Wow! Talk about timing! Just in advance of last weekend's tournaments. Certainly things could not have been better for both events even though their respective objectives were somewhat different. Add to that the fact that the weather was incredibly cooperative with virtually no wind and flat seas early in the day that eventually gave way to a light then moderate breeze when the fishing was just about done.When the numbers were finally tallied from Sunday's Bacardi weigh-in, they were nothing short of staggering. The mere thought of them conjures up stiff muscles and various forms of physical strain. Not to mention, literally hours of man power being needed to process each boats catch.For openers, a total of 32 boats came to the weigh station. This was almost 50 per cent of the total of 69 boats that were registered for the event. That is an exceptionally high turnout and a sign of just how good the fishing was.The Bacardi tournament was divided into classes based on whether a boat was professional or not and then the amateurs were split again based on boat length. This evened out the competition somewhat although any boat could be lucky enough to catch a winning fish. In addition to the class awards, there were also overall awards. Points were awarded on poundage with one pound of fish equalling one point. The minimum eligible weight was 20 pounds.There were 258 tuna brought to the scale and 246 met the minimum weight requirement. Of the 35 wahoo weighed in, 23 qualified. In addition, there was a bit of variety with skipjack tuna, dolphin, bonita and amberfish also being brought ashore.In Class A, the smaller amateur boats, the largest wahoo was a 46.4 pounder caught by Brian Mello. The largest yellowfin tuna was a 49.4 pound fish caught by Anthoine Simons. The High Point Boat Award for this class went to Capt. Brian Mello's Bite Me, which amassed a total of 217.7 points. The Runner-Up was Extreme Pleasure, skippered by Capt. Jose Paulo, which missed out by just a few points, having accounted for 205.8 points.The largest wahoo in Class B (larger amateurs) was caught by Rodney Caines and tipped the scales at 49.4 pounds. The largest yellowfin was caught by Jens Maitland and was the major capture of the tournament, dwarfing most other entries by outweighing anything else at close to two-to-one, with its 112.7 pound bulk. A 29.2 pound bonita caught by Valter Couto also earned some distinction as the High Point Other Species in this class. Capt. Richard Brewer's Tangalooma held on to the High Point Boat award despite a spirited challenge from Capt. Jorge Amaro's Reel Nauti that weighed in with 205.3 points.In Class C (the professionals) the largest wahoo weighed in was a 73-pounder but the award went to Lyle Douglas with a 65.4 pound ‘hoo. The angler with the larger fish was raised into the overall angler category. The largest yellowfin was Tyrell Burgess' 57.8 pound fish. Earning honours in the “Other” category was a fine 60.3 pound amberjack caught by Delton Outerbridge. The High Point Boat was Capt. Michael Barnes' Vitamin Sea (227.3 points), narrowly beating Capt. Bobby Lambe's Last Chance (223.8 points) and moving him into the Runner-Up spot.Looking at the overall standings, the Overall High Point Angler was John Portelli with 171.1 points from his three best fish. The Overall High Point Female Angler was Hilary Rand with 148.9 points from her three best fish. The Overall High Point Boat award went to Capt. David Soares' Kerry D that scored 263.2 points from their five best fish. All in all, a most successful tournament.Out at Spanish Point Boat Club, the Bermuda Anglers Club International Light Tackle Tournament has been a resounding success with some great light tackle catches being recorded.The first day's fishing saw a total of 55 yellowfins landed along with three barracuda, a blackfin and a bonita. In addition there were six tuna releases. This put the Sea Horse Anglers Club team in first place.Day two was much like the previous one with Sea Horse again coming top with the lion's share of the 34 yellowfin, two wahoo and one each of barracuda, blackfin and bonita. There were also 12 tuna releases and a white marlin was also caught and turned loose. This left Sea Horse still in first place even though only about 1300 points separated the top three teams.Day three was a revelation as Team Double Down Byes moved into overall first place nearly 10,000 points ahead of second place Sea Horse Anglers Club. Capt. Kevin Winter's Playmate was clearly making a wire to wire run for high point boat honours, coming top for three days out of the four already fished.The fantastic angling action seems to be holding up despite variations in the weather and with a day left to go, almost anything could happen. The final results and tournament photos will be available on the Bermuda Anglers Club website at http://www.bermudaanglersclub.com/iltt/2011/tattler-day-4.An interesting note is that almost all the yellowfin encountered by anglers this week have been in the sub-60 pound size range. This is probably because these are the fish most susceptible to chumming or drifting which are the preferred modus operandi at this time of year. The exceptional fish in the larger size classes have been taken by trolling and this is not usually the technique of choice for light to middleweight tackle anglers.Continuing with the build-up is the arrival of the first of the big game boats from overseas. One of them, on her way down, caught and released four blue marlin and this has to be a good indication that this summer will see some fast action here. Not that too much additional evidence is needed given the number of tuna that abound offshore. What apex predator is going to swim past that smorgasbord?Looking ahead, it appears that some sort of administrative error has led to incorrect details being published with reference to this year's 58th (!) annual Bermuda Regiment Tournament. The event is now scheduled for Sunday, June 26th and entry forms are available from Regimental, headquarters, tackle shops, and clubs. The deadline for entry with the $30 per angler fee is 4.30 pm on Thursday June 23rd although late entries will be accepted until 4.00 pm on Friday, the 24th. Entries must be turned in to the Bermuda Regiment. This is a popular event with lots of prizes for lots of different categories and species. Obviously it has been around a good long while and is the perfect opportunity for even the rankest amateur to go in search of some Tight lines!!!n The final day of the Bermuda Anglers Club's International Light Tackle Tournament turned out to be a nail-biter! Sea Horse's mini-slump continued with a mere nine fish for 3, 019 points while the up and coming Double Down Byes continued to make hay with 25 fish, adding another 13,112 points.In the final analysis, the Double Down Byes came out on top with team Reelax beating Sea Horse into third place.Overall High Point Angler was David Lines with 17,220 points from 32 fish with Brain Lines in second with 13,046 points from 25 fish.Capt. Kevin Winter's Playmate completed their wire-to-wire sweep with another good final day, leaving Playmate in top position with a remarkable 48,646 points having collected on 99 fish for the four days' of effort.