The weekend forecast is almost good enough to make an angler want to head offshore, but the threat of an easterly breeze and the chance of thunder is off-putting enough and, if the truth to be told, there is little to encourage anyone to drop everything, fuel up the boat and head offshore.

Reported catches have been small with a few tuna or the odd wahoo providing what action there has been. There was a report of a half-day charter catching three wahoo and a brace of nice dolphin but this was outstanding compared to what everyone else was claiming.

It might just have been related to encountering some flotsam that held a number of pelagic fish in its vicinity. Not exactly something that can be relied on.

While there have been a few yellowfin tuna around, concentrating on these is an “iffy” proposition and perhaps one best left alone. If chumming is the desired tactic then perhaps it would be better to concentrate on the blackfin tuna and the yellowtail snapper, both of which offer some sport on the crown of the Banks and over the reef areas.

Blackfin are often caught while fishing over the deeper reefs and while they are routinely caught on the Banks and around Bermuda’s edge, they are a species that has largely been ignored in recent times.

Unlike the larger yellowfin tuna which is migratory and only graces us with its presence on occasion, the blackfin is thought to be resident as it is caught year-round and there is ample tagging evidence to suggest that individuals do not stray too far.

Fish that have been tagged and released have been known to show up in the same spot a day or two later and have even been caught and re-released.

That blackfin tuna like to eat is an understatement of the highest order. They have been seen gorging themselves on chum, eating just about everything thrown into the water in the most careless fashion. There have even been times when they have been observed so filling themselves that they have regurgitated their food just in order to be able to eat it again.

Anything so bent on taking everything in sight has to be an angler’s dream. Throw whatever is handy at them and they will inhale it. Once hooked, things take on a slightly different twist. Blackfin are not considered great light tackle fish merely because they are easy to bait and hook.

They put up a fabulous battle for something their size. In fact, many experienced anglers and skippers reckon if you tied a yellowfin and a blackfin of equal size tail to tail, the blackfin would pull the yellowfin inside out.

Thus it should come as no surprise that during the days when light tackle was king, the availability and size of the blackfin made Bermuda the prime spot for the pursuit of light tackle records. There was a time when almost all the blackfin records were held here but that has dwindled away to a mere two lines in the present record book. The men’s 30lb test with a 41 pounder and a long standing (1982) women’s 50-lb test at 37lb 11 oz.

Part of the problem stems from the fact that the blackfin tops out at about 50 pounds; the all-tackle world record is 49.4 pounds.

Although they are great battlers, even 30-lb test seems to be asking a lot of something that is likely to weigh between 15 and 30 pounds. Records were often broken within days and sometimes even twice in a day. Blackfin, like most tuna, are schooling fish with their size being pretty similar to each other.

In more recent years, the majority of records have moved to Florida where the greedy blackfin follow the shrimp boats along, filling up on all the discards and by-catch.

There is no question that some class blackfin remain in local waters and there are opportunities for those anglers willing to study the record book and see where a larger fish would fit in.

While there are openings in the traditional line class section, the best chances are in the Fly Tippet classes; a form of angling practiced by very few locals.

Historically, the largest little tunny (mackerel) tend to put in an appearance at this time of the year and fishing for blackfin can easily result in a tussle with a trophy-sized mackerel.

Possibly the commonest form of fishing is one to concentrate on at the present. With the prospects of a bumper haul of offshore pelagics in the slim-to-none range, the bountiful bottom around this Island continues to provide coneys and barbers in good numbers as well as enough red hind to justify the effort.

Amberjack and Almaco jack (bonita) are recognised game species that often take lines intended for other bottom species and, quite apart from each being desirable in their own right, are plenty capable of providing some Tight lines!!!