The official start to the angling season in Bermuda. At least that was the programme put forward by the Department of Tourism back in the day.

This organisation even went so far as to have a Fishing Information Bureau which mostly consisted of one person but was instrumental in actually pushing fishing as a reason to visit Bermuda.

Add to that the fact that Eastern Airlines, the major air carrier to Bermuda at the time actually had a programme that promoted Flying Fishermen to exotic destinations like Bermuda. At the time, game fishing outside the United States was new, novel, different and fantastic.

From a more modern perspective, Bermuda lacks the exotic touch that it once had, and the best-heeled anglers can move their boats to the most obscure points of the world where the fishing is either untried or vastly underfished. Who even knows where Ascension Island is, really?

But don’t worry, someone who can afford it has had their fishing boat taken there with its mother ship and has reported the fishing to be excellent.

To return to the Bermuda scene, the concentration was on 17 species of game fish. Before you start trying to figure them all out – it takes a while with some of the most obvious being missed – remember that this was back in the day when the Bermuda chub was a game fish; such a game fish that the recommended bait was lobster!

To be fair to the Fishing Information Bureau, it did try to spread the action around. It separated the angling into three categories: shore, reef and deep-sea. In much of the early days of sportfishing it was inshore species like bonefish that grabbed all the limelight. Then there was a gradual progression offshore with the deep-sea fishing being the bee’s knees of it all.

To put things into perspective, there were at least two separate charter fishing boat organisations as well as number of independent operators. Bluntly put, there were a lot more charter boats back then than there are today. Yes, prices were lower in terms of dollars back then, but the boats were pretty basic as well compared to the near luxurious vessels that ply the trade today. Fuel was also a lot cheaper, and boats were a lot slower than is demanded today.

The real difference seems to be the customer or the marketing for those customers. Sportfishing was a genuine attraction and actively put out there in front of the potential customer. Magazine advertisements showed game fishing, and regular features appeared in various print media about the quality of local angling. The international tournaments received international exposure and there was a certain mystique about big game fishing. Gradually, over time, this was lost, and angling became something of an also-ran diversion.

It wasn’t until the arrival of the Big Game Classic and other billfish tournaments that some of this mystique was restored and while that is most welcome for the month a year that it generates income for a wide variety of interests, it does leave the rest of the year wanting.

And that brings us to this weekend that sees what is probably the most quintessential tournament of them all. The Bermuda Fishing Clubs Annual Tournament (BFCAT). This pits the local angling clubs against each other as they compete for honours on light tackle. This means that the competition is limited to the use of the line classes that test between eight and 30 pounds.

And while large fish on light tackle will be sought after, there is an overall strategy involved as it is the combined total number of points scored on each line test that the clubs are vying for. The main trophy goes to the club scoring the most points overall, but in light tackle angling there are trade-offs. Some large fish can make a mockery of the lightest tackle and even if they are caught it might take an angler several hours to do so. Meanwhile another team is racking up points on a heavier line test.

Tactics play a role as well. This is the early season and trolling is the norm. The fish are on the move and wahoo are a mainstay. Yellowfin tuna are also to be had as are some of the more summery species like dolphin. Trolling is the purview of 20 and 30-pound test. It is difficult to effectively troll lines like eight or 12lb test.

Chumming is best suited for the lighter lines but that also requires the presence of the school fish that usually dominate the chum slick – it is early days, have they settled down yet and are the sea conditions compatible with getting a chum line to work? Tomorrow’s weigh-in will reveal all.

The trolling has been reasonably productive with numbers of wahoo and tuna becoming more consistent. Bait species are also more numerous, and this is good news when looking for tuna. With the wahoo often run white marlin and the occasional oddity like spearfish or sailfish. In fact, April and May have been the months when these are most likely to appear out of nowhere, nailing a bait intended for a wahoo and surprising the angler. And this brings us to what fishing is all about – Tight Lines!!!