It’s transition time! This is when the classic Bermuda angling that transformed the island in the 1950s and 1960s into a premier sportfishing destination loses the limelight to the immediate future.

The traditional, as it were, slipped into the back seat when the Bermuda Fly Fishing Invitational came to an end, with Ed Mueller winning the Light Tippet category and Henry Holt winning the Sportsmanship award. After a brief absence from the event, Toquaiah Jackson returned to stamp her authority by winning the awards for best blackfin, the best “other fish” award and sharing the trophy for the best overall catch with Larry Paredes, who also took the best tuna award.

These feather merchants, who have left the island hopefully to return next year, use a technique largely unknown to most local anglers — to highlight the glories of the old days when chumming for tunas, rainbow runners, ambers and bonitas was the method of fishing once the spring wahoo run was over.

It is not as if the fish suddenly disappear; there are still plenty of tuna and small game all over the Banks and Edge. In fact, the quality of the tuna is only increasing. This week a boat managed to catch a 122-pound yellowfin while chumming, so do not despair if that was your game plan.

It is just that the competitive angling programme changes and the month of July is given over to big-game fishing. This term is often bandied about, can mean different things to different people and more often than not refers to fishing in some form of offshore waters. In many places, “deep sea” can mean bouncing a bait or lure off the bottom in 100 feet of water in plain sight of land. That is not what this really means.

Real big-game fishing involves big boats, big gear and big fish. Most of the boats involved are more than 40 feet long; a very few are smaller. Crews are dedicated professionals for the most part. The gear is big, with the average rod-and-reel combo weighing 40 pounds or more. The lures are big — bigger than a lot of the fish caught in some of what passes for big-game fishing elsewhere. The water fished is deep; really deep, as in thousands of feet deep. The quarry is also big; in this particular case, blue marlin, which can weigh up to a ton or more. Most are considerably less, but still big: a fish the size and weight of a man is considered small. This is also expensive fishing, but that is simply part of the game. And that game is what the month of July is to Bermuda.

Big tournaments mean big money.

These big tournaments are now under way. The first leg of the Bermuda Triple Crown is the Bermuda Billfish Blast. This is a three-day fishing event that draws boats from all over the East Coast and beyond. A modified release tournament in which most fish are released, resulting in the boats and anglers scoring points in the event. There is a minimum weight of 500 pounds when fish become eligible for largest fish of the day or tournament. These are likely to be boated, and will compete for the monetary awards for those classes. The emphasis is on release and points. This can shift radically from one day to the next, and it is really hard to predict the winners.

To make things even more complicated, there is something else at play here. The first day of the Blast coincides with the Blue Marlin World Cup. Although the events are totally separate, tournament rules allow boats involved in the Blast to also enter the World Cup. The latter is a one-day event, always fished on July 4, and is literally worldwide in scope. As July 4 dawned, somewhere in the Southern Pacific, boats headed out on to the deep to try to catch the biggest blue marlin that day. As the rest of the world lights up, the fishing begins in the Indian Ocean. Then in the eastern Atlantic, across that ocean and on into the Gulf, then across Costa Rica and Mexico, finally playing out along the Hawaiian islands.

This is a big deal. Entry costs a minimum of $5,000 and the 2025 event has 171 participants. The winner takes the entire pot, making it worth upwards of half a million dollars. Tournament hotspots include Madeira, Cape Verde, Bermuda and Hawaii, but the winner could come from literally anywhere. This year, 58 boats have put their faith in Bermuda providing a winning fish and 39 have opted for Hawaii, but nowhere can be completely discounted in the hunt for large fish.

Large fish are the rule of thumb — all the winners in the past three years have been over 800 pounds. Some years have seen “granders” win and it isn’t until the day is done completely that the winner can be crowned. This is what big-game fishing is all about; the pursuit of the proverbial “Big One”. The one thing that all the crews share is a huge competitive drive to find and subdue the ultimate in Tight Lines!!!