similar to those caught in last year's tournament. The 2007 overall winner weighed 49 pounds, close to this year's winner. Numbers of fish were not markedly dissimilar despite the thought that fishing was not quite what it could have been. A total of 82 wahoo were brought to the Dockyard weigh station. Of these there was only one in the over 50 pound category. There were five in the 40 to 50 pound range; 23 in the 30 to 40 pound bracket, 36 in between 20 and 30 pounds with only 17 fish weighing less than 20 pounds. The smallest fish weighed in at 15.5 pounds. The total of 82 is not significantly different from last year's tally, making this one of the more successful such tournaments.As is always the case, there were stories of pulled hooks on big fish, a monster wahoo that dumped a 30 and at least three blue marlin that interfered with rigs intended for smaller game. While the latter are nowhere as numerous as they were a month ago, the water is still well within their temperature range and as long as some bait remains, they will have reason to tarry.Diversions away from wahoo included a few ¿ very few ¿ large yellowfin tuna and quite a smattering of dolphin, many of which were a fair size. The lack of tuna is reasonably consistent with the trend this year, one which is hoped to be reversed in the not too distant future.Some anglers were disappointed not to have any juvenile or frigate mackerel and this is pretty much the case as last year. A few schools have been spotted inshore but the deeper water appears to be devoid of them. The follow-on from this observation is that if the wahoo aren't feeding on frigates then robins might well be their prey of choice. With this tournament out of the way, all that remains of the 2008 season are a few club fun tournaments. Decent weather should persist for a few more weeks but by late October, it will be all over but the crying. A few hearty souls persist through the winter months but sports fishing pretty much starts to ebb from now on until it picks up in the spring.Of course, this doesn't mean that fishing comes to an end. Now is the ideal time to stock up on some fish for the winter months. This is, arguably, the best time of year to concentrate on the bottom species like hind and coney. While you are at this, some bonitas and ambers will please as well and fishing for these can easily be combined with a bit of sports fishing. This can be accomplished as simply having a surface line back in the chum waiting for a strike while you bottom bounce.General chumming tactics not only attract robins that can be used as live baits for wahoo and any errant tuna but they can also be fished down deep for trophy-sized amberjack or Almaco jacks. Chumming will also attract rainbow runners, yellowtail snapper and blackfin tuna. If the tide (current) is slack enough, the chum may well make it to the bottom where it will liven up the coneys and barbers and any other bottom dwellers. Turbots can be numerous and although they are by no means a game fish they do make for some nice, firm white fillets, provided of course you are not too lazy to go to the trouble of cleaning them.A bit of trolling both before and after the chumming will offer opportunities for wahoo although there is likely to be an ever-increasing proportion of barracuda hitting baits and rigs intended for wahoo. Often disdained by many anglers, local barracuda are pretty much safe to eat and can make a nice white fillet. Just because the slime smell is a bit nasty doesn't mean that the meat isn't near perfect.So, a few halcyon days of fine weather ahead. Quite possible some very fast autumnal action and all the competitive pressure is taken off. Why not give some thought to a quiet sortie afloat with maybe a few tasty Tight lines!!!