May starts next week and despite the somewhat blustery weather the offshore scene has moved into spring and summer mode. It is time to go fishing, weather permitting.

Although the calendar says springtime, the fish that have shown up on the Banks and elsewhere strongly suggest summer. There are rainbow runners and jacks in numbers and although bait is not as obvious as it can be, there are tuna and wahoo in reasonably good numbers.

Most of the effort has come from commercial boats or charter craft that are on meat-fishing expeditions, simply because there isn’t exactly a surfeit of tourists wanting to try their luck in local waters.

Many of these trips have paid off with some nice catches of wahoo ranging anywhere from a half dozen or so up into the Twenties. The quality of the fish is nothing short of good with the norm being in the 30lbs to 40lbs range with some going considerably higher.

A couple of 70lbs and 80lbs fish have been confirmed, and there have been rumours of even larger specimens. Taking the evidence for what it might be worth, these are older fish rather than the young-of-the-year which is what most of the smaller school-sized fish are thought to be.

Given the poor showing of wahoo last year this present situation is most welcome, although it probably will not last.

Not only is it likely to be short-lived, but the unreliable weather has made it hard to track the fish as they move around. A result of this is that many boats are unable to work the areas where the fish are, and even when they are located, it is difficult to get back to them after a day or so of foul weather has intervened.

This intensifies the “moving target” aspect of blue water angling.

There has been a tiny bit of chumming activity and although there are certainly yellowfin tuna around, they obviously have not settled down and continue to move around much like the wahoo. It is also not unreasonable to expect a white marlin or two to put in an appearance as they are usually not too far behind the main groups of wahoo as they scavenge their way around local seamounts.

With some dolphin, a real harbinger of warm water, already having been caught, the first of the season’s blue marlin won’t be too far behind.

Expect a wahoo strike to suddenly go on for too long and then for the sea to erupt, ensuring some scatter action.

It’s all part of the excitement that comes with deep sea fishing.

Last week’s column incited some interesting discussions that prompted a little more research. It may come as something of a surprise to many that most fishing locations require the angler to have a licence or permission to go fishing.

It doesn’t seem to matter whether he catches anything or not, just don’t get caught in the act of fishing by the wardens or other authorities.

At first blush it sounds like this pertains to fresh water fishing where there may be issues with rights to access, artificial stocking of ponds and lakes, or other legalities that don’t seem to have extended to the oceans yet. In truth, it already has.

To fish in Florida, even as a tourist, a licence is required for both saltwater and freshwater fishing. In addition, if the target species is snook or tarpon a further permit must be purchased.

In the Bahamas the situation is similar, although there is an exemption from the need for a Bahamian licence when fishing from a Bahamas-registered boat. Thus, local charter boats fall into this category.

However, considering the number of private and charter American boats that make the run across the Gulf Stream to fish Bahamian waters, this requirement may be a real money-earner for the government.

American boats that fish out of St Thomas in the United States Virgin Islands also have to get British Virgin Islands licences, because most of the fishing is done off the North Drop, which is in Tortola’s or other British Virgin Islands’ jurisdiction.

Not surprisingly, the cost is quite reasonable because it is not as if BVI has a navy to enforce the rules.

Hawaii makes things a bit more complicated, requiring freshwater licences for fishing on inland bodies of water. Bottom fishing needs a licence, but fishing for pelagic species does not. Things get really bureaucratic when it comes to bait fishing, fish pond maintenance and collection of fish for the aquarium trade.

Here in Bermuda it is also fairly simple. Visitors fishing off a charter boat don’t need any additional licence, they are covered by the boat operator’s.

When overseas boats arrive for the billfish tournaments they are required to register with the Fisheries Department and pay a fee.

This licence is much more akin to the fishing licences issued elsewhere because the licence allows the boat to fish but not to sell the catch.

This is probably not an issue as catch and release billfishing is really all about the Tight Lines!