Some gorgeous spring days are slipping into the otherwise inclement weather that dominates this time of the year.

Although these occasions are eminently fishable, most weekenders are simply not prepared or are in the process of getting their vessels ready for the accepted start of the fishing season at the beginning of May.

Most of the commercial operators are looking to glean the most out of the last couple of weeks of the lobster season and are not putting in any volume of trolling effort.

What effort there has been has not gone totally unrewarded. Several boats have reported moderate hauls of wahoo with numbers coming into the range of double figures.

Nine and 11 have specifically been mentioned and while this might sound impressive in actual terms of fish, this was not the case.

The fish although undoubtedly wahoo were mostly small fish with the whole haul dressing out at something like 200 pounds. Not the sort of fish that are usually associated with this time of the year when 45-60-pounders are not at all uncommon.

Having said that, the mere fact that there are schools of predators on the offshore grounds must be encouraging. There must be some bait of some description to be holding them even if its presence is not all that apparent.

In many years the first indication that something was happening would be that any mackerel caught would have some sort of orangey-red substance in their stomachs.

The same sort of thing would be found in the odd tuna that was caught while trolling. Trolling mostly because what tuna were there would be largely unresponsive to chumming and other techniques.

What it turned out to be was that the fish were feeding on a crustacean sort of plankton that occurred at some depth where it was no visible to the eyes of those on the surface. This was generally a short-lived phenomenon and it wouldn’t be too long before the fish started to behave more normally.

The thing was that wahoo would not feed on this material, for whatever reason. What fishermen did learn though was that using red or orange and combinations with white on mackerel lines would usually lead to catching some mackerel which although they would be considerably larger than the so-called “frigate” mackerel that show in the autumn and winter, would still make live baits that would get the attention of trophy wahoo.

The message here is that if you are venturing offshore, drag a mackerel line and have a double hook live bait rig ready to go.

There are certain sure signs of spring that often slip by unnoticed by landlubbers although they are often in clear view of the shoreline. One of these is the influx of jacks. Large schools of jacks spend most of the summer in the inshore waters especially in the harbours and bays and between the various islands. When they decide to feed, the noise can be like a clap of thunder and the water turn into a tumultuous white froth.

It may only last a second or so but might go on for up to a minute, often moving along a shoreline where they have usually got some bait pretty much trapped.

A giveaway is often a heron or other bird perched on a bit of rocky shore waiting for the onslaught, more than willing to take advantage of any bait driven onto the shore or otherwise brought to the surface. These fish often show up, almost magically, in mid to late March, so now is just about the right time.

The sighting of schools, whether large or small, of fry and anchovy is also indicators that spring is progressing. Beds of anchovies can be recognised by the somewhat electric blue hue that they give to the water. Beds of fry usually appear as dark shadows.

Observant observers will note that, unless interfered with in some way, the bed of fry will arrive at the same place at the same time every day for days on end.

Well, not exactly time wise as in the clock sense but in terms of the tide, so you can expect to see them at the same place about an hour later each day.

The migrating humpback whales are also a recognised harbinger of spring and already some of these have been seen.

Definitely traversing the high seas as they move from their winter home in the Caribbean to the productive northern waters, the whales are often visible from the land that overlooks the South Shore.

Out in the deep, but not all that far away, these large creatures can be seen frolicking beyond the reef line.

Organised whale-watching expeditions usually start around now and continue to mid-April or thereabouts.

Anglers and fishermen heading out to the Banks often encounter these magnificent migrants as they go about their business.

Happily, they know enough not to become involved with anything that fishermen might be dragging behind their boats. Otherwise, there would be no accounting for the Tight Lines!!!