SO what if it blew a bit early on in the week. It would be unreasonable to expect great weather — after all it is only April. What does matter is that the cooler snaps and blustery days are far less numerous than we have come to expect and that the nice days are nothing short of gorgeous. One of the best things about this time of the year is that the weather is changeable — this is a reflection of what is happening offshore: the bait is arriving in the area, the warming water is seeing an influx of gamefish and these fish are on the move, that means that they are more likely to be biting.Now is the time to try some early spring trolling. Fear not, blank days should be few and far between. There are sufficient wahoo out there now to justify a few hours’ drag and an all day expedition to include both banks should result in an interesting mixed bag.

As the wahoo start to school up as part of their spring run, there are usually a few white marlin mixed in with these aggregations.

White marlin are not particularly numerous in Bermuda waters, probably because they tend to be more closely associated with the continental shelf. Large aggregations occur off Venezuela, Virginia and the Carolinas and Brazil. Even places like the Virgin Islands tend to have more blues than whites, again probably because of their relative isolation.

So while there are a few sportsmen who claim that they are prone to catching white marlin rather than blues, the truth of the matter is that it is the blue marlin that dominates the local scene. The exception to this rule of thumb is when the wahoo are schooling up. Fish often mix in with other schools, either for protection or as a strategy for finding food. What this boils down to is that early season trolling often throws up a white marlin or two without having to concentrate your effort on the deep water. It will be another month or more before the incidence of billfish justifies burning loads of fuel in areas where there are usually marlin and little else. At this time of the year, the name of the trolling game is wahoo and tuna, meaning fresh fish for the freezer.

You can increase your chances of attracting a white by carrying some bright colours in your spread. Along the US east coast, they swear by green, black and yellow combinations. The most notable is a lure called the “Green Machine”. These have been trolled countless times in local waters by everyone from the die-hard experts to the neophyte and you will be hard pressed to find anyone who has anything good to say about that lure much less how good it is.

Sticking to local knowledge, for a shot at a white marlin, rely on hot pink and pink and blue combinations. Using such in tandem with a bait does not eliminate the possibility of a wahoo strike, so it is a kind of shotgun approach that might just turn up something a bit more exciting. This is especially true if it happens to be attached to something like 20-lb test instead of 50 or 80. After all, whites are not giants by any stretch of the imagination.

For those looking at what might be the ultimate in fishing achievements there are a couple of reports from the IGFA that bear looking at. Before reflecting on these, it is also worth remembering that, once upon a time, Bermuda used to garner more than its fair share of headlines for light tackle accomplishments. Sure, there is more competition these days and more exotic locales, but the real reason is that there is precious little light tackle in use by local anglers.

The first of these was a new fly rod world record for wahoo. This was set in the Indian Ocean by Dr. Jan Forszpaniak, an American from Florida who was using a 12-lb tippet. The ‘hoo came in after a 45 minute battle and then tipped the scale at 59 lb 8 oz, two and one-half pounds heavier than the previous record which was set off Costa Rica in 1995.

Those who either shy away from or frown upon fly gear might like this account of a new potential world line class record dolphin caught off Panama. The dolphin itself was no mean fish, weighing in at 58 lb 3 oz. What is amazing is that the catch was made on 2-lb test line by Gary A. Carter from the US. The existing record is a mere 41 lbs 8 oz that pales by comparison.

Well, for whatever matters, the 2007 season is nigh upon us. With the Easter holiday behind us and the annual Spring Show happening this week then the first of May cannot be far away. At least that has always been considered the start of the officially recognised fishing season. Granted, there have been plenty of early Mays that were nothing short of diabolical but there are those of us who harbour memories of a gaudily pendanted fleet making their way through Two Rock Passage with plenty of spectators cheering everyone on. Such festivity then followed by good, fast action offshore.

Looking to the months ahead, there will be those of us who want to start planning our campaign to garner honours from the various types of angling competitions that are based here in Bermuda. For your perusal and planning, the BGFA has released the following tournament calendar.

Next month sees the eighth annual IGFA Offshore World Championship. This will again be fished in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico with this year’s dates being 20-25th May. There will be a total of 49 teams representing qualifying events from 29 countries. Once again Bermuda will be represented and it would be nice to see a showing this year anywhere near as good as Bermuda has put on in recent years.

In the meantime, you can do something productive in the way of either getting the boat or the fishing gear ready for this year’s Tight lines!!!