What a whopper! Granders are big and fish over 1200 pounds are world-beaters.There was speculation involving the present 20-year old world record expressed on Wednesday when word came in from veteran Capt. Alan Card that the boat he was fishing on that day, the visiting Capt. Karl Alvik’s Seafari, had caught something that was too big for them to get into the boat. That particular captain had had experience with multiple fish in the 1100-pound and better class and knew what he was talking about.They obviously knew that they were into a big fish when they hooked up this early season blue marlin off Argus Bank but it wasn’t until it had been gaffed and killed and attempted to bring it through the transom door that the enormity of it started to dawn on them. A similar dilemma had faced Capt. Allen DeSilva’s Mako back in 1995 when their capture came up just 50 pounds short of the 1402-pound record which had been set in Brazil.As the priority was to get it back to the weigh station, they set about dragging the fish home and it wasn’t until later that they managed to finally put it into the boat from whence it was removed for the actual weighing. When the LEDs had settled, it was established that the prime specimen was a 1289-pound example of the behemoths that cruise through Bermuda waters.This serves as more than ample continuing evidence that this is, indeed, a convenient location for the pursuit of big fish in idyllic conditions with a very real chance of setting a new world record. At the very least, the Seafari had got some of what it had come here for!This was by no means the first blue of the season. A number of commercial boats had reported run-ins with them weeks ago but it is only now that some serious effort is being made to focus on their pursuit. Seafari had got off the mark earlier in the week as had Capt. Dean Jones’ Lone Star. Expect numbers to increase both as effort increases with the arrival of more boats and with the water warming up and more such fish migrating into the local area.Having said that, there are still enough in the way of the smaller game species to make the angling active for those who lack the interest or gear to go after fish that cause you to burn up a lot of fuel and which you probably don’t want to eat anyway. Trolling and chumming are both producing at the moment and the tried and true techniques will pay off as they always have.Using such methods, there have been some rather nice hauls made lately and there are probably still plenty more to be had. Last Sunday, Jorge Amaro’s Reel Nauti returned home with seven wahoo, three tuna, a dolphin and a selection of bottom fish. Not to put too fine a point on things, there have been some nice wahoo around. Rui Sebastio, aboard Reel Nauti, made a real point of this by making one of the seven a 96-pounder! The catch, made on 50-lb test line, took about an hour and provided the crew with some nerve-wracking moments until the gaff was safely sent home.The presence of some rather nice dolphin in the 20-lb bracket in some hauls is a welcome sign that the summertime species are on the offshore grounds. In addition to the yellowfin and blackfin tunas, expect some oceanic bonito (skipjack tuna) to be around as well as the usual rainbow runners, mackerel and jacks. Less welcome, the numbers of barracuda are also on the increase and they are regular visitors to chumlines, doing a great job of discouraging some of the smaller game and damaging hooked fish. On a given day, they can make real nuisances of themselves.On Sunday the Bermuda Fishing Clubs held their annual fishing tournament in ideal conditions. Each of two clubs put out the maximum of three teams per club with up to four anglers on each. All six boats had reason to come to the weigh-in which was held at Spanish Point Boat Club.Unlike most light tackle tournaments that focus on individual performances, the emphasis in this event is on teamwork with the awards going to the club whose respective teams amassed the most light tackle points in each recognised line class.Although conditions were regarded by all the participants as near perfect, catches were not spectacular although there were more than enough fish caught to justify the effort.Bermuda Anglers Club won the 8-lb test category quite handily as there were no Sea Horse entries in that line class. Sea Horse returned the favour by winning the 12-lb class with nearly 1500 points more than BAC could muster. SHAC also dominated the 16-lb test category and narrowly came out ahead of BAC in the 20-lb test class, assisted by points scored from two releases. Neither club had any entries on the highest recognised class of tackle, 30-lb test.For the overall award for the most points in total, Bermuda Anglers Club’s 6,456.12 points earned them the BFCAT Shield, largely as a result of a massive 4,392.39 points scored on 8-lb test by a single angler, Jeffery Patterson who also won the award for the High Point Angler. The High Point Boat plaque was won by Patterson’s Kittiwake.Next week will see the first of the season’s major tournaments, the Bacardi Tournament, which draws entries from all levels of the angling community. This is made even more of an open tournament in that line tests are not separated and it is simply a matter of the largest fish in each of the classes which are mostly due to boat length. With only the wahoo, tuna and other category game fish, excluding billfish, eligible, there will be some concerted effort on the Edge and on the Banks leaving the deeper water to the billfish specialists.The emphasis is likely to be on chumming and those leaning over the sides of boats and not paying attention to the situation should be a little bit more careful. A sighting reported earlier this week of something suspected to be a great white shark might provide a warning that care needs to be taken at all times.The conditions under which the fish was observed were perfect and the skipper who saw it has the experience to recognise one when he sees it. There have been cases of great whites inhabiting the local area in the past and while they tend to be rarer than the horror stories would have you think, they can occur here. While probably not to be encouraged here, in some locations they are in fact sought by sportsmen after as a major provider of their Tight lines!!!