A definite tinge of winter has been felt this past week. The die-hard angler knows that there will be few opportunities to get out on the briny as both the weather and the holiday season will conspire to keep boaters home.

This weekend looks a bit grim and will probably keep most anglers home. There will be good days but there aren't any guarantees that they will coincide with the weekend days that are usually set aside for piscatorial pursuits.

It is usually a good idea for the amateur to take a cue from the commercial fleet. After all, they are the people who are out there just about every day and they are able to keep their fingers on the pulse of what's happening now.

Also, for the most part, they are far more observant and see changes in tide conditions, bait movements and they are better attuned to the fish and where they are mostly likely to be.

Having said that, the exception to this general rule would be if the species in question was wahoo.

Most of the commercial fleet have stockpiled a backlog of the species and there are limits to what the market will take, particularly at a time of the year when tastes run right across the board as chefs look to provide a balance against the seasonal turkey and ham surfeit.

Many of the commercial boats concentrate on drifting over the Banks where the catch consists of a fairly wide variety of bottom species as well as floating fish such as amberjack, gwelly and bonita.

This is an interesting option for the amateur. Not only should it produce enough for the table, given decent conditions, it can be combined with a bit of chumming and maybe even live-baiting.

That could well mean a wahoo or even a tuna that happens to be in the vicinity. As has recently been the case, there are blackfin around but Allisons are scarce.

An interesting aside to this is the observation that even though the Banks have been producing a pretty steady supply of bottom fish throughout the history of being worked, the scientists are nothing short of amazed at how productive it is.

Using deep-sea submersible craft (a fancy science word for mini-submarine) the tops of the Banks have been examined and what stands out is the apparent lack of any real structure.

Fishermen have known this for years with places like the northern side being really difficult to get an anchor to hold. Mostly clay bottom and not much in the way of reef ¿ not exactly what you would think would be ideal for rockfish, hinds and that ilk which are usually associated with luxuriant tropical coral reefs.

On the southern and eastern sides there is more structure but again, the relatively small size of the Banks and the sheer quantities of fish that have been dragged off them (remember the days when fish pots were used out there) make it hard to reconcile the ecology.

Not that it is a problem for the angler or fisherman. Just as long as the fish continue to bite and the quality is reasonable there is no reason not to keep on doing what has gone on for the best part of a century.

That may come as a bit of a surprise but two things really changed the face of Bermuda fishing.

One was the advent of petrol or diesel engines (it was sail or row before that) and the widespread use of refrigeration.

Back in the day, as they say, fish were kept alive in ponds or wells until they were to be used. Granted, the fish were pretty much all rockfish or grouper with even large red hinds simply not being good enough.

How times change but, then again, the local population and therefore demand has soared as well.

Happily, there is still enough out there to make a day drifting worth the effort.

Those who give up on local angling after September might be tempted to compete in a near ultimate away match in the form of the Lizard Island Black Marlin classic.

Fished in mid-October each year participating in this tournament means having to travel to nearly the end of the earth but the fishing can be nothing short of fantastic.

The location is on the Great Barrier Reef in North Queensland, Australia and this is probably the best black marlin fishing spot on earth.

Other places such as Ecuador and Hawaii catch blacks but this is where the big ones live. And they seem to get numbers.

The 23rd annual such event, fished last month, saw 27 teams experience 255 strikes with 186 hook-ups and a total of 125 black marlin that were tagged and released.

An additional six were released but were disqualified for various reasons.

Actually the size distribution is a bit curious. Most of us think of black marlin in terms of granders and sea monsters but, like anything else, they have to start off small too.

Out of this year's 125 captured and released fish, 58 were estimated to weigh between 100 and 200 pounds (not what you think when someone mentions black marlin!); 42 in the 200 to 600-pound range, and five in the 600 to 800-pound bracket.

Where it gets interesting is that there were 14 fish in the 800 to a 1,000 pound range and another six that qualified as granders. There were reports of three other granders that successfully evaded the tagging that is a required part of this all-release tournament.

Another quirk to this event is that all the participants have to be IGFA members.

Meanwhile, down in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico the IGFA is staging the 2009 IGFA Offshore World Championship hosting teams that have qualified in events worldwide and now come to battle it out for top honours. Bobby Rego and Danny Fox of Bermuda along with George Sowers and John Domanic make up the team 2003 Rolex/IGFA Offshore World Champions and, at press time, they were ranked 30 out of 39 competing teams with 600 points.

The team that had won the Bermuda Anglers Club International Light Tackle Tournament were also participating and at the time of writing were lying in seventh place with a total of 1,700 points.

There was still one day to fish and with the leaders on 2,100 points, it looked like being an uphill but not impossible quest.

The tournament is primarily for striped marlin which score 300 points for each release. There are also awards for the largest tuna (usually of the yellowfin variety), wahoo and dorado (dolphin).

Back on the local scene, it will only be the chosen few who venture offshore over the next week or so.

That doesn't mean an end to the fishing but the ever-escalating demands on time and a hectic social schedule puts paid to many individuals' hopes of indulging in a day on the water.

A possible solution is to look at a half-day. More than enough time to rake the Edge for a wahoo and, given a clement tide, get enough off the bottom to justify the Tight lines!!!