Deeply into our winter of discontent, the fishing is all but non-existent with even the heartiest souls unwilling to take on the gales, rain and seemingly frigid temperatures. Oh, where is spring? And how soon will it be here?That is the strange thing. The calendar and astronomical observations have spring set as the time after the vernal equinox which, this year, is 20th March. In more general terms people refer to the months of March, April and May as spring; basically the three month period that separates the coldest three months of the year from the warmest three months.The angler’s definition is considerably different and probably hovers around the notion that the weather is fishable on a fairly reliable basis, acknowledging that even in high summer there are days that are too rough for sensible angling. Realistically, things don’t really settle down until mid-April when there is a sudden mad dash to get boats ship-shape in time for the traditional start of the summer season on the 24th of May. Year after year, that date catches people unawares, yet another symptom of our procrastination.Then there is a more measurable sign of spring and that is when the fish show up. We often refer to the early season influx of wahoo as the spring run. Usually considered the less of the two “runs”, the onset of this event is unpredictable and can occur as early as February or as late as May. It is also often a very short-lived event with the fish moving rapidly around the Island usually in a clockwise fashion before the main concentration spreads out and the run comes to an end. After that, the fish start occurring in pairs or small groups and the troller becomes more of a searcher. Because of the nature of the spring run, it sometimes goes by almost completely unnoticed and, as a result, many anglers are unable to take advantage of it. The best indicator is to watch what the commercial operators are bringing in. When wahoo start to show up in any sort of quantity then it is time to try and catch your share.Actually, in many respects, wahoo are a funny fish. They are found in most of the world’s tropical and subtropical seas but they are not really the subject of a directed, specialised commercial fishery like there is for tuna and other species. They are in demand as a food fish pretty much throughout their range, mostly along the lines of the local Bermuda fishery with trolling being a preferred technique.Many of the Caribbean islands have active wahoo fisheries although in some locations they are referred to as “kingfish” which they are not. The kingfish is a related, similar looking species, but it is separate and distinct. Sometimes going by the name king mackerel, the kingfish tends to be more coastal, often sticking to the continental shelves of the western Atlantic. It is nowhere near as widespread as the wahoo, even though there are places that catch both on a regular basis, which only confuses the issue when it comes to nomenclature.Just to confuse matters a little bit more; kingfish have been caught here on rare occasions. How often is open to conjecture - at least two were confirmed but stories of wahoo with strange mouths surface every so often, usually with the explanation that they had damaged their mouths from biting on deep troll balls. Not impossible but unlikely. The more plausible explanation is that a few stray fish can and do move into the local area and because they live and act much like wahoo are probably caught on rare occasions. Whether they are recognised by their captors is a whole other question.During the massive expansion of the world longline fishery in the 1960’s, it was the Japanese that took a most scientific approach to matters. With their huge global fishing fleet, their fishery scientists were able to amass a great deal of data on the movement of pelagic fishes and to determine their seasonality.One of their findings was on the relatively large numbers of white marlin that were caught by their longline fleet in the general area of Bermuda during the month of February, There was also plenty of data that showed that blue marlin occurred here in numbers during the summer months as we have now established beyond any doubt.What remains open to question is whether or not there are in fact white marlin in any quantity here at this time of the year.The fact that there is very little fishing effort period here at this juncture is one thing but what little there is is unlikely to be directed at any sort of billfish, least of all white marlin. The other thing worth considering is that although the longlines met with some success, this would not automatically translate to similar levels of success by trollers. The fish may be more particularly vulnerable to certain fishing techniques at certain times of the year.The same can be said for the albacore tuna that are also apparently available in this area during the months of February and March.The Taiwanese longline fleet (which largely replaced the Japanese) used to concentrate their efforts at that time of the year in the area of Bermuda and although they only came in to port infrequently when they did they were chock-a-block with really nice sized albacore.Again, this is a species that drew very little attention from the local fishermen or any sports anglers. The probable explanation is that the fish were living at a depth beyond the reach of our traditional surface type fisheries.Something else that could be a factor is their preferred food at that time of the year might be some organism that lives down deep, out of sight and probably out of mind, as well.In terms of getting any real fishing done over the next couple of weeks, it just doesn’t look good.There is little to indicate that there is much in the way of wahoo or tuna offshore. Most of the commercial fleet is into lobster mode and most of what local fish that has been available has come off the bottom of the Banks or from the deeper reef areas.This offers an option on the occasion of getting a good day coinciding with a day that the amateur can take the time to get offshore. Coneys and barbers are common enough and make for nice fillets but they just don’t cut it as game fish.There will be some amberjack and bonitas over the deeper reef areas and, on the right tackle, they can make for some Tight lines!!!