Tarry no longer lest the season pass you by entirely. It is high summer as far as the fish are concerned and the angling is top shelf at the moment. All the game species are present, the weather is settling down and there are few excuses for remaining on shore.

Captain Scott Barnes’s Hakuna Matata continues to ply his trade with fairly consistent catches of wahoo and yellowfin tuna. The chumming has not yet quite settled down as some of the larger yellowfin are still taking trolled offerings, while wahoo continue to please although the numbers and quality are both dropping off to their summertime norms.

Trolling the deep water makes a marlin encounter a very likely possibility. Reports from several boats make it sound like there are blue marlin cruising all through the deep. Considering that most of this effort is coming from the general area of the southwest Edge out to Argus Bank, it must make one wonder how many marlin are off to the north or the South Shore or East End. Once the foreign sport fishing fleet turns up, it is likely that no stone will be left unturned. For now, all these areas are within the prerogative of the local.

Sizes are encouraging as well. This week Captain Alan Card’s Challenger has demonstrated his ability to ferret out large blue marlin. Over the last few trips, they have raised, hooked and fought and released several blue marlin with a couple being brought to boatside and estimated at about 500lb. Quite obviously female fish and an indication that there will be more around.

Not all that far away off the East Coast, the Big Rock Tournament this week weighed in a 919lb blue marlin, showing that there are indeed big fish on this side of the Atlantic. The Big Rock is a huge tournament drawing more than 200 boats with prize money in the millions! That is a lot of boats fishing a lot of bottom covering thousands of square miles of ocean.

Leaving the deep blue briny and shifting interest inshore, there is still plenty of action to be had. Widespread and usually ready to please if you have some bread handy are the so-called pompano, actually palometa, that call the sandy bottom of the South Shore beaches home. Spinning gear and even the most ultralight tackle are suitable for this game but small species. The pugnaciousness of this species always ensures that they will give a good account of themselves.

In addition to bread, they will also take various baits including pilchard and shrimp. Some small shiny artificials also work although that can mean a lot of casting and retrieving if fishing blind. They are just about everywhere over the white sand but have also been caught in various harbours and bays.

There is quite likely an opportunity here. While the IGFA does not maintain line class records for this species, the current world record is 1lb 15oz. This record is shown as a tie between two juniors who caught their fish a year apart. Both were caught down off St George’s; one in 2024 and one in 2025.

This is where it gets interesting: the Bermuda record is also tied and is very old; going back to 1969 and 1972. Both catches were made on 6lb test line. In 1969 this was the lightest recognised line class back then. Although the IGFA recognised both 2lb and 4lb line in 1970, those tests were a long way from being accepted by local anglers, hence the later catch was also made on the same class line. Now, here comes the really interesting bit, both fish were four pounders! Huge in comparison with the current world all-tackle records.

Many inshore game fish get a bit of a free ride because of the lack of effort put in for them. The palometa is a good food fish, is fairly abundant in the right places and provides a good battle on anything close to suitable tackle. Yet they are largely ignored.

While bettering the world class is eminently achievable, doing the same for the local record would mean a really massive specimen. On the other hand, the local 2lb and 4lb line classes are vacant as are the fly categories for those strength tippets.

Looking ahead, the Blue Waters Open Tournament sponsored by Bacardi has been moved by the organisers from the original date of June 7 to an alternate date of July 5.

While this may come hard on the heels of the Blue Marlin World Cup, the Open is mostly intended for local boats as it does not recognise the billfish species for scoring purposes.

The event is limited to wahoo, tuna and a category called “Other” which includes fish like mahi mahi, barracuda, amberjack and bonita. The prizes are great, any line class may be used and that adds up to a great opportunity for some Tight Lines!!!