FILM crew for ESPN was in Bermuda recently to tape an episode of "Let's Go Fishing". The crew chartered Capt. Keith Winter's and went in search of fishing action.

Things went really well as the day kicked off with a monster wahoo estimated at close to 80 pounds. It was then time for chumming on Argus and although the bite was not fantastic, they managed to film a couple of "onesthatgotaway" in addition to a 35-pound Allison that failed to make good its escape. Action was also had from some Almaco jacks (bonita) and a large dusky shark that will, no doubt, be the most intriguing part of the whole show for some viewers.

A second day's expedition was much like the first with the sharks accounting for several of the hooked fish. Happily, much of the action came from the kite so there is sure to be plenty of good footage when the show finally airs in something like three months' time. Good exposure for Bermuda in general and the charter fleet in particular.

Also congratulations are once again due for a Bermuda team. The Sea Horse Anglers Club team of Leslie Spanswick, David Ross DeSilva, Ronnie Boys and Richard King managed to come second in the Rolex/IGFA Offshore Championship held at Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. This team boasted 15 striped marlin releases for a total of 4,500 points. The team had earned their invitation by winning last year's Bermuda Anglers Club International Light tackle Tournament. The winning team for 2006 was also the team that won in 2005. This year that team set records and amassed an incredible 7,228.2 points, including 24 marlin releases. With 64 teams participating, this is no mean feat and, indeed the fishing itself must have been pretty impressive with 473 marlin being caught and released during the four days of the competition.

Well it is finally all starting to happen ? and about time too!

Naturally with the holiday next week, the amateur fishing effort will get off to a bit of a slow start but there should be more than enough evidence to convince even the non-believers that it is time to plan an expedition offshore. In the meantime, the pros will make hay while the sun shines.

The wahoo are really doing their thing at present although this, in all likelihood, won't last long. This is characteristic of the spring run when the rising water temperature or something causes the schools of wahoo to break up and for the fish to spread out over a very wide area. At the moment many boats are managing double figures and it should be possible for just about anyone to round up four or five. The other thing that is characteristic of spring fish is their size. There are plenty of 40 and 50-pounders around and some fish have been caught that tipped the scales at well over 70 pounds. Very nice fish indeed, even on the relatively heavy gear that is used by most boats these days. Can you imagine just what a screamer a 60-pound wahoo would have been on 20-lb test back in the old days? In any case, there are signs that the fish are already beginning to thin out even though fleets of boats can be seen gathering at certain locales where some action has been had. The South Shore Edge has been just such a place with boats actually trolling well inside of the drop-off itself. A word of caution is in order. When working areas like southwest Edge that are protected at this time of the year, although trolling the Edge is permitted, there may be some doubt as to how the gendarmerie marine might treat someone trolling up in 20 fathoms. Getting a bit close to rockfish territory even if the 'hoos have taken up residence in the shallows.

As suggested previously, there are quite a few white marlin mixed in with the schools of wahoo and there have been quite a number caught recently. Many are very small indeed and offer little in the way of sport. In fact, some of these little billfish have not made the 20-pound mark ? not exactly what comes to mind when someone mentions "marlin". Be on the lookout for spearfish as well. These can be easily confused with small white marlin and there has been at least one report of such a fish recently. Although not present in the sort of numbers that the wahoo are, there are some mighty Allisons out there. These fish are 100-pounders plus and are most likely to be taken on the troll. The word is that they are on Argus although, given their mobility, they could be anywhere they want to be by now. One of the best ways of actually rigging for these fish is to fish a natural bait a long way back on an outrigger. If and when the candidate shows up, there will be little doubt because an awful lot of line is going to disappear off the reel before the fish even thinks of slowing down. There are also enough yellowfin in the 25-40?pound range to justify a bit of chumming. Even though nobody seems to have hit the mother lode yet, most of those who have attempted to chum for tuna have been rewarded in some measure. As has long been established locally, this is a fun way to fish that conserves fuel and provides a bit of quiet after having listened to a Diesel drone on for four or five hours. On a calm, warm spring day, there is not much more peaceful that ladling out a bit of chum and just observing the gentle rolling of the deep blue ocean.

Way more common are numbers of small tuna that seem nothing short of abundant on the Banks. Some of these are even too small to get the attention of chummers but it was inevitable that something would show up that would fancy grazing on them. The first indication came last weekend when a commercial boat had a blue marlin on for a while before coming to a parting of the ways. That at least established the presence of the big blues on the offshore grounds. Not surprisingly, it was only a day or so later that Capt. Allen DeSilva's had a blue attack an 80-lb test rig while en route from the Bank back to Bermuda's Edge. This time the angler won and a nice blue, estimated at 450 pounds, was eventually released. Although some might argue that it is a little bit early, it is probably a safe bet that the specialists will be getting out their heavy gear and starting to rig for billfish. Such an early start might well be a good indication of things to come and with the month of July jam-packed with billfish tournaments, early reports of success can only serve to attract more in the way of foreign boats who are coming here in the hope of getting some Tight Lines!!!!!!!!