It is said that a week in politics is a long time. No one probably thought about applying that to the angling scene but it is certainly applicable at the present time.Last week’s Bermuda Billfish Blast was a hugely successful tournament with some 68 marlin caught by the 36 teams that participated. Not only was this a great release result but one of the fish that was taken on the 4th July also proved to be the World Cup winner.There was plenty of excitement as the standings changed steadily with some boats managing to catch and release three blues in a day, rapidly racking up the points. As things panned out, the early leader, Sea Toy, was able to keep scoring and ahead of the competition, finally finishing in first place.So, after all last weekend’s hype and more than enough fishing action to satisfy just about anybody, along comes this week’s main event, the Bermuda Big Game Classic.The kick-off and captain’s meeting went really well with a total of 40 teams comprised of 309 anglers signing on for the three-day tournament.Thursday dawned nearly totally windless, the seas were akin to glass, the sky was near cloudless and the battle fleet started dragging the deep blue briny. And kept on dragging the deep water. Put succinctly, it was slow. Much slower than anyone expected and, on those boats without the luxury of air conditioning, it got hot. The fishing did not but many of the crews did.Not that there weren’t some thrills and spills as the competition progressed. Local boat Triple Play called in a boated fish that had the speculators figuring on a 600-odd pound fish, based on early information. As was to be revealed at the Barr’s Bay weigh station, one should limit one’s beliefs to what they can see. It took the scale to decide what was obvious to those experienced in the matter of big fish.The angler in question, Martin Estis, was definitely one of these, having previously caught a grander. On Thursday evening he weighed in a wonderful marlin specimen, the very stuff that trophy fish are dreamt to be when it tipped the scale at 856 pounds! As the only fish landed on Day One, this was the winner of the daily jackpot and, based on quality, undoubtedly a front runner for overall largest fish.Another fish brought to the scales caused some consternation when it failed to make the 500 pound minimum weight. Although the fish was one of a double header that the boat had successfully wrestled with, the other fish was released for 500 points, but the weight shortfall led to a penalty that put the team on negative points which is not what anyone really wanted to see.As compared with the previous tournament and some of the fishing had by boats in the days leading up to the Classic, overall things remained on the slow side. But, dealing with averages is always a bit risky and although the first day saw only 24 blue marlin and four white marlin caught, this did not mean that some boats did better than others.Capt. Tom Ross’s Callie Girl notched two releases as did Capt. Rob Moore’s Fa-La-Me taking both to 1,000 points with Callie Girl leading on time. Things looked promising when the following morning saw Callie Girl double up her score with two more releases but Fa-La-Me remained in hot pursuit also releasing two blues.At the midway point, Callie Girl remained in the lead but was doing a lot of looking over their collective shoulder. The total tally was up to 37 marlin with two wahoo being entered into the other game fish category.And it might be more than the fish that has a hand in the outcome of this prestigious event. The official weather forecast for day three of the tournament was enough to dissuade some of the fainter hearted competitors and pretty much ensure some level of discomfort afloat.The flat calm seas are to give way to a small craft warning along with rain and possible thunderstorms. The competition looks to be fierce and it will take the final day’s fishing to decide the outcomes.One of the things that offshore or blue water anglers are constantly aware of is water colour. The preference for large pelagic predators like marlin is for the deep blue shade that gives the anglers their title. And while it might seem obvious that this is the normal state offshore, it simply just isn’t always so.The unwanted colour is usually referred to as “green water” but that is not a good description. The water takes on sort of a gunmetal shade and, although hard to describe, is pretty much instantly identified by those who have come to know the “blue” colour. Although the cause of this is uncertain and there may be several, it is thought to be the result of a plankton bloom.Simply described, a bloom is the population burst caused by rapid reproduction of these mostly single-celled plants. Huge numbers can colour water as well as reduce oxygen content and other physical changes. One or maybe some of these changes probably deter fish from wanting to find themselves in such conditions.And it isn’t only the offshore that undergoes such changes.Keen observers viewing the Great Sound from a raised vantage point on a bright sunny day may have noticed that it has had a vaguely fluorescent tint to it over the last week or so. This phenomenon has been studied on several occasions and the culprit is thought to be a “red” algal bloom.Again, this involves an increase in numbers of living plant organisms, of a variety that scientists classify as “red”. Much more spectacular and widespread such events occur elsewhere and the media usually refer to such as “red tides”.The plants in question can be somewhat toxic to shellfish and other animals and have lead to mass poisonings and bans on taking clams and other species for consumption. This is really not an issue here but what is somewhat interesting is that this “bloom” has usually taken place in late summer. Such things are usually not long-lived and it will be interesting to see if the expected change in the weather brings about a change in water quality.Billfish will continue to hog the limelight over the next week with the Sea Horse Anglers Club Billfish Tournament being slated for the 17th21st. As the final leg of the Bermuda Triple Crown, many of the foreign boats will remain here for that before starting to move back to safer harbours and bigger tournaments overseas.Blue Waters Anglers Club have one of their major competitions next week going against Boston Sea and Surf for the 50th time and will be looking to take advantage of some of the good amberjack and bonita fishing that there is to be had.As might be expected for this time of the year, there is lots of small game around while the wahoo have pretty much taken their usual mid-summer break. Out on the Banks, the tuna have proven to be less than cooperative of late but that may change once some more effort goes into chumming or live baiting. While there will be anglers putting in time for these other species, rest assured that for another week, it will be the billfish providing the Tight lines!!!