THE weather has been surprisingly good for this time of the year although it, as usual, has a knack of getting the really good days to fall midweek, leaving the weekender with little chance of getting offshore. Those who can manage a mid-week excursion could possibly find a reason to wet a line, if the rather limited reports of the offshore situation are to be believed.

Apparently, there has been a bit of wahoo action lately with a few boats managing some reasonable results. Don't go out expecting a dozen or more but you may be lucky enough to get two or three. The commercial effort has been limited in this respect simply because of the cost of doing business with high fuel prices but the indications are that anyone prepared to put in the effort and burn the fuel can expect a bit of action. Thus far, it sounds like the best haul anyone has had has been five wahoo in a day and that is not bad by any standard. Most weekend warriors will happily settle for one fish or respectable size, something that most of the fish seem to have been with the average getting on for 30 pounds.

There are probably a few yellowfin around and bottom bouncing on the Banks will produce the usual haul of bottom fish. Going deeper, over the 100-fathom mark can be a lot of work, but if you get lucky, you can end up finding a concentration of "red snapper". While not the real "red" snapper, these deep water snappers are good to eat and relatively easy to catch, provided you don't mind doing a lot of cranking.

Specialists will be starting to concentrate on porgies in and around the sand holes of the inner bottom. While there is a lot more to this type of fishing than meets the eye, it can suffice for the amateur to hand line or use rod and reel to drop a bait or two down over the reefs. Many of these areas have been largely ignored in recent years with most sports fishermen preferring the drop-offs. With the drop in fish-pot effort which once dominated this area, it should be reasonable to expect some halfway decent pickings. Apart from the porgies which themselves attain a hefty ten pounds or more, the bottom also plays host to coneys, barbers and the occasional red hind. There are also numerous so-called "floating fish" in the form of ambers, bonitas and the odd gwelly. Yellowtail snappers are another possibility even though the water is a bit on the chilly side for them.

It would be a mistake to think that all the fish that occur in the porgy hole depths are small. These pieces of bottom are home to large rockfish that will test out just about any tackle and some of the ambers that cruise the depths have long since said good-bye to a 100 pounds.

Some of those who have made expeditions offshore have reported seeing whales and have remarked that this seems awfully early for them. Strictly speaking, it is a bit early for the annual northward migration of the humpback whale from their wintering grounds in the Caribbean. But then again, whenever you deal with Mother Nature it is hard to be strict about anything. The whole secret to her success is to keep the competition guessing.

Another thing is that not all the whales being seen are necessarily humpbacks. There are lots of other whale species, many of which have been recorded from off Bermuda. Pothead whales, right whales (now severely reduced in number), beaked whales, pygmy sperm whales and even the mighty sperm whale have all been seen here from time to time.

But it is the humpbacks that provide the most spectacular view offshore. They are a large whale and frequently engage in a number of behaviours that make them the stars of any show. They will leap clear out of the water and fall back in with an almighty splash; something like someone dropped a bus in.

Frequently travelling with young, these mammals move in small family groups and are often more than willing to cooperate for the cameraman. Their peak movement through the local area is usually late March through mid-to-late April with the local whale watching fraternity usually relying on fishermen's reports before planning their photo ops offshore.

It used to be believed that the growth of whale moss on buoys and ropes offshore was the reason that the whales showed up. Science has now arrived at the conclusion that the whales' travels are part of a regular north-south movement between the rich waters off New England and Atlantic Canada where the whales spend their summers feeding and storing up energy and their wintering area in the Caribbean where the females have their young.

The whales are filter feeders that pump millions of gallons of water through a special organ called a baleen that acts as a filter, removing small zooplankton and other materials from the ocean which the whale then swallows. Just think that with the relatively desert-like conditions locally (clear water usually means less plankton); those whales really have to shift some volume to manage even a snack. Small wonder why they like the rich green waters of the continental shelf to our north and west! The whale moss was probably just a species of algae that happened to have a burst of growth during the early spring as the days became longer and the chemical conditions of the sea water were just right. Any interaction with the whales was pure coincidence.

To return to the present situation, the number of reported whale sightings is enough to suggest that although it is early, there may indeed be some humpbacks cruising through the local area. If offshore, keep an eye out for them, they are spectacular.

Individuals travelling to the Miami Boat Show might want to note that the IGFA will be putting on an observer training course on the 19th February at 9.00 am. The cost associated with this is $125 but once certified you can expect to be bombarded by opportunities to act as an observer in all sorts of exotic locales. Details can be had from the Observer Coordinator, Ms. Lynda Wilson at IGFA.

So while there is still not a whole lot happening, things are starting to look up. March is only three weeks away and anytime after that you can expect to see things really start coming to life. Then it will really be time for Tight lines!!!