Any way you want to look at it: it is summer. The fact that the holiday was preceded by the first real rain that we have had in some time and that “a bit gloomy” might have been an apt description, the summer season is indeed here.If the calendar was not enough to provide evidence of this, then the passage of the season’s first tropical system and the arrival of more of the dedicated billfish fleet should prove convincing.As summer is angling season, it is time to knuckle down and get with the programme. The offshore temperature is still a bit on the low side which does have one silver lining to it. It takes warm as in very warm water to fuel a hurricane and the generally less than normal temperatures that are currently in our latitude in the Atlantic suggest that we will have a less than active tropical season.As is believed by many, it is water temperature that influences the movement of migratory game species. So much stock is put into this that there are companies in the United States and elsewhere that make money out of analysing satellite imagery that measures water temperature and providing information to fishermen and anglers on where fish are likely to be.The warm water eddies that spiral off from the Gulf Stream are usually sought after and many captains along the East Coast swear by them. The warming trend brought about by summer conditions can be followed up along the American Atlantic coast and with it places like Virginia first enjoy a run of yellowfin tuna, followed by the influx of white and then blue marlin.The same trend follows with the New Jersey and New York-based canyon runners starting to make the offshore runs in late May or early June with peak fishing coming in August and September just as the cooling trend sets in and the fish once again become active with a southward movement on their minds.Anyone tempted to try a canyon run had better come prepared to deal over some dosh. Most such trips start at about $3000 per trip with more expensive options available. Unlike the short run we have to the drop-off here, a New Jersey area boat is looking at a 70-mile or longer trip out to the blue water on the edge of the continental shelf. And we think a 30 minute run can be a long way!In any case, the seasonal changes which affect the North American fisheries also pretty much hold true here. In fact, the situation is considerably simpler in that we don’t have the topography, geography or other physical characteristics that change the environmental conditions between the coast and the open sea.. After all, they have estuaries, rivers that empty into the sea, marshlands and other features that simply do not exist here.With the exception of the relatively tiny bit of coral reef that surrounds us, we are essentially a raft moored out in the mid-Atlantic. The plus side to that is we are literally minutes away from the depth of water that makes it the open sea and the home of the pelagic species. The presence of the offshore banks provides some structure and functions to hold fish in the general area.One of the mysteries is how the main two offshore banks, Challenger and Argus, have produced so much bottom fish for so long. Some of the observations made by the various submersibles that scientists have used here show both banks to be pretty well bereft of anything; they are certainly not the lush coral reefs where one would expect to find groupers and lobsters lurking in every nook and cranny. It turns out to be quite the opposite. But do not doubt that thousands of tons of fish have come off those banks over the years.The so-called “floating” fish may have some explanation as they may indeed be migratory to some extent with schools of various jacks and so forth probably at least moving around the island, giving the appearance of being more numerous than they actually are.Apart from what breeding does go on here, in the “hind grounds” or “grouper grounds”, we must figure on a great deal of the larval spawn being lost to the open sea and swept away to climes where they cannot exist. Conversely, we may well benefit from spawn that originated along the American coast or perhaps even the Caribbean. As evidence of such, some odd fish have turned up over the years including a small goliath grouper (then called a jewfish) and even one or two Mediterranean species. Suffice it to say that Mother Nature works in mysterious ways.Offshore now there are wahoo and tuna with some nice-sized specimens making the effort really worthwhile. As the weather settles down, the chumming will become a more satisfying technique although there have already been some good days. Light tackle should get a good workout this weekend as the re-scheduled BFCAT tournament is set to be held. The results of that should give everyone a pretty good notion of where the fish are.Small game should be nothing short of abundant and if there are lots of predators around they will be mostly on the Banks and even up into the shallows. It may seem funny with so many of us fishing artificial lures these days, but blue marlin, even giant ones, do eat things like mackerel, robins and even rainbow runners. Just take a note from some of the foreign boats that arrive with boxes of frozen Spanish mackerel and even flying fish that are used to bait blues. Rigged garfish is the preferred rig for white marlin off the East Coast and there will be crews that come down here that will be including them in their spreads as well.So, time to get on with it. It is time to head offshore. Although it is unclear as to whether or not it is going to happen this weekend, the BGFA tournament calendar lists Sunday as the day for the Sandys Boat Club tournament. Whether or not this will come to pass remains to be seen, but it might well be that the organisers have put it off for another day.Leaving tournaments and other competitions aside, there is every reason for the aficionado to grab their gear and to run out onto the ocean and wet a line. Conditions this weekend should be inviting enough for most of us to relish what will probably be the first sortie of the season and, who knows, it might just result in some Tight lines!!!