So, just about a week to go in April and then it will be May and with it the acknowledged start to the Bermuda sport fishing season. Are you ready yet? With most answering an emphatic “No”, then it is time to get on with it.Way less than a month till the demands for a boating, picnicking holiday become myriad and if you wait that long, you will have overlooked the first month of the fishing season and several tournaments. Things really do happen faster than you think and time does, indeed, fly!There is no doubt but the fishing is picking up. Maybe it is not as consistent as we would like but there have been some nice mixed hauls of wahoo and tuna. The tuna have almost all been yellowfins but that is to be expected because although the blackfin seems to be a year-round resident population, that species is definitely more active when the water warms up. But even that can’t be too far away.Just to keep things in perspective, there was a large blue marlin (grander class) released off Chub Cay in the Bahamas recently. Given that Chub is only about 800 miles away and the fact that marlin can swim more than 100 miles in a 24-hour period, accept the fact that they will be on our offshore grounds sooner rather than later.At that point, things won’t get much better as all the summer species will have put in an appearance and all we have to do is catch them.There was a bit of excitement earlier this week when it looked like the all-tackle record for yellowfin tuna had been; well, not just broken, but shattered! Bermuda anglers always seem to take an interest in yellowfin, even though the likelihood of ever catching an earth-shattering specimen in this part of the world is somewhere between slim and none. Light tackle accomplishments, maybe; all-tackle, no way.The fish in question was caught off Puerto Vallarta, on the Pacific coast of Mexico and weighed in at 427.9 pounds; some 22 pounds ahead of the 405-pounder that set the record back in November 2010. Considering that that fish dislodged a long-standing record holder, it came as a bit of a surprise that an even larger fish would be caught just over a year later.Unfortunately, it all amounted to just so much fish fillet when the deckhand and sometime skipper touched the rod, thereby disqualifying the fish from any possible I.G.F.A. record. The I.G.F.A. angling rules are pretty exacting and leave little room for interpretation, despite what any number of wannabe sea-lawyers chinwag on about. Anyone, other than the angler, touching the rod disqualifies the fish. It is as simple as that!Fair dues to them, the crew in question accepted that the fish was disqualified and let it go at that. Apart from a great display of honesty, the lesson is that there are indeed larger fish out there and, sooner or later, someone will set a new record.This sort of angling legalese gets mentioned at times locally and even occasionally rears its head during local tournaments; where there is plenty of speculation as to just how closely competitors abide by the rules. The major local tournaments all state that the I.G.F.A. rules govern the event, but just how far does that go?One must suspect that if there were an examination on the IGFA rules that are applied to angling and to records in particular, there are probably plenty of local anglers who might not manage a passing grade.As is the case with everything else, ignorance of the law is no excuse but, having said that, there is no doubt that some of the records that made it into the books in the past and maybe even some existing ones, failed to comply completely with the rules.Probably all that can be done is for angling clubs to continuously reinforce the existing rules and to educate their members and others as to what is and isn’t within the realm of acceptable angling practices.Just as this discussion ensures, one of the main rules has recently been amended. The original wording was: “2. If a rod holder is used and a fish strikes or takes the bait or lure, the angler must remove the rod from the holder as quickly as possible. The intent of this rule is that the angler shall strike and hook the fish with the rod in hand.” (Item 2 Angling Regulations, International Angling Rules, 2011).The current wording is: “2. If a rod holder is used, once the fish is hooked, the angler must remove the rod from the rod holder as quickly as possible.” (Item 2 Angling Regulations, International Angling Rules, 2012).Now, this raises all sorts of food for thought. The old rule made the intent perfectly clear; this is not the case with the new version. If a fish hits, bends the rod but doesn’t stick, does that qualify as a hooked fish? Probably not.Some tournaments define a fish as hooked “if the rod has been continuously bent for 20 seconds”, others make no clear distinction. Common sense, that rare commodity, suggests that a fish that is hooked is one that stays on for a while, at least, long enough for you to get to the rod and pick it up.An adjunct to this dilemma is the use of striking rod holders. There is nothing wrong with having striking rod holders as long as they are not used to strike the fish with the rod in the gunwale or attached to the chair. The rod must be removed before the striking or; at least, until the fish’s own inertia has caused the hook to be sunk into it without benefit of the angler tugging and jerking at the other end. That would constitute a hooked fish in keeping with the new rule #2.Other changes have been made to the angling rules, particularly those relating to fly-fishing (not of great consequence to most local anglers) but some of the rules relating to hooks and lures should be reviewed.Manufacturers do not always produce products that are in line with the rules and some of the modifications made by skippers and anglers to increase their success rates may not be in keeping with the intended rules.So, if in doubt, seek guidance either form someone who really knows,; one of the I.G.F.A. publications or from the information available on their website. After all, it is nice to be confident that all the bases are covered , and everything is legit when you are latched on to some Tight lines!!!