DESPITE appearances to the contrary, it is not too late to get some good autumnal fishing in. Although many amateurs have written off the balance of the year, this is a mistake because the fish are still out there and will remain there until there are sufficient cold fronts to convince them that Bermuda is not a tropical paradise all year long.

The wahoo fishing, the mainstay of the sportfishery, remains good. Maybe not quite as fast as it was a few weeks ago but it is certainly possible to troll just about anywhere and get a few strikes. The average fish continues to be respectable and, for most weekenders, just one or two will supply most needs.

There are still some frigate mackerel around even though the rate at which they grow often makes them unsuitable for most live bait purposes. If they show up in early September by now we are some six weeks or more on and they will have gotten significantly larger. While they are not too big to be safe from the wahoo and tuna that actively pursue them, they can be a bit awkward to rig and, assuming you are complying with the two hook maximum, it becomes a lot easier for a wahoo to selectively chop the bait, getting a meal and eluding the hooks.

Some boats are combining live-baiting with trolling in a rather novel fashion. The normal trolling is used to catch a daisy chain full of frigates and then the boat goes on the drift with the live baits fished much as they would be from a boat anchored on the edge of the drop-off. This is reminiscent of the sort of fishing undertaken by the likes of The Old Man and the Sea and can pay off accordingly as well as conserving fuel.

Recently, Captain Keith Winter's Playmate indulged in such tactics and came up with an unlikely mixed bag. While drifting with live baits on Challenger Bank, the fish decided to please and the haul included a wahoo, a yellowfin tuna and a blue marlin.

While just finding a marlin at this time of the year is a bit of a curiosity even though it is a more common occurrence than most people think, what was remarkable about this marlin was its lack of size. This was a very small blue, weighing less than 100 pounds! This is a marked departure from the norm around here where big fish are the main draw. Naturally, there have to be lots of "baby" blues around but this part of their life cycle is very poorly understood. Suffice it to say that blue marlin under 100 pounds are rare around here.

There are other places in the world where maybe the numbers of blue marlin are better and these offer themselves as wonderful venues for billfish tournaments. There is plenty of action and with the emphasis almost totally on release, the size of the fish really doesn't matter too much. What does matter is the ever-increasing need for observers. As the prizes have become more valuable and the fishing usually means nothing on the dock, there is a crying need for referees to ensure honesty. The way things are going here, the day may well come when Bermuda tournaments will start to require observers on each boat.

Doing a bit of thinking ahead, with many locals heading south in February to the Miami boats show, this might prove to be an ideal venue to take the IGFA Certified Observer's course. It is scheduled for February 18 at the show. Although some interest has been expressed by locals, it will probably be a while before there are enough individuals looking to take the course to justify the IGFA running one here. So, if you are interested, perhaps it is just as easy to combine the course with a visit to the boat show. It is only a half day course and almost everyone secures a passing mark on the first go. Once certified, you are eligible to observe in a wide variety of tournaments that are fished all over the world. For more information, contact the IGFA on the internet at www.igfa.org or a local representative.

Popular local charter boat DeMako, skippered by Capt. Allen DeSilva is heading south to do several weeks chartering in the Bahamas. Not surprisingly, the Bahamas is a big place and the fishing does vary from island to island, so a little local knowledge helps.

The island to which DeMako is heading is San Salvador, a Bahamian island that has two claims to fame. First off, this is reputed to be the site that Columbus first landed in the New World. The exact location has never been known but careful research strongly suggests that San Salvador is the likely candidate. Certainly the name of the island really fits in with what a Spanish-speaking mariner would have called it after traversing the unknown Atlantic, run low on supplies and facing a mutiny by his crew.

The other basis for making San Salvador well known in angling circles is its fabulous wahoo fishing. Many of the current world records have been set there and, for some reason, unknown, extremely large wahoo congregate close to this island. So, combine DeMako's well-established prowess at catching wahoo with the huge fish that frequent these particular Bahamian waters and there is a recipe for some high quality action.

The alternative to trying the sport fishing is to take a leaf out of the commercial fisherman's book and to concentrate on "eating" fish. Best accomplished by combining bottom-bouncing on the Banks with keeping a modest chumline going, this method pays off with a selection of coneys, hinds and bonitas off the bottom and other so-called "floating fish" from nearer the surface. This latter group includes everything from robins and mackerel to rainbow runners, amberjack, yellowtail snappers and a variety of jack species.

Notable among these is another local catch hoping for ratification by the IGFA as a world line class record. This candidate is a 20 lb 12 oz horse-eye jack caught by Cindi Mitchell. Many locals will know the horse-eye jack better as a steelhead jack with a few people calling it a black jack (which it is not) amongst other misnomers. Basically, all the jacks and their respective names are about as confused as they can get. This species, regardless of moniker, grows large in Bermuda waters; battles well on anything approaching suitable tackle and offers plenty of potential as world records. You could do a lot worse than specifically go after these fish with the record book in mind. While you might not be lucky enough to catch a big enough one, you can rely on the jack providing you with Tight lines!!!