The early-morning rain, lightning and thunder last Sunday morning may have led to the postponement of some sporting events and dulled the enthusiasm for others, but there was a great showing by a segment of the population that usually escapes public notice.

The Annual Junior Tournament was a great success, drawing in 168 entrants, 83 of whom weighed in. This beggars most adult tournaments where a 30 per cent turnout at a weigh-in would be considered high.

As has been the case, the juniors were most inventive, fishing from places and with methods that would never occur to more regular anglers. As a result, the variety of fish species and sizes were nothing short of astounding, and the enthusiasm shown by all the participants would make Niel Jones, the angler in whose honour the tournament is fished, proud.

Fishing from the shoreline, the winners were Kez Hayward with a four-ounce grunt and Alaya Simmons with a 1.1-pound yellow grunt. In the older group fishing from the shore, it was SaVana Hayward’s 1.4lb bream and Khwai Mendoza’s 7oz mackerel that took the honours. Gyasi Dowling had a 4.4lb chub and Daisy Andrew a 1.1lb bream that were also good enough to claim awards.

For those fishing from boats, the section was divided into inshore and offshore. In the inshore division, Matteo Burgess and Ariah Correia had winning bar jacks, weighing in at 3.9lb and 4.1lb respectively. Also fishing from boats inshore were Aiden DeBraga, who caught a winning 21.8lb wahoo, and Liana Woods with a 2.2lb pompano. In the older section, it was Ricardo Zuill with a 1.9lb bonefish and Maya Fitzmaurice with a 1.1lb barracuda with the class winners.

In the offshore boat division, the younger winners included Nova Trott with a 1.7lb houndfish and Lucien Smith with a 3lb bonita. Cruz Dietz’s 27.7lb bonita topped the class for type of gear.

In the older offshore division, it was Ray Richardson with a 72.9lb yellowfin tuna and Delia Spillman’s 3.7lb mackerel that emerged winners.

All in all, this event is a clear indication that there are many budding anglers in the next generation, and it is a shame that they do not get more opportunities to display their prowess. Still, considering the efforts required by school and other responsibilities generated by the various youth programmes, it is easy to see that they have not got a whole lot of time for fishing or other time-consuming diversions. There is always next year to look forward to and, hopefully, some of the older ones will become involved in the adult version of the same.

Although the weather has played games with fishing expeditions this past week — it is amazing what a little hype on the television news will do — some boats have had reasonably successful trips.

Much of the emphasis has been on chumming for the smaller game that will almost assuredly please any casual angler. This is especially true of visiting anglers for whom a three-pound fish is a monster.

Rainbow runners and mackerel, almost sure to show up in any chum line, are justifiably recognised as game fish in their own right and always give a good account of themselves. Most of the time, once these have arrived in the slick, there should be some blackfin tuna right behind them. The latter are great battlers on anything even approaching light tackle, and have exhausted more than one neophyte angler.

Although sometimes reticent to invade a chum line, the yellowfin are still fairly abundant on the Banks. They are more likely to show on days that are overcast or during the hours when the sunlight isn’t shafting into the depths. Some of these are fairly hefty specimens bettering the 50lb mark and offering a real workout on most tackle used when chumming.

Trolling is still a “sometimey” proposition. There are wahoo out there, but not as numerous or as accommodating as they will be in another month’s time. Dolphin or mahi mahi — as they tend to be known these days — can seemingly appear out of nowhere, but are often associated with any flotsam or jetsam that may be encountered.

Large yellowfin will occasionally surprise and, traversing the deeper waters, will reveal that there is still a decent number of blue marlin cruising the local area. Most of these blues will be on the smaller side, well suited to more traditional trolling techniques. And, while this may be the rule, there are probably some whopper-sized exceptions out there as well. Anglers beware!

With September not all that far away, bringing with it what is probably some of the year’s best fishing here in Bermuda, there is the sad matter of tropical activity. The threat of a tropical storm or worse can make planning a fishing trip problematical, but it is not an impossibility and one well worth a bit of effort.

Quite apart from the game fish, there are some tasty options both offshore and over the deeper reefs. Bouncing a rig off the bottom should produce hinds, coneys and barbers, all of which make for fine white fillets. Ambers and bonitas, especially smaller ones, are both fun to catch and make good table fare. Chumming over the reefs can seem unproductive, but anytime now yellowtail snappers should start to please in decent numbers. Those are not only a desirable species, but they are also a great source of some fine Tight Lines!!!