If you aren't sick of turkey and ham yet, you will be soon, as the holiday season progresses.

Fresh fish is getting to be a commodity that is hard to come by as even the commercial fishermen concentrate on lobsters and guinea chicks.

As for the amateurs, most are too busy decorating their boats for tonight's Christmas Boat Parade or indulging in other holiday-related activities to even contemplate an expedition afloat.

Although the restaurant trade gets its hefty share of business at this time of the year, the emphasis does seem to be on traditional fare and, frankly, that can get boring.

Much of the "fresh" fish on offer are species that are flown in from overseas. Local fish is mostly wahoo that has been stockpiled during the autumn with a tiny bit of tuna which has been caught in recent days by some commercial operators. More likely and viewed as a festive dish are spiny lobster and guinea chick lobster.

Although most people think of spiny lobster as local, there are probably at least as many imported as are caught locally so the actual origin of the one on your plate is uncertain.

The Caribbean spiny lobster (yes, that's the one we are familiar with here) has a rather wide range and to our south there are some major commercial fisheries in Venezuela, Belize and Cuba. These are then shipped to a wide variety of markets, mostly through Florida which pretty much eliminates the Cuban catch.

While that may seem impressive, what is really impressive is the number of Maine or clawed lobsters that come off the strip of seabed between the Atlantic states and Maritime Provinces.

These are available pretty much all year long and supply a vast market across the United States and Canada and many locations where the species is not even found.

Just think of the winter ski resorts and mountain areas that are a thousand miles from the nearest salt water. They all have places that offer Maine lobster at one time or another.

Pretty much every seafood restaurant in America has lobster on the menu and given the 300 million plus population, that means that one heck of a lot of lobsters have to be caught to supply that demand. In short, that strip of bottom has to be incredibly productive.

During the off-season months, Bermuda has a supply of Maine lobsters as well. It is only during the winter that the spiny lobsters can be legally imported and sold.

Moves to allow the importation of spinys during the off-season have consistently been turned down largely because it is impossible to tell whether a spiny is of local or foreign origin.

That simply opens the door to all sorts of abuse that could well, in the long run, jeopardise the sustainability of the local population.

The guinea chick, on the other hand, is legal throughout the year and can offer a tropical alternative to the imported cold water product.

Actually this is one of the few places in the world where there is a commercial fishery for guinea chicks. A smaller relative of the spiny lobster, this is a quirky species that has drawn a few specialist fishermen over the years. For a long time, they did not command much of a price in the restaurant trade but that is happily in the past and it is a fishery that might well support some expansion.

Among its quirks, is the fact that the vast majority of guinea chicks that are caught in traps are males. The mere fact that a viable population exists suggests that there must be enough females around to ensure the survival of the species. So far, no one has come up with a biological reason for the apparent lack of females in commercial catches.

Although there was no legally restricted season for guinea chicks, the old rule of thumb was that they were caught in the summer months when the spiny lobster fishery was closed.

Effort and catches dropped off markedly as the autumn progressed and winter set in. That does not seem to be the case a present. Whether it is weather or water-temperature related is unclear but, at least for the time being, these delicacies are indeed obtainable.

And while a lobster diving licence will allow you to take two guinea chicks a day, hardly any are ever caught by divers. This is mostly to do with their habitat which is the deeper reef areas often referred to as the "bar" or the blue/porgy holes.

Most of the reef areas where the lobsters might be found is out of the range of even the most skilled of skin divers. During the winter months this area of "black bottom" is the riskiest to leave trapping gear.

A single winter blow can destroy the traps or render them unsalvageable ¿ not a prospect relished by commercial fishermen who have a significant investment in gear.

Observant drivers may have noticed at least one commercial roadside seller advertising turbots. Now here is a species that is hardly game but one that can be the answer to a lot of angler's questions.

The name is a serious misnomer. It is no more a turbot than I am. The only remote connection that might account for the name is the fact that they are laterally compressed and the real turbot is a flat fish like a flounder and this is arguably dorsally compressed. The real turbot is flat and lives on the bottom while our "turbot" is commonly found in the channels and over the reefs swimming in an active manner.

Realistically, our "turbot" is a triggerfish related to the highly coloured queen triggerfish and other tropical species that make an outstanding showpiece in a saltwater aquarium.

This dull member of that clan has a skin that is as tough as nails but below which is a firm white flesh that makes for top class fillets. Many also rate this as a first choice for stewing or boiling.

They are popular food fish in certain areas of the West Indies where they are called "all white" in reference to the colour of the meat.

They are easy to catch (the cleaning is the challenging bit) and will respond well to chumming in the channel areas. Turbots (pardon the name!) will also take a bit of fish or squid on a drifting line and they will often snatch baits fished on the bottom.

They often occur in large schools so it should be possible to pretty much fill a fish box which then only leaves the cleaning to be done.

The experts actually skin the fish but you need to know how to do this to make it efficient. Otherwise filleting is the answer and, apart from having to resharpen the knife every few minutes, they will provide a worthy reward for your Tight lines!!!