September, start of lobster season and final month of the angling calendar, to all intents and purposes, is already here!

It hardly seems possible that so much time has flown by and now, with a mediocre year behind us, comes the expectation of a final burst of activity that will satisfy the sports fishermen and give the commercial anglers something to augment their early lobster catches with. For just about everyone, this is the time for the last-ditch effort.

The Bermuda Anglers Club Annual Junior Tournament turned out to be a resounding success, even if the weather was enough to dampen most spirits. Not so with these kids, though! Something like 170 juniors registered and two thirds of them showed up at the weigh-in on Sunday afternoon at the Flagpole.

The largest fish, a 39lb wahoo was caught by Ethan Soares, who fished from a boat called Freedom. The largest fish caught from shore was a nice 4lb bonefish caught by Ryan Grant. Young Grant must have a way with this renowned game species because he has successfully caught and entered one during every year of this annual tournament. Other notable catches included a 17lb African pompano, not a common species here by any matter of means, but captured by Jake Stephens; while Ajani Lee caught a 5.75lb hogfish that is doubtlessly destined for someone’s table.

The variety was considerably greater than what is usually expected in a local angling tournament. There were two more wahoo entered, a barracuda, houndfish, snappers, bream, turbots, porgies, grunts, mackerel and even garfish. Although the largest fish was a wahoo, the smallest entry was a 1.5oz grunt that was caught and released by the youngest competitor, aged 2. Who says you can’t start an angler off early in life?

All the participants are invited to the prize presentation at Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club at 10am today.

Suffering a bit from the remnants of the previous week’s heavy weather and the squally conditions that brought bursts of gusty wind and rain, the Bermuda Billfish Release Challenge took advantage of the marginal conditions finally to stage the event. The fishing left something to be desired, but the eight boats that persevered ended up seeing a bit of action and the tournament accomplished what it set out to do.

Mark Terceira’s Hooked Up did exactly that while fishing the East End and released a blue marlin in the 200lb bracket to take the spoils. The only other billfish caught and released was a spearfish, a species that has been more abundant than usual here this year. Capt Alan Card’s Challenger had a nice blue on for a while until it became unstuck. A few other fish were raised and some smaller game caught, but that was the sum total relating to the target species.

Although there is usually a surfeit of blue marlin activity in August, the fleet’s efforts were severely hampered by immense quantities of seaweed that made it all but impossible to troll before having continually to clear lines of the brown nuisance. Funny to think how many areas welcome an influx of the floating Sargassum because it usually harbours dolphinfish, wahoo and other desired fish, while around here, for the most part, it is just a nuisance that prevents properly working an area. It is also so widespread that it is hard to find even a small area that is clear of the stuff.

This will have some considerable bearing on this weekend’s proceedings as the Royal Gazette Wahoo Tournament gets under way. With a favourable forecast, inclusive of very light winds, although the conditions will be ideal for anglers, the fishing conditions will probably leave something to be desired. Light winds and meandering currents mean that the mats of weed are likely to stay pretty much in place, making trolling, the traditional form of wahoo fishing, an absolute nightmare.

While it is theoretically possible to find an area, say Argus Bank, that is relatively free of the brown stuff, reports in advance of the weekend make this appear pretty unlikely. It is as if the Sargasso Sea had suddenly shifted and taken up residence locally.

So, the 160 anglers entered on 45 boats will be looking for some edge to get them a winning fish. This could prove tricky.

To start with, although there are probably enough wahoo out there to make for a good tournament, they still have not kicked into a significant feeding mode. Schools of up to a dozen wahoo are seen lying just under the surface, but they show little inclination to feed, which makes getting them to take a troll a real challenge. Of course, this could change overnight and all hell could break loose.

Boats that have put in the effort this past week, apart from complaining about the seaweed have managed mixed bags of around four wahoo, a few small yellowfin tuna and the occasional dolphin. The wahoo have been a nice size, on average, with some indication that considerably larger fish do lurk out there.

The choices are to troll, chum, live bait, or do a combination thereof. Most years, it has taken a fish in the 50lb-plus bracket to be the big winner, but it is the finding of such a candidate that can be the trick. Chumming will likely give the anglers a shot or two at a wahoo, but it will really need to get the robins or other live bait material up to have something decent to offer the more discerning larger fish. Robins have been scarce on the Banks and the Edge has not been the most reliable source either; so it is going to be a bit of a gamble. Trolling means fighting the seaweed but, if done correctly, it only takes a single strike from the right fish.

The best shot at a winner usually comes from locating some juvenile mackerel (frigates) or blackfin tuna and then slow trolling, using them as live bait. That is a bit of a double whammy, given the trolling conditions, but it may well be key to the real Tight Lines!!!