If you have been waiting for the summer, make no mistake, it is here and now.

With the summer solstice occurring on Monday morning, the sun will then start heading south away from us as autumn beckons, albeit form a distance.

Strange as it may seem, the days will start to shorten even though we will be engaged in summer pursuits well into the evening hours.

Anglers may be slow to react to the changing seasons but the fish which are far more in tune to Mother Nature will inevitably do what they must do.

Although we are still awaiting the influx of the flotilla of boats associated with the Newport-Bermuda Yacht Race, a number of foreign sport fishing boats have managed to find berths at various locations around the Island and they have been out testing the waters, so to speak.

While the effort is far from peak and the offshore water temperature is still very much on the rise, the blue marlin have started to please.

Earlier this week, a visiting boat caught and released a blue estimated at about 600 pounds. Not exactly a giant but a nice enough fish and a good indication that the offshore blue water season will be as good as it has been in recent years.

If catching a big one is your ambition, now might be a good time to go looking although the temptation offered by all those dollars at stake on the 4th July might have you putting off to then what you could do today.

More traditional anglers will have noted that the wahoo fishing has eased off and although trolling should result in a few strikes, the fish are more likely to be summer schoolies in the 10 to 20-pound range.

That and fuel costs will have the weekend warriors thinking about anchoring up and ladling chum overboard in the hope of luring some worthy opponents into the slick.

The recently fished Bermuda Anglers Club International Light Tackle Tournament once again had to rely on blackfin tuna to provide the action. A total of 125 of the 145 tuna released were blackfin.

These numbers served to show that the release component is an ever-more important part of this light tackle event and a happier result when compared with the old days that saw dozens of tuna being weighed in and then taken back as chum or otherwise disposed of.

In addition to the blackfin releases, the wahoo also helped take up the slack with 38 being caught in the four days by the six teams that competed.

These were weighed in along with four yellowfin tuna, three barracuda, two blackfin, two bonitas, one skipjack and a lone dolphin, proving that there was plenty of variety out there.

The host team Bermuda Anglers Club secured the overall first place position, making this an extremely successful tournament for BAC. In second place was Two DW Squared followed by the Goombay Hookers.

The ILTT's overall High Point Angler was Eric Hershberg (fishing for BAC) who finished just 81 points ahead of second place Danny Fox.

Top boat with over 10,000 points was Capt. Kevin Winter's Playmate, well clear of the tightly bunched competition.

On-going this week is the Brien-Pallot Fly fishing tournament. This semi-private/invitational event has been fished for some years now and is dedicated to fly fishing, a modus operandi not favoured by most local anglers.

Early on, it looked like the blackfin were again providing the bulk of the action although at least one boat managed a couple of yellowfin and another boat caught a mackerel worthy of note as it was a ten-pounder.

As there is still some fishing to be done, there is every chance that some excitement will be had, not to mention that the very nature of fly tackle makes the most out of every hook-up.The chumming should be coming into its own now, even if it is getting off to a bit of a slow start.

There are some yellowfin out there and as long as you are sticking to using suitable tackle the blackfin will provide more than their fair share of entertainment.

Small game like mackerel and rainbow runners also offer diversions as they will take spinning lures in addition to baits.

Getting a bait down deeper should attract attention from bonita and maybe even amberjack; or, if you are near the crown of the Bank, yellowtail snappers of heroic proportions.

At the moment the chumming is a bit hit and miss, but it won't be long before a cluster of anchored boats will give away the preferred locations.

Even if you have difficulty finding the fish by chumming rest assured that the birds will find you.

It is that time of the year when the migratory shearwaters pass through the local area, must to the frustration of many an angler.

First off, fair dues to the birds: the migration that they take is seriously significant, involving thousands of miles and there are several species that come through the local area.

They just stop off her for a bit of a rest and a bite to eat, if they can get it.

And what better feeding station than your chumslick. The fish may be ignoring it but the birds won't.

In fact, even if there are fish in the area, sometimes it is all that you can do to get some bait back to them.

Even putting a bait down deeper isn't a solution as the birds are capable of diving down and taking your hook-bearing offering.

Fortunately for most of us, it isn't too often that a bird gets hooked because that offers a whole new conundrum of problems. Actually, the birds are very docile when out of the water and, to prevent them from becoming nuisances, a few chummers actually catch them and stick them in the cockpit of their boat where the birds just stand around looking gawky.

When it comes time to leave, they can be slipped over the side where they take naturally to the water then to the air.

In the meantime, they have not been terrorising your chumline and given you the opportunity to make the most of it.

In any event, the birds don't linger in the local area very long and they will soon be gone of their own volition.

A quick gander at the tournament calendar shows nothing on the schedule for this weekend but next week should see the Bermuda Regiment Tournament take place.

This is the oldest continuously fished local tournament and one that appeals to all sorts of anglers from the most casual to the most serious. There are categories based on species; others on scoring points on light tackle and others that have the serving regiment in mind.

Details are available from tackle shops, sporting organisations and, of course, the Regiment itself. So, no matter what your ability or experience affords you this is a splendid opportunity for some Tight lines!!!