And who would have thought that, bam, just like that, the long awaited angling season has come to its inevitable conclusion. Inevitable simply because those who are involved know that it was a bit of wishful thinking when the Tourism Board claimed that the season ran through to the end of November. Realistically, anything in October is usually a blessing and this year, like so many others, things have just sort of feathered out.

Right now, most of the charter fleet have withdrawn their services, not that there any great numbers of clients around, and the commercial fleet has taken to concentrating on lobsters, guinea chicks and other finfish that are less sporting in nature.

It is easy to see why; a quick look at any extended weather forecast promises blustery conditions with spells of rain and while some might be able and willing to handle rough seas, no one relishes fishing in the rain.

The club tournaments are pretty much all done and dusted with the emphasis shifting to more seasonal distractions. Some of the wiser anglers will go to the trouble of removing their gear from the boat and putting it somewhere safe until April comes around.

Any anglers looking to do this would be well advised to take things a couple of steps further. For one, take the reels off the rods. While this might not sound like much, despite how often or with how much fresh water that rod was washed down with, there will be salt crystals in the reel seat. Leaving them there will do nothing more than help deteriorate the metal as even the best anodizing does not hold up to salt in the long run.

Another simple but useful thing to do is to check the roller guides. Done correctly this will include removing the Teflon sleeve to make sure that the roller’s insides still spin freely about it. It is also useful to look at the actual metal rollers themselves. It might be hard to believe but, yes, a piece of tight nylon can indeed cut grooves into stainless steel. Finding any shortcomings now gives even the most procrastinating angler plenty of time to right the wrongs.

A final note, while many use WD-40 to spray and protect their gear, it might be wiser to use an alternative brand of lubricant and protective ointment. For some reason, cockroaches seem attracted to the WD-40 residue and leaving a bunch of well sprayed rods in a dark closet can make for a bit of a horror come spring time.

So just what is there during the next six or so months. There is a little something for the inshore fisherman. While the snappers, jacks and most other game species will have headed to deeper waters, there will be numbers of bream inshore that are almost always willing to take a bait.

While they are treated with disdain by many, referring to them as “bibblers” and so on, they are really no worse than lobsters in that way and they do produce a nice firm white fillet. Best of all, unlike most species, the silver porgy (a moniker preferable to some) is an inshore spawner and just happens to spawn in the winter rather than the summer. Hence their numbers inshore. The other common inshore fish is the pinfish. Also common during the winter months, this fish has little positive to say about itself. Pin is the most apt name because they are almost impossible to handle without getting pricked to some degree or another.

Anyone who has access to a boat throughout the winter and the luxury of being able to drop things and head offshore at a moment’s notice will find that the wahoo do remain here all year. In fact, some of the larger wahoo are caught during the winter including a line class record that was set here some years ago.

Part of the problem is that the action can be spotty. Go out and catch a fish in the first ten minutes and then troll the rest of the day for nothing or the opposite, finally being rewarded when the gas gauge was starting to point downward.

In some years but rather infrequently recently, yellowfin tuna have persevered through the winter months. These usually show up toward the end of February or March probably dependent on the water temperature warming up offshore. The real attraction for winter anglers has to be the possibility of a bluefin tuna.

Thanks to intensive conservation measures, there are now enough numbers of this species that they are fairly regular travellers through this part of the ocean during the so-called “off season”.

While the mere thought of capturing one of these leviathans sets most anglers’ blood coursing through their veins, the catching of such is most likely to be in the purview of the long liner.

The reason for this is not that they won’t take a troll but that in the areas where they are likely to be encountered here, the bottom is so far down that the tuna has simply to head in that direction. When it does the chances are that they will take all the line or bust off. In places like the Gulf of the St Lawrence where there is an intense sport fishery for these fish, the average water depth is less than 500 feet, leaving the fish to fight on the surface where a boat can follow it. Still, the best of luck to anyone locally who has the good fortune of hooking into one.

With those options open to few and a firm belief that it is the pursuit rather than the catching that keeps anglers coming back, the vast majority will put their feet up and merely dream of next season’s Tight Lines!!!