Last Sunday saw plenty of offshore action with numerous boats competing in the Royal Bermuda Regiment Tournament and the Blue Waters Anglers Club Open sponsored by Bacardi Tournament.

The competitions shared weigh-ins, noting that many of the anglers were signed up for both events. The results of the BWAC event were many and varied owing to the wide variety of game fish brought in. In Class A, the winning boat was Bite Me with angler Kevin Mello winning the largest yellowfin tuna in that category with a 42.2-pounder.

Class B saw boat honours go to Ocean Mile, with Socks and Crocks the runner-up. Top Class B wahoo was a 40.6-pounder caught by Ben Shearer. The Class B top yellowfin resulted in a tie, with Kirk Dill and James Chiappa catching 38.9-pound specimens.

Class C, the recognised commercial boats, was won by Captain Joshua Crockwell’s Apex with Captain Andrew Marshall’s Bay Roots the runner-up. The largest wahoo in this section was Delton Outerbridge’s 31.2-pounder. An award also went to Deane Trott for his 46.1-pound yellowfin tuna. In the “Other Species” category, Ray Bean was the winner with a nice, 25.9-pound blackfin tuna.

The main prize winners were in the Overall Classification, with Jennifer Crockwell the High Point Female Angler with 101.5 points. Overall High Point Angler was Leon Stines (110.1 points) and the Overall High Point Boat was Captain Robert Lambe’s Last Chance with of 221.7 points.

In the Warrant Officers and Sergeants’ Mess Tournament, fondly known to most as the “Regiment Tournament”, the winners were markedly similar. The line-class winners were Ray Bean on 12lb test with a 38.7-pound yellowfin; Ben Shearer on 20lb test with a 40.6-pound wahoo; 30lb test went to Deane Trott’s 45.4-pound yellowfin and the 50lb test category saw Leon Stines’s 53.4-pound yellowfin tuna take the honours.

The High Point Team Overall was Socks and Crocks with 1,259.32 points. The High Point Angler was Ray Bean with 1,040.06 points and the High Point Serving Mess Team was the boat Motorboat with anglers Alan Richardson and Leslie Spanswick.

These two events highlighted the selection of game fish on the offshore grounds at the moment. Mackerel, barracuda, rainbow runner, two species of tuna, as well as the deeper-dwelling amberjack and Almaco jack figured in the catches brought to the weigh-ins. Reports from active charter craft suggest that their clients are enjoying most of the same, with some great action coming from the wahoo and tuna.

While all that has been going on, an enterprising group of visiting anglers have been enjoying the Bermuda Fly Fishing Invitational Tournament. Obviously a very limited participation event, these players exclusively use fly tackle to pursue game fish and, despite the unfamiliarity of most locals with such gear, come up with some surprising results. On the first day, top honours went to Brad Booth with a 30lb yellowfin taken on Fly. On day two it was Toquaiah Jackson’s 41lb 3oz yellowfin that garnered top spot.

It is quite amazing the variety of fish that can be caught on fly lines. There was even a large, blue-boned porgy that took some sort of feathery creation, a lure that probably shocked the fish as much as it did observers who are largely unused to the subtleties of fly fishing.

With such an abundance and selection of pelagic game species about, it should come as no surprise that the larger denizens of the deep are also prowling the depths around the island. Local angler Michael “Minch” Rawlins had snagged a trip offshore on the visiting sportfishing boat Reel Tight, skippered by Captain Joe Figiel. This expedition took them to Argus Bank, where Rawlins hooked up a large blue marlin. After a while, the fish went down and died, leaving the crew without the option of releasing the fish alive. Thus it was boated and brought back to shore, where it would be used for bait or other purposes rather than being wasted. The formula estimate for the fish’s weight gave it as 547lb but the actual weigh-in confirmed that it just a tad over 500lb.

Unless it is a money tournament, the usual practice is for these sport boats to release their billfish alive in the hope that they might be caught again. While there are doubters, there is mounting evidence that these fish often survive and travel long distances across the ocean — and when at large, they are really at risk only when they come into the vicinity of one of the spots noted for billfishing where there is likely to be considerable directed effort. While roaming the great, wide-open sea, these apex predators’ only real risk is something like a commercial longliner — and, even then, these tend to frequent more productive coastal regions. The open sea is a very large place, indeed.

The weeks ahead will see the island playing host to some of the best billfishing boats in the world. The July tournaments dominate the Bermuda angling scene, as these visitors and a few devoted locals spend their days wandering the surrounding deep blue water in search of the ultimate Tight Lines!!!