Despite some calm days this past week, the fishing effort has been pretty limited. Lobster gear seems to be the number one priority and a few boats have put in some time drifting for bottom fish.

The handful of wahoo and tuna that have been caught are more the result of good fortune than the fruits of serious trolling effort.

Certainly, the sports fishermen and women have simply not ventured forth, regardless of the weather. The lack of any offshore intelligence suggesting that there might be successes to be had is probably a factor but last year’s dearth of fish has probably played a part in making anglers gun shy of drawing a blank.

In the, hopefully, temporary absence of explosive offshore action from the usually reliable wahoo and tuna, it might be worth musing on the highly unreliable but definitely possible species that may cross the path of a local angler.

For various reasons fish seem to be able to get just about anywhere. While certain species are native to certain areas or are regular seasonal visitors, there are others that turn up where they are least expected and often overlooked.

The migratory species are easily explained. They got lost or the eddy or body of water they were in moved differently, or perhaps the bait they were chasing went right instead of left, something of that nature.

Bigeye tuna have been caught here, bluefins have been regular in a low-profile way and albacore are actually numerous in this area but seldom actually fished for. Kingfish have been caught on occasions probably more numerous than credited given their resemblance to wahoo, and just about every year sees a sailfish or two hooked.

Some of these oddities which have been caught in Bermuda include the African pompano. This species which has been caught here in the 40lbs-plus range is found throughout the tropical seas of the world. The world record, a fifty-pounder, was caught off Florida.

No one is quite sure if the species is resident, but it doesn’t seem that way as it is only rarely encountered locally, or migratory but, then again, no one seems to have noticed any sort of pattern to their occurrence.

It was probably the size of the fish that brought them to the fishermen’s attention locally. A small one would probably be dismissed as some kind of jack and it wouldn’t be going too far to say that it could well be mixed in a school of jacks anyway.

Another species that has been caught here on a number of occasions, but again is likely to be missed, is the permit. A small one would resemble a pompano or palometa and would readily blend into a school.

A large one, they grow to more than 50lbs, would probably have tongues wagging. The species is much sought after in places such as Florida where it is found on a regular basis, particularly by fly fishermen who often see it as the greatest challenge to be had on the inshore flats.

While information is a bit sketchy there have been at least two confirmed such fish caught here.

Another hugely popular East Coast game fish is the bluefish. Game, toothy and schooling in large numbers, the magazines and videos are full of the pursuit of this species. North Carolina, one of the preferred hot spots for them is a mere 600 miles away and yet the species is never seen here.

Never, that is, except for two juveniles caught off White’s Island. This is only known because the person who caught them did not figure they were some sort of snapper and brought them to the attention of the authorities.

A really unlikely candidate has been the cobia, a species that has been known to travel up estuaries into water that is more fresh than it is salt. They resemble a sharksucker, or, in Bermudian, a sucker shark, and can reach well over 100lbs.

At least one large one was caught here on Argus Bank. They tend to like wrecks and structures, so that at least makes sense. Some smaller ones have been caught right along the shoreline. Again, such catches are probably dismissed as sharksuckers.

Going back to the idea of migration, something which everyone has probably forgotten about are the electronic tags that were deployed into several blue marlin releases that were made here last summer. The first one popped up last August just 36 miles from where the fish was originally tagged.

In November a second one on a 150lbs fish tagged by the team on Amarula Sun popped up. This one had been released in July and the data was recovered nearly 2,300 miles away off the Cape Verde Islands. For a detailed look at these outcomes, the IGFA website provides plenty of additional information.

With March looming ahead, there are seven more Bermuda tags scheduled to pop off over the next fortnight. The results may be surprising, especially since so little is actually known about these fish that provide so many of this island’s summer Tight Lines!