IT should not have escaped anyone's notice that despite the passage of cold fronts replete with foul weather, there have been some absolutely gorgeous days. These along with the sighting of whales and longtails are sure signs of spring. A quick look at the calendar will also confirm that spring is indeed upon us and with that, can the fishing season be too far away?

Most commercial fishing has concentrated on lobsters but these are just about come to an end as the legal season comes to a close in just two week's time. With that on the horizon, there are increasing forays in search of fish and, as a result, there are a few reports of the offshore scene.

The mainstay of the bluewater angler is the wahoo and increasing numbers of these are being caught. It is hard to tell if the number of wahoo being caught is an indication of the numbers of fish present offshore or if it is just a reflection of the effort being put into trolling. For the most part, boats going fishing are still concentrating on bottom fish and certain highly marketable reef species.

Most of the fish are a bit on the small side, but still larger than their summertime relatives. Most of the fish are in the 25-30 pound bracket although a few larger fish have been caught. There have been isolated reports of extremely small fish (under ten pounds) being caught although this is likely to be exceptional simply because the hooks and rigs used by most local trollers are better suited to larger fish.

In places like the Bahamas where many of the wahoo are consistently small, it is not uncommon to use smaller baits that are considerably smaller than the Bermuda norm. In fact, many of the artificial lures used have hooks that no one in Bermuda would even think of using for wahoo fishing. Happily, in Bermuda we expect wahoo to be of a respectable size and, true enough, the average fish here is larger than the average found elsewhere where the fish forms an important part of the season's catch.

Yellowfin tuna are due to put in a strong appearance any time soon. As the amount of bait offshore increases, you can be sure that it won't be getting a free ride for long. The tuna will follow hard on their heels, as it were. There are often early season influxes of flying squid and such an incident will almost surely see schools of yellowfin taking full advantage of what is quite possibly their absolute favourite food.

The squid themselves are quite a phenomenon. Generally occurring in vast schools that rocket out of the sea, flashing and sparkling like rainbows in the bright sunshine, the flying squid are perhaps six to eight inches long. These are, in fact, juveniles with the adults growing substantially larger. The adults live at depth in the ocean and are not usually seen by anglers or boaters. Even though they don't come to the surface, it is pretty safe to say that they are part of the diet of some of the larger carnivorous fish such as swordfish, shark, marlin and large tuna.

Locals who took advantage of last year's IGFA observer's certification course will be finding themselves inundated with opportunities to observe tournaments all over the world. The most recent tournaments to call on the IGFA for help in securing observers have been the Dominican Republic White Marlin Tournament (tournament dates are May 31 to June 4) and the Club Nautico Puerto Rico Blue Marlin Tournament (late August/early September).

The latter tournament has now started an interesting new format whereby observers are allowed to fish. Not only can they fish in the tournament but they do this at a substantially discounted rate. The normal fee to participate in this famous tournament is $1750.00 but observers who wish to fish pay a mere $500.00.

You might well ask how this fits into the regulation and fair play of the tournament. The Puerto Rican tournament has always been a bit of an exception in that although it welcomes fishing teams from all over the world, the teams do not fish together on the same boat. Instead they are allotted boats where they fish with members of other teams, so in most cases there will be four anglers on a boat each representing a different organisation. The net effect of this is that each angler keeps an eye on the other three to ensure that there are no infringements of the rules. There is also some advantage to having your team members spread out on a number of boats as the boats may be fishing different areas or have very different days. Thus, while your team may not score any points from your efforts on boat number one, your team members on the three other boats might just be able to bring home the bacon, as it were.

This system is pretty much unsuited to tournaments of the type fished in Bermuda and elsewhere. In these situations the team members want to fish together and because of this the presence of observers goes a long way to ensuring fair play. Cameras and digital photos are okay but there are certain problems with this type of tournament that observers can prevent. Trust is alright in events where the prizes are minor but once the ante starts getting up into the tens of thousands, all the players start getting suspicious of each other.

The Club Nautico de Puerto Rico is one of the world's oldest billfish tournaments and comes at a time when most other marlin hot spots are starting to wind down. For many anglers, this represents the season's last shot at a prize-winning fish. Further details on this popular tournament may be had by contacting delma.lugo(at)nauticodesanjuan.com or mickey.tirado(at)marshsaldana.com.

Another tournament in the Caribbean region that is currently looking for support is the annual Montserrat open big game fishing tournament. The department of tourism there is starting to promote sport fishing as a means of generating some economic recovery following the devastation wrought by the volcanic eruption. The entry fee is extremely modest and there are competitive hotel rates. The fishing includes al the blue water species but with this being a developing fishery, the record for blue marlin is just over 300 pounds. Further information is available on-line at www.visitmontserrat.com.

So, with just a few weeks to go before it is undeniably summer and the local season is in full swing, there are a few options for the jet-set angler. Heading south offers numerous opportunities for angling but the truth of the matter is that now is a good time to start getting the boat ready. After all, you can't really be too sure when the fish will decide that it is time for Tight lines!!!