ACCURATELY forecast but really only desired by those low on tank water, the unsettled late July weather put a damper on what could have been some fast action. While marlin have been the mainstay of the last few weeks, there has been plenty of interest in the more edible species with the tuna finally starting to put in an appearance. If trends hold, August could very well see some large yellowfin pleasing anglers, particularly those using live baits or kite rigs.

Wahoo action is what one might expect for the mid-summer (yes, it is that late!) with the troll producing a few but with many being caught by chummers using live robins or very successfully hidden hooks and leaders in chum baits. There is no shortage of small game, but for the big game fishermen, both real and vicarious, the focus has been on marlin.

The Island’s oldest billfish tournament the Sea Horse Anglers Billfish Tournament was fished over the end of last week with startlingly results.

Perfect Parts entered the third day with 2,200 points, a seemingly unassailable lead, and a thousand points ahead of the nearest competition. But this would all come unstuck when one of the boats lying pack in the pack had a bumper Saturday.

The drama got underway that day when Que Mas first released a white marlin to cut their deficit to 900 points and move into remote contention. With the afternoon bit cooling off, it looked like the midday standings might be a foreshadowing of the final outcome. With just a couple of hours left, Que Mas again came to life, hooking and ultimately boating a keeper estimated at between 500 and 600 pounds to cut the gap on the leader to something in the 400-500 point range (dependent on the weight of the boated fish). Thus with minutes to go, it looked like Perfect Parts would, in fact, be perfect.

With less than ten minutes to go, Que Mas hooked up with a white while at the same time seeing another white in the spread. This saw the angler grab a spinning rod and pitch to the free-swimming white. Within seconds, Que Mas was hooked up to a double of whites which was quickly followed by a pair of releases — enough points to snatch victory with a total of 2,270 points.

The tournament total was 32 blue marlin released and 27 white marlin released. Three blues were boated; none on day one, two on day two and the winner maker on the third day.

Surprisingly, no eligible other game fish were weighed in during the course of the event. This could all have been different if the 120-pound Allison caught by Overproof had had the decency to take the bait a minute or two before” lines out”.

The biggest fish of the tournament was a strikingly well-built blue that tipped the scales at 685 pounds on the second day ahead of the other fish of the day that just qualified at 519 pounds. The day three fish was Que Mas’ 570-pounder.

Of the 32 boats registered in the event, a new record number of participants, only nine failed to get on the board. Given the catches and excitement, this was a truly memorable, really well organised tournament and one that can only augur well for next year when Sea Horse will be hosting their landmark 35th such event.

Looking at the Triple Crown series, Perfect Parts was the overall first place finisher with an aggregate of 5,400 points from ten blue marlin and two white marlin released in the three events. In second with 4,470 points was Que Mas while the July 4 big winner, Queen of Hearts, came third with 4,128 points.

Again, what was truly remarkable in all the month’s tournaments was the large numbers of white marlin that were recorded, both as caught and seen. Some skippers actually reported seeing schools of whites — something virtually unheard of here. In fact, most seasoned locals reckon that whites are more likely to occur along with the wahoo during the spring run of the latter and then ease off as the blues become the dominant billfish species.

Put into quantitative terms, there were more than twice as many whites caught over the various tournaments than historical records show. The why is anybody’s guess. It might be the slightly cooler than usual water temperatures; if so, then the present rise will probably see them departing shortly. If they are somehow linked to the wahoo then there might be a further influx as and when the autumnal run develops. We can but wait and see.

In keeping with numbers the blue marlin index for the Sea Horse event was 0.36 and the overall billfish (both marlin species) index was 0.65. This figure works on the average number of fish per boat per day of fishing. In comparison to other venues, these numbers aren’t bad but they are not spectacular either.

One, though, has to be careful when factoring in places like Guatemala or Costa Rica because the number of sailfish (also a billfish species) can really skew the averages. The calculations also fail to take into account the quality of the fish: a fish counts as 1, regardless of size. So with many boats concentrating on catching a world class fish, numbers become less important as the real emphasis is on size. It is in this category that Bermuda is a world leader, at least for the moment. Fish have tails, Nature has variations and things can and do change, often totally independent of anything man does. So for now, at least, let us enjoy the blessings that we do have.

After a hectic few weeks of offshore activity, the onset of the mid-week monsoons provided a fitting end to the billfish tournament season. The visiting fleet has already started to depart and the next half way decent weather window will see others making the crossing to the mainland. There are a couple of reasons for this exodus. First off, hurricane season is progressing and although things have been quiet, no one wants to have their multi-million dollar boat stranded out in the middle of the Atlantic. Next the North American Tournament season is in full swing with the biggest money tournaments slated for the next few weeks. Attentions then move south toward Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and finally Venezuela as the onset of autumn and cooler weather slows down the mid-latitudes.

To keep things in focus, just because effort drops off, this doesn’t mean that the fish suddenly disappear. In fact, with the moon coming full on the 30th, this weekend could prove to be red hot for marlin action. The conventional wisdom is that the marlin spawn on or about the moon and that would mean that even the largest females will have lost something like eight to ten per cent of the weight that they would have been when in prime spawning condition. Local knowledge suggests that after the spawning period, the number of large fish drops off but there are lots of fish in the 175-300 pound bracket, presumably males left at a loose end. One sure way to tie up such is to latch onto one and enjoy the Tight lines!!!