YOU really have to pick your day. It is that time of the year when there are glorious calm, low humidity, sunny days interspersed with wet, rainy, windy days on which no one would even contemplate going down to the boat much less actually going to sea.The catching is pretty much the same as it has been for the last few weeks. Wahoo are sporadic although there are some nice fish around. The numbers, however, make it hard to justify more than just a couple of hours’ worth of trolling effort. Chumming on the Banks when the tide is not too strong seems to be producing Allisons on a pretty regular basis with some of the fish bettering the 60-pound mark.

For the most part, though, the emphasis has been on bottom fishing with amberjack, bonita, red hind, coney and barber making up the list of preferred species. A bit of chumming can get the “floating” species up and robins are likely to put in an appearance. Their presence shifts the odds in the angler’s favour if there are any larger ambers or bonitas around or should a wahoo happen to come cruising past. Live baits can work wonders and often make the difference between a spectacular day and a mediocre one.

The Banks are pretty much the domain of the professional but a few amateurs have had good results fishing up on Bermuda’s northern edge and it is hard to conceive of the southwest Edge being anything other than a productive spot. Still, it is winter and things are slow even when the weather cooperates.

One of the stories making headlines in recent weeks has been the prediction of the collapse of the world’s fisheries over the next 40 years or so. For years there has been talk of the severely reduced populations of fish like tuna and even herring.

Countering this, to some extent, has been the discovery of some unknown resources such as the orange roughy. Almost instantly a hit with consumers this species was found to be a deep water dweller with a range that pretty well spread it all over the world’s oceans. Commercial methods using nets had never had this species as a target before simply because just about no one knew they were there and in what numbers.

Once discovered, it did not take long for a specialised fishing method to be adopted and the heavy exploitation of the fish began. In some of the first fishing areas off Australia and New Zealand, the fishery collapsed in the 1970’s. Present landings are much reduced despite the popularity of the species.

It is the biology of the roughy that is, in a sense, the cause of its downfall. Living in the deep sea means that the water temperature is very cold, just a few degrees above freezing. As a result, fish that live there grow very slowly and, in the case of the roughy, mature after many years. To cut to the chase, this means that the fish are very susceptible to fishing pressure and they are unlikely to replenish their numbers any time soon. Just as a point of reference, many of the orange roughy caught were over 100 years old — not something that can be replaced in a hurry.

The present scenario has world fishing capacity and effort exceeding the ability of the world’s oceans to supply the demand for living marine resources. Although there are certain examples of good marine management, all too often these are only local and, therefore, subject to global impacts.

A simplistic example would be the seasonal abundance of yellowfin tuna or wahoo in Bermuda waters. It is fair to say that little of what is caught here goes to waste and there are no Bermuda-based industrial fisheries for these species. Many anglers use catch and release with even a few of the really small wahoo finding their way back into the sea. Some years, though, the fish either fail to show up in the quantities that we expect or the overall quality may be down on previous years. When looking at the local situation it is easy to forget that these pelagic wanderers are exposed to tremendous fishing pressure throughout their range. With many of the major commercial fisheries reaping harvests of young (small) tunas near their nursery grounds, it is actually amazing that enough mange to escape and eventually make it to our part of the world.

Whether this prediction is alarmist or not is open to debate but realistically there are plenty of places where the demise of local fisheries is patently obvious. What is really scaring is that the source of these reports is a highly respected scientific institution that does not limit the collapse to finfish but includes virtually all the other fisheries resources including squid, shellfish and other marine dwelling animals that man uses for food.

If such a thing does occur, or even comes close to occurring, then a lot of the world’s population are going to be going hungry. This is not to mention some of the indirectly important applications of fisheries resources. Think of the millions of tons of fish meal that are produced for use as fertiliser, food additives and countless other applications.

For the most part, here in little Bermuda, we will have to endure whatever the global fisheries scene brings us for those species that know no boundaries. On the local level, we can be pro-active and have shown a history of trying to maintain our reef fish and lobster stocks. Hopefully that will continue and Mother Nature will do her share to maintain our local status quo.

The quality of the local scene came into sharp focus when Capt. Alan Card’s Challenger came good this past summer with three visiting fly-fishermen. On June 9, fishing down on Long Point, these anglers used a selection of fly tackle tippets on a species that is all too often ignored by local sports fishermen.

As always, it takes a while for the International Game Fish Association to ratify world records, but it was gratifying to see that three new records for yellowtail snapper on fly have recently been accepted. Congratulations are in order for Robert J. Cheers with a 6 lb 1 oz yellowtail caught on 8 lb test tippet; Ronald G. Bizick with a 5 lb 6 oz specimen caught on 16 lb test tippet, and Ben Munroe with a 5 lb 9 oz yellowtail on 20 lb test tippet.

The quality of the yellowtail here is unsurpassed and even at this late stage in the year it is possible to mount a campaign and to put in some effort directed at this desirable sporting species. Just get things right and you could be in for some Tight lines!!!