The fine weather this past week has offered plenty of fishing potential, although the commercial fleet has spent a good deal of its effort trying to optimise lobster catches. That leaves the charter fleet to scout out the offshore quarry for the amateurs who are mostly confined to weekend efforts.

Captain Jim West’s Troubadour was fishing along Long Point, a section of Bermuda’s northern edge that pokes out into the deep when the wahoo action tapered off and things were a bit on the quiet side. As with all charter operators, the captain was concerned with getting some form of fish for this clients, and that sometimes means having to change tactics. Rather than using a metallic leader, which is necessary for the razor-sharp teeth of wahoo and a few other toothy critters, he switched to a nylon, monofilament leader. While fraught with difficulty for wahoo, such works well for tuna, dolphin and other species. Deploying such with a live frigate mackerel, the hope was that a marauding yellowfin would inhale the bait and give the angler a workout.

But such was not to be. Instead, the rod screamed off and Brandy Loudermilk, an angler from Texas, found herself on the rod end of an Atlantic sailfish, an uncommon Bermuda visitor itself. Well noted for its aerobics and game features, it took about 45 minutes for the fish to be brought to boatside, where the skipper and mate hoisted the fish into the boat for a photo opportunity. This is normal practice in other areas where sails are regular catches, as it allows the fish to be returned to the sea unharmed. That was the case here, and after the snapshot the fish was released and swam away strongly.

The fish in question was on the large side for the species, with many of the sailfish caught in Florida where they are populous averaging between 30 and 45 pounds. This particular fish was considerably larger and that may be a factor when it comes to them straying away from the continental margins.

As a measure of just how uncommon sailfish are locally, the boat captain said that this was only the fourth that he had caught in his many years of fishing. Many other old salts will also claim to have caught only a couple. Of the few catches that have been made over the past few decades, it would seem that the northern and western portions of Bermuda’s Edge tend to be the most likely spots for such encounters. There was also one notable event quite a few years back that recorded a double catch of sails, a really rare event here.

Not that sailfish will be on anyone’s mind as it is the wahoo that feature most at this time of the year. While there will be yellowfin tuna moving through the area and winds bringing in flotsam that may harbour dolphinfish, anglers and commercial fishermen alike will be looking almost exclusively at stocking up on wahoo.

That species has always been a crucial part of the Bermuda fishery as well as an important sport fish. Present throughout the year, they are most numerous in the spring and then really make their presence felt as autumn arrives. The latter run usually sees larger fish than the earlier one, but the science behind this phenomenon is poorly understood. The suspicion is that the early fish are younger fish, certainly the small fish that dominate the summer scene area probably only a year or so old.

It is also logical that because they do tend to school at certain times of the year, they may aggregate based on size, leading the schools to consist of similar-sized fish. Another of nature’s mysteries, but one which can lead to some amazing wahoo action here at this time of the year. The presence of plenty of potential live baits only enhances those chances.

Tactics and techniques will be on the anglers’ minds this weekend. Over the years, the tournament-winning wahoo have come from virtually every spot on the local angling map: Banks, north, south, east, west and from the deep between the drop-offs. Winners have been caught on live baits, in chum slicks, on traditional trolls, from kites and just about every fishing method acceptable. No matter how skilled an angler may be, all fishing requires a modicum or more of luck.

With Tropical Storm Gabrielle churning its way northward in Bermuda’s general direction, the Macallan Wahoo Tournament scheduled for this weekend has been postponed. Over the many years that wahoo tournaments have been held, they have been no strangers to delays, with the September event often taking place in October. On the positive side, the wahoo run continues well into that month with some hefty candidates making for Tight Lines!!!