WOW! A bit of bluster in mid-week, a brief easing up and now a weekend that brings the winter weather pattern into sharp focus. Perhaps the benign weather over the holidays and on into the first two weeks of January have lulled us into a false sense of security. In any case, there are at least two more months of real winter ahead of us and there probably won't be too much in the way of offshore activity, even though things do continue to happen out there on a daily basis, whether or not anyone notices.

While the interest in sport fishing is nigh on non-existent, it is the commercial operators who have to persevere on through the winter months. They don't have the luxury of sticking the gear into mothballs and putting their feet up in front of the television for the six to eight weeks that gets the attention of most fair weather anglers.

To be fair, the weather so far this winter has been better than usual and there have been certainly more days when it was possible to get offshore than one would normally expect.

Getting offshore is only half the battle. From a commercial standpoint, it is necessary to catch fish in order to be able to cover the costs involved. There are always costs, the most obvious one being fuel, but there is also a living to be made. Banks and the electric light company don't want to hear that the weather is miserable or the fish have gone south for the winter, they just want their money. Think about that on a blowy day: a regular steady paycheque is far more comfortable for most people than gambling on the weather and proclivities of the fish.

For those reasons, most Bermuda commercial operators rely on the spiny lobster season with some effort being directed at bottom species. The advantage to the former is that, at this time of the year, the lobsters tend to be inshore and close to home. The latter is best conducted by drifting over the tops of the Banks; saving fuel and trying to load up on the more highly marketable species like hinds, coneys and bonitas.

It is generally safe to assume that the bottom will yield up enough to justify the trip and often, there can be some real bonuses in the form of a monkey (flag) rockfish or a selection of nice, mid-sized ambers or bonitas. They carry a bit of weight and fetch top dollar either at the order or on the roadside. In fact, the itinerant angler can do a lot worse than mimic this activity. With more modest requirements, just a couple of hours drifting should provide enough fresh fish for the table with some being left for the freezer in reserve.

A relatively new innovation being tried out by some of the more adventuresome fishermen is the use of longlines. Long a major commercial tool, most of the effort that has gone into local waters came from Taiwanese-flagged commercial longliners that obtained Bermuda foreign fishing vessel licences.

Most of the time, these boats worked out of sight of land and avoided the areas frequented by local fishermen. Occasionally, they would come into St. George's to land sick seamen or to take on supplies. Other than that, they went pretty well unnoticed. In any event, they came for years and there had to be some reason for putting up with the gales and heavy seas that so often roll through the area.

The bulk of this reason was albacore, albacore, albacore. Not only did they catch loads of them but the size was very enviable. The boats used to return to their base in the Caribbean chock-full of frozen albacore in the 30 to 50-pound bracket. That's big for albacore where many of the world's fisheries are grateful to catch fish only a fraction the size. Don't worry though; there is plenty of demand for this species. In fact, you probably have a tin or two in your larder as you read this! Although very few albacore are caught by the local troll or chum fisheries, they are present in quantities in the local area, mostly from November through February. The few caught by anglers or local commercial operators are often misidentified as other tunas. The giveaway is the length of the pectoral (side) fin that extends back about two-thirds the way to the tail. The mere existence of such a resource should have long since attracted the attention of local fishermen, but that simply has not been the case.

The Bermuda-based longliners do not carry the outrageous amount of gear that the Taiwanese boats did, nor the cut-rate crews who were happy to live on rice, plus bits of what they caught, for months at a time. The lines themselves are considerably shorter with fewer hooks and the boat generally staying quite close to the line that it has set. Not a disadvantageous way of doing things provided you get in amongst the fish.

Basically, the local boats have not had too much success with the albacore but they are making some progress in the arena of swordfish. This commercially very valuable species occurs just about everywhere, including here, and can most easily be caught on longlines. At the moment, there is a reasonable supply of fresh local sword on menus and there are other outlets where the fish can be purchased. So, some success for longlines, but what does this hold for the sportsman? Other places where you can see the fish on the surface often use harpoons or troll baits on rod and reel right in front of them. Other places see boats setting two or three lines down at some depth and then drifting along waiting for the swordfish to oblige. That is the method usually used by amateurs in the Florida Strait where swords are fairly numerous and willing to please. Given that it is well established that there are swordfish here, there is probably some expectation of success, should anyone desperate for some excitement be willing to spend one of those stock-oil calm nights rolling on the briny. Sooner or later it will pay off. Perhaps best left to those more intrepid.

A little early, but worth looking out for, are schools of anchovies. This species often comes inshore in the winter months and even a small lot will pay long-term dividends. Apart from being a fresh delicacy in their own right, they can be salted down, bagged and frozen as chum bait that will last well into high summer. And if it isn't too obvious some fresh anchovies on hooks being drifted over the deeper reefs or on the Banks can provide some real premiums in terms of quality "floating fish". One way or another, they should result in some Tight lines!!!