For most of us, the angling year is over. While there is still a month remaining, try upping the incidence of gale-like weather, and including the demands made by the so-called “holiday” season, and most people will find themselves rushed off their feet.

Not exactly the time for the casual wetting of a line, and certainly not the amount of time required to give the drop-off a good working over.

Doubtless there will be a little effort expended by sportsmen, but this will indeed be minimal.

In keeping with the season though, it is worth following the lead offered by our friends in the United States, and pausing to think about their heart found tradition of giving thanks at this time of the year.

Despite the general slow pace that has characterised the angling this year, there are no doubt some things that we should be thankful for.

Not least of these is that we should be grateful that we are not a primary industry community based on fishing. In many cases, entire towns have disappeared and families been forced to move on when a fishery has failed. A good example would be the effect of the severe downturn taken by the people of maritime Canada when the cod fishery all but collapsed. This was almost classic economics were it not for the lives so severely affected.

Many of the men living in these areas were fishermen, with cod being the mainstay of their profession. The rest of the family was generally employed in businesses that either provided services to the fishing fleet, or utilised the product that they brought home in such quantity.

Collapse of the mainstay fishery meant that these other businesses also started to fail. A number of near ghost towns resulted as numbers of people had to completely rebuild their lives and livelihoods.

Bermuda is blessed in that it has a diverse enough economy to allow for contractions in various industries without having disastrous impacts. That we should be grateful for, even though there is no doubt that many have undergone some form of hardship at various times.

Generations ago, fishing and farming were mainstay industries, but since then the economy has changed and most markedly the population. Today, the Island can in no way feed itself and has become heavily reliant on imported food and other goods.

The positive side to this is that it is fortunate for the fishermen who remain in that industry, as there is a ready market for virtually everything that they can catch, be it finfish or shellfish. While the winter weather brings challenges, working the bottom for jacks and groupers pays off fairly consistently, with wahoo offering some pelagic activity.

As the water cools off even further, the spiny lobsters move inshore and it is easier for fishermen when they set their gear nearer to land. This makes the traps accessible even on days when the offshore would be pretty much out of the question. And, certainly during the festive season, there seems to be no shortage of demand for fresh local crustaceans, be they of the spiny or guinea chick variety.

So, where does this leave the sportsman who has the luxury of a few free hours that happen to coincide with calm seas? Well, the simple solution is to take a leaf out of the commercial operator’s notebook and concentrate on those areas most likely to provide results.

Low effort and possible quick return would come from a quick troll along Bermuda’s Edge. Not too far to travel, and likely to elicit a wahoo strike or two. Early morning is best and with daylight coming quite late, it is not too onerous a tactic.

An early move followed by an hour or two trolling might well pay off handsomely.

Wahoo are surprisingly common along the drop-off well into December, and they generally have a bit of quality to them. Fish in the 50lb category are not uncommon, and just one of these can make a day for an angler in search of some alternative to the ham and turkey surfeit that awaits most of us.

The trick to making a success of this is to make sure your hooks are sharp and to make the shots count. Although there are wahoo around, the bite is often concentrated into brief periods followed by long waits. Catching a fish and then heading for home is often a good way to make the most of the opportunity.

The next best move is a trip to the Bank; Challenger or “New Ledge” as the old-timers called it. Closer to home if the weather suddenly changed, the bottom has produced way more fish than science can account for. Expect numbers of coneys and hinds with the real weight coming from several species of amberjack and bonita.

While the former are plenty welcome, the latter are actually game fish in their own right and, every once in a while there is one of a size that is quite capable of providing some very Tight Lines!