With another tropical system or, at least, the remnants of one attempting to foul up piscatorial activities on the weekend, some consolation can be taken from the fact that it does not necessarily have to be all doom and gloom.This was largely the situation last weekend when we finally received some much-needed rain but also had to put up with flooding and high winds.Despite the weather of the previous days and any number of foreboding warnings, the Bermuda Regiment Warrant Officers’ and Sergeants’ Mess Tournament got off last Sunday in near perfect conditions. The bad weather of Friday and Saturday had just about disappeared and the seas were calm enough for even the smaller boats.The event was a success with a nice selection of fish being weighed in. One of the beauties of this popular tournament is that there are categories for most things and this means that one does not have to be a specialist to have a shot at the prizes.The Largest Wahoo on 30-lb test award went to Sgt. Dumont with a 29 pounder and the Largest Fish by a Lady was won by Kim McCallan. The Armed Forces Trophy was won by Hook Dat (Kim and Latasha).The Sergeants’ Mess defeated the Officers’ Mess with the High Point Team Award going to the curiously-named Conscientious Objectors with a total of 1,874 points. That same haul also gave that team the High Point Team “Average Weight” Award (468.5 points) as well as earning B&T captain Teko Ingham the High Point Boat Award.In the line class awards the winners were: 8-lb test, no entry; on 12-lb line WO2 Patterson had a 7.5 pound blackfin tuna; on 16-lb test the winner was Trey Correia with a 14.4 pound shark; and Kevin Pilgrim won the 20-lb test category with a 32 pound amberjack. There was no entry on 50-lb test line but, on 30-lb test line, Sgt. Burgess caught a 92.3 pound amberjack that not only won the line class award but also the Largest Fish in the Tournament Award, the Largest Fish by a WO & Sgt’s Mess member, the Largest Fish by a Member of the Bermuda Regiment and helped him win the overall High Point Angler Award with 946 points.Sgt. Burgess must have known a thing or two about amberjack because he also managed to win the Largest Fish on Handline Award with a 73.3 pound jack. The prize presentation will take place tonight, 30th June, at 7.30 pm at Regimental Headquarters.Nothing major on the agenda for this weekend although the private, by invitation only, Brien/Pallot Fly Fishing Tournament was scheduled to finish up today.With the weather forecast to improve dramatically over the weekend and on into next week, the focus will shift to billfish. July and August are the main marlin months in Bermuda even though they can be caught at just about any time of the year. Several major, big money, tournaments are slated to be fished during July and that is what lures many of the foreign sport fishing battlewagons here for the month.Although not every skipper swears by it, there are those who believe that the phase of the moon has everything to do with blue marlin levels of activity. Supposedly, the red-hot time is around the full moon when marlin are supposed to throw all caution to the wind and go out of their way to please anglers. Commercial fishermen have noticed that some other species such as grey snappers and black rockfish have shifts of activity that seem to be tied into the moon but there are other theorists who maintain that a dark moon is better for fishing because the fish can’t see to feed at night.The jury here remains out for the present. Serious anglers in the United States Virgin Islands seem to be the main adherents to the full moon theory, scheduling their billfish tournaments for just before during and one day after the full moon.Tying in nicely with the 3rd July full moon this year, the 28th Blue Marlin World Cup will be fished on the 4th July all over the world with each entered boat fishing in its own time zone. Thus it makes for a pretty long day for the organisers who have to follow developments from the start many time zones away.All the competitors will be looking for a big blue marlin, considering that the minimum eligible size is 500 pounds. The entry fee is a basic $3000 with an additional option for another $5000. Given that in excess of one hundred boats will fish the event, and 80% of the entry fees are paid out to a single winner the purse is rather on the large size.In the event that there is no winning fish, then the purse is rolled over into next year’s pot.Should that happen, there will be an extreme amount of dosh on offer next July 4th! Of the 28 times this tournament has taken place only on two occasions, back in the very early days were there no wining fish. That can probably be put down to the fact that in its early years, it was more of a “member’s club” and the competition was not as widespread as it is today.Currently teams are registered from Angola, Kona, Bermuda, Mexico, Bahamas, Madeira, Costa Rica, Canary Islands, Azores, St Thomas, USVI, and Cape Verde Islands with any one of them having the potential to produce a winning fish. On the basis of previous multiple winners Kona, Hawaii, Bermuda and the Portuguese Eastern Atlantic islands of Madeira and Cape Verde have got to be favoured.Fished in conjunction with the World Cup is the Bermuda Blast tournament. This is, effectively, a three day local tournament that draws boats from the United States and Bermuda primarily. Although it is intended to be a release tournament, there is a provision in the rules that permits each boat to land one blue marlin on the 4th July. This is to accommodate those boats also wishing to fish the World Cup. Another accommodation is that the eligible lines that are permitted in the Blast are the same as those required for entry of any fish into the World Cup.With a fleet of boats that have the know-how, the sophisticated tackle and, at least one who must have a bit of the requisite luck, there is every chance that a big Bermuda blue will be brought to the scales at Barr’s Bay Park where all can see just exactly what it is that provides those really Tight lines!!!