Tight Lines
SPORT COLUMNIST
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May 24, 2013 2:33 pm
Summer’s here ... let the action begin
So, here it is, summer. Long awaited and now having taken a life unto itself. The holiday’s festivities now behind us were apparently enjoyed by all; plenty of barbecues, watermelons and snowballs now magically appearing on a scene that saw winter parkas and boots a scant few weeks ago. It is clearly time for the beach, dinghy racing and all the other water sports, most expressly fishing; or more properly, angling.
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May 18, 2013 8:00 am
Be ready to take advantage of what nature offers
Nature says that it is summer. The flowers are in bloom, the farmers have crops in the field and, contrary to some opinions, there are some fish to be caught offshore. The weather has finally decided to moderate and the sun is certainly hot enough to make the use of sunscreen mandatory for most skins. The winds are much more predictable and, everything taken together, an picture of an idyllic oceanic paradise is painted.
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May 4, 2013 8:00 am
May means it is now officially fishing season
Say what you will: it is now, for want of a better word with all politically correctness set aside, “fishing” season. This means that the weekenders and those with the luxury of being able to head out at will can now plan to wage a campaign on the game fish that call Bermuda home.
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Apr 27, 2013 8:00 am
The first tournament just a week away
Despite a bit of bluster here and there, the predominant summer weather pattern is going to great lengths to establish itself and it won’t be too much longer before the Bermuda-Azores high becomes a source of humidity and heat to the American East Coast. Here it will mean an almost endless, or so it seems, supply of Bermudaful days.
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Apr 20, 2013 8:24 am
Herons in bays and inlets a good sign
The weather is starting to cooperate and there are some signs that the fish are as well. Observers of nature will have noted herons standing on the edge of bays and inlets and this is a sure sign that there is bait around and that means that mackerel and jacks cannot be far away. Another sign that summer is nigh upon us. Time to get the gear ready and the boat into proper working order as yet another angling season is commencing.
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Apr 13, 2013 8:00 am
Warmer weather is a good reason to venture out
Okay, so now you are running out of excuses. The weather has done a complete turnaround over the last couple of weeks and the days are nice and warm, replete with clear skies and calm seas. Isn’t that the formula for a journey to the deep blue briny?
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Apr 6, 2013 7:35 am
Fishing not easy when weather won’t cooperate
There are those of us who are beginning to think that angling has become a thing of the past. Winter is expected to be the down time for most but this year has even seen the commercial operators finding fairly desperate conditions for any sort of offshore activity. With the lobster season over until the autumn, fishing for finfish becomes the basis of their livelihoods and it isn’t easy when the weather won’t cooperate.
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Mar 30, 2013 8:00 am
Kites can be useful for catching fish
Here we are, a holiday weekend and one that is probably not going to be too fishing friendly, so don’t plan on an excursion. Instead, there will be family social events that preclude trips down to the boat much less taking the boat anywhere. You will have to wait until the next public holiday to have that wish endorsed and, in any case, you had better have the boat ready by then anyway. -
Mar 9, 2013 8:00 am
Plenty of signs that spring is upon us
March has certainly spent most of this last week in its leonine mode with plenty of wind howling and growling. With any luck, it may roar itself out and start settling down to more user-friendly conditions. We don’t want it totally dropping out all of a sudden because we will want sufficient breeze to keep our kites aloft come Good Friday.
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Mar 2, 2013 7:00 am
An interesting month ahead of us
Well, whether or not you believe it, it is now March and that is a month that goes by ever so quickly, at least from a fishing perspective. While it might seem that the traditional May start to the season is many weeks’ away, it really is later than you may think. And just why might this be so?
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Feb 23, 2013 8:00 am
Shark story is keeping people out of the water
Last weekend was certainly not one for those who are restricted to that time of the week to even consider venturing off the moorings. While the optimists will expound upon the necessity of such heavy weather to ensure proper mixing which, in turn, is the foundation of a healthy planktonic population, everyone else just hunkers down and hopes for an early spring.
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Feb 16, 2013 8:00 am
Bluefin tuna a remarkable fish indeed
After the best part of a week of windy conditions and a weekend forecast of more of the same, it is unlikely that fishing is going to be on anyone’s agenda just yet.
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Jan 26, 2013 8:00 am
We would welcome run of wahoo on the Banks
Time marches on and soon the first month of the year will be consigned to history. Funny to think that it seems like only yesterday, we were ringing in a new year with all the festivities that normally accompany such events. A lack of interest, inclement weather and a lack of reports of fishing success have kept most of the recreational fleet at home and it certainly doesn’t look like the next few weeks are going to see much change.
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Jan 19, 2013 8:00 am
Bermuda waters facing a seaweed invasion
It is doubtful that the thought of angling has even crossed your mind in the last week or so. Although it is now well into our winter, there have still been some beautiful warm, sunny days with calm seas and fishable conditions.
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Jan 12, 2013 7:55 am
Time for fishing from the comfort of your sofa
It is that time of the year: when the mere thought of fishing is so far removed as not to matter one iota. This is the time when watching fishing on television comes into its own with the National Geographic Channel’s series Wicked Tuna starting its new season on Sunday night.
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Jan 5, 2013 10:23 am
Cool waters keep anglers onshore
And so time marches on and we enter the quietest time of the angling year. The cooler waters offshore are no encouragement to the tropical species that we concentrate our effort on and it is not as if we are in a hurry to take on the chilly winds and weak sunshine that dominate most of our day.
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Dec 28, 2012 8:00 am
Charter industry drifts into hibernation
Tight Lines
Here we are on the cusp of a New Year, yet again! It is hard to believe that another long-awaited angling season replete with a full slate of tournaments, both local and international, is finished.
It all seems to have flown by — a bit like the eerie flat calm that comes when a winter gale suddenly almost magically vanishes, leaving you wondering what all the commotion was. -
Dec 22, 2012 8:00 amFish, like some politicians, will be back when conditions improve
So much for the hype! Apparently, yesterday, the 21st of December 2012 was not the end of our world.
The prognostications and doomsayers were quite convinced that it would come to pass and some interpreters even had the renowned Nostradamus predicting our extinction. I guess that the timing may have been off for us; and probably by a good deal. -
Dec 15, 2012 8:00 am
Giant Yellowfin just how big can they grow?
Just how big do they get! The yellowfin tuna, that is.
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Dec 8, 2012 8:00 am
Yellowfin tuna offer some festive cheer
As the carol goes, “fast away the old year passes” so does the fishing for this year. With just enough inclement weather on the weekends and plenty of diverse onshore distractions to keep the anglers home, there has not been much in the way of wet lines this past week or so. -
Dec 1, 2012 8:00 am
Yellowfin tuna providing action on the Banks
Winter is upon us. There is no doubt; the halls are decked, trees are lit and the solstice is a mere three weeks away. While that astronomical event may mark the start of winter, it also assures us that the sun’s warming beams will have again started their northward movement and that means there will be a spring and then another summer.
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Nov 24, 2012 8:00 am
Bring in the boats - fishing season’s over
In case you had not noticed, the shopping, turkey and ham season is well and truly upon us and, with the added excitement and distraction of an election, will probably put most weekenders’ boats out on their moorings for the duration. Either that or they will be hauled up and put back on blocks in someone’s yard where they will weather the winter gales more safely.
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Nov 17, 2012 8:00 am
‘Sea Monster’s’ escape keeps anglers guessing
Talk about self-fulfilling prophecy! No one is going to catch any fish this week. And that is pretty much correct.
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Nov 10, 2012 8:00 am
Sadly, fishable days coincide with working days
It sure looks like winter is hell bent on coming early to the northeastern United States. We can be rightfully thankful that the weather has given us a miss, even though we have had a sampling of wind, rain and thunder. Nothing to cause more than minor inconveniences but plenty enough to sound the death knell for sport fishing for the rest of this year.
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Oct 27, 2012 8:00 am
Hurricane Sandy threatens to keep anglers onshore
Well, there won’t be much fishing of any description here this weekend as the Island does its best to shy away from Sandy’s attention.
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Oct 20, 2012 8:00 am
Bottom-bouncing a good bet as season winds down
Anyone who thought that the offshore could have done with a good shaking up really got what they wanted earlier this week when Rafael moseyed on by, drenching the Island with much desired rain and doing little damage beyond rewriting some schedules and plunging a few homes into temporary darkness.
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Oct 13, 2012 8:00 am
Time to be creative as winter looms
With snow starting to fall on the North American mainland can winter’s chilly grip be too far away? Maybe not in terms of months, but we should still manage a few more weeks of reasonably fishable weather and even the weekenders should be able to get a little something for the freezer.
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Oct 6, 2012 8:00 am
Not a great year for sports fishing
The autumn steadily progresses as winter waits in the wings and it really looks as if this year will go down as one of the more lacklustre for sports fishing.
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Sep 28, 2012 6:00 am
Not a whole lot of fish at this time of year
Well, it is all over but for the crying, some might say. Without a doubt, the passage of Leslie put a serious dent into the amateur fishing effort with many deciding that discretion was the better part of valour and boat would be in a far better place sitting up on concrete blocks in some yard than bouncing all over creation while attached to a mooring.
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Sep 22, 2012 6:00 am
Not ideal but not a bad day for the wahoo hunters
Despite all sorts of gloomy predictions, the weather last Sunday turned out to be more than appropriate for the season’s final large-scale competitive event : The annual Royal Gazette Wahoo Tournament.
Considering that the previous weekend’s weather made for a non-starter and the month of September moving ever onward to its conclusion, it was a good thing that the tournament took place when it did. -
Sep 15, 2012 2:09 pm
Forecast is good for Wahoo tournament
Time flies by and last weekend seems an eternity ago but, mercifully, Bermuda dodged a bullet last weekend when Hurricane Leslie lost most of her punch and followed a somewhat meandering path that led to some inches of much desired rain coming down on the Island but sparing us the devastating winds that could still have us talking about it today. We have all seen a lot worse in the past, but to listen to people’s accounts of the weekend,...
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Sep 8, 2012 6:00 am
Rescheduled Wahoo Tourney could see a ‘boon’
Whatever doldrums there were and numbers of fish that were proving unwilling to bite; those matters are no longer of concern. With whatever the next 48 hours brings, everything is about to change markedly with the bottom line likely to be an improvement in the fishing. And, for all but the gifted few, that is something to be desired.
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Sep 1, 2012 6:00 am
Wahoo Tourney looms ever closer
So far having kept a low profile during the real heat of the tropical season, the anglers of Bermuda await that great fall flourish that so often makes for some of the finest angling on earth.
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Aug 25, 2012 7:00 am
Top up the tub, it’s hurricane season
With Tropical Storm Isaac churning its way across the Caribbean in the general direction of the United States and another tropical depression forming in the mid-Atlantic, the time has come to be aware that the hurricane season is an element of the here and now. Blissful ignorance needs to give way to carefully analyzed caution tempered with the remainder of the fishing season. Now is that time.
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Aug 18, 2012 7:00 amMonster Tiger sharks on the prowl
Not exactly the sort of weather that one would expect for August. Certainly not what we are experiencing at the moment with the bit of bluster, overcast and wet that seems to hanging around making for less than summery conditions.
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Aug 11, 2012 9:00 am
Don’t be fooled by the calm conditions
It is the season of calm; when the doldrums are omnipresent. Largely brought about by the influence of the summer Bermuda-Azores high pressure system, the lack of wind means that the seas are calm and the days are hot, hot, hot! While there may be little surface disturbance on the ocean, there may be some relatively massive swells brought about by long undulations that seem to go all the way back to Africa.
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Aug 4, 2012 8:00 am
Still plenty of good action left
How does that song go? “Summertime and the living is easy....” or something like that? Now that the great summer-long holiday is over with today and tomorrow slated for recovery form many, there is always Halloween to look forward to. Funny how the year seems to be broken down into New Year’s, Good Friday, 24th May, Cup Match, Halloween and Christmas.
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Jul 28, 2012 7:00 amThere’s plenty of action for everyone!
Hot and humid is the weather and the fishing is too! Well, maybe not humid, seeing as plenty of water is involved anyway, but certainly the action is hot with most of the game species at or near peak. Just about the only fish for which the best is still to come is the wahoo and, having said that, there are enough of those around to justify wetting a line intended for them. Plenty of action for everyone.
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Jul 21, 2012 7:00 amCapt. Moore takes Classic with late surge
Wow, another unlikely come from behind win in the Bermuda Big Game Classic.
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Jul 7, 2012 7:00 am
Big Blue puts Astwood on top of the world
The 28th Blue Marlin World Cup took place as always on July 4 in conditions that perhaps were not ideal but were certainly eminently fishable and as this coincided with the Bermuda Billfish Blast there was plenty of action to be covered.
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Jun 30, 2012 7:42 am
Marlins should be aplenty around the full moon
With another tropical system or, at least, the remnants of one attempting to foul up piscatorial activities on the weekend, some consolation can be taken from the fact that it does not necessarily have to be all doom and gloom.
This was largely the situation last weekend when we finally received some much-needed rain but also had to put up with flooding and high winds. -
Jun 23, 2012 7:00 am
Light Tackle Tourney enjoys revival
After a brush with a wannabe tropical system that lashed us with monsoon-style rains at the weekend, things improved rapidly for the holiday and with it the International Light Tackle Tournament got off to a lively, and very welcome start.
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Jun 15, 2012 8:00 am
High catch rate in Bacardi Tournament
The organisers of the Bacardi Tournament could not have wanted for better conditions than they got last Sunday. Bright sunshine, fairly calm seas and light breezes made a real change from what had been a nasty, wet and blustery week.
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Jun 9, 2012 6:00 am
Wahoo and tuna keep the chummers happy
It might be June but were it not for the warm humidity that has graced us this past week, it could be March or April. Wind, rain and even thunder simply are not the things that we associate with summer. But, so far, there hasn’t been too much complaining because we do need the rain but the prolonging of such conditions when we really should be enjoying halcyon days afloat does put a damper on affairs.
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Jun 2, 2012 7:00 am
Whopper Marlin weighs in at incredible 1289-lbs
What a whopper! Granders are big and fish over 1200 pounds are world-beaters.
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May 26, 2012 8:00 am
Water temperature a key factor in fish movement
Any way you want to look at it: it is summer. The fact that the holiday was preceded by the first real rain that we have had in some time and that “a bit gloomy” might have been an apt description, the summer season is indeed here.
- Should liquor stores be able to sell alcohol on Sundays?
- Yes
- 71%
- No
- 27%
- Don't Know
- 1%
- Total Votes: 2016
- Poll Archive