To put things into perspective, Cup Match will be over in four weeks' time. This means that the summer is proceeding with alacrity and with the first named storm of the season having already smashed into Mexico, it probably won't be too long before "tropical" activity starts to have an impact on the local fishing scene.

Do not tarry any longer, if you do, there probably won't be too much sense in taking the fishing gear out of the cupboard because it will be time to be putting in back in. Time does indeed fly.

The 56th annual Bermuda Regiment Tournament was duly fished on its appointed day, not quite an event in itself, but the last few years have seen iffy weather in June that has led to postponements. That then forced events into July that was already choc-a-block with billfish tournaments thus causing some confusion, not to mention trying to do two very different types of fishing at the same time.

Happily, this year everything went off without a hitch and the Regiment event continued its illustrious history. Although largely intended to be an inter-services competition there are plenty of categories that are open to civilians as well and plenty of these have supported eh event over the years.

This year's High Point Angler was Sgt. Clarke-Burgess with a nice 49lb yellowfin tuna caught on 20-lb test line that scored 600.25 points based on the factor system. This also earned him the 20-lb test line class award.

The 8-lb test line class award was won by CSgt. Leslie Spanswick with a 5.7lb rainbow runner (50.76 points) while the 12-lb test category went to Kurt Dill with a 29lb almaco jack (584.03 points). Angler Richard Augustus won the 30- lb test line class prize for his 24lb barracuda (64 points).

In the overall categories, the High Point Team was Boat RPM's with a total of 797.24 points caught aboard Son Rae. This total number of points was also enough to ensure that Son Rae was the overall High Point Boat.

The factor system is a mathematical formula that favours lighter line classes and has been used by many local angling clubs for decades to try to encourage the use of light tackle. It is essentially the weight of the fish divided by the line test with the quotient then being squared and multiplied by 100. The product is the number of points scored. In simple terms, it takes about a 40-pound fish on 12-lb line to score 1,000 points as compared with about a 25 pound fish on 8-lb line to score the same number of points. While useful for light tackle competitions, it has virtually no place in the heavy tackle tournaments that are concentrating on marlin releases or huge fish on the dock at the end of the day.

Starting this weekend, there is as much billfishing as anyone could ever want. Maybe even too much by some peoples' standards.

The Bermuda Billfish Blast is a two-day tournament which is being fished today and tomorrow. Although a release tournament, the Blast's rules for the tournament are modified on the second day to allow each boat to land one fish over the 500 pound minimum weight. This is provided for to allow the boats to also compete in the Blue Marlin World Cup which is fished each 4th of July.

The 4th July Tournament is a serious money competition with something like $200,000 up for grabs on a winner-take-all basis. This is the 26th such event with winners that have come from ten locations around the world. Of the last 25 events, Bermuda has produced the winner on six occasions with only the Kona Coast, Hawaii equaling this feat.

At last count, there are a total of 66 boats registered with 18 of them here in Bermuda. Kona leads the entries with 24; not surprising given the size of the Kona Coast compared with Bermuda and not to mention that boats working out of there have access to the entire Hawaiian Island chain which is totally huge.

Most of the boats taking part in the World Cup (fishing not football!) are working some part of the Atlantic with the rest of the fleet fishing diverse areas of the Pacific. This year there is no entry fishing the Indian Ocean even though blue marlin are also caught there on a regular basis.

Things are looking pretty good right now. Over the past weekend, a local boat reported releasing a fish estimated at about 800 pounds and both local and foreign boats have had action from blues and a surprising number of white marlin, all of which score tournament points. Perhaps even more interesting, given the time of the year, a relatively small blue, estimated at 150 pounds was also caught which may suggest that the fish are getting ready to spawn. The basis for this is that fish under about 250 pounds tend to be males with females being significantly larger. Where the boys are there must also be girls, or so the saying goes; we shall see.

So, if this weekend isn't enough for you, then there is the Bermuda Big Game Classic which is scheduled for the 7th through 11th July. This is the landmark event that really put Bermuda billfishing on the map ten years ago. Can you believe that this is the tenth such event! A large entry is expected and there probably will be a leviathan brought to the Barr's Bay park weigh-in station over the course of the event.

And if even that isn't enough, three days later, there is the Sea Horse Anglers Annual Bermuda Billfish Tournament which will be fished from the 14th to the 18th July. Another three days of marlin hunting for those infected by the bug.

Those who really can't get enough of a good thing combine their entries from each of the three events for the overall Bermuda Triple Crown. This takes into account all the points scored in the three events for an overall title and award package. Although a team or boat does not have to fish all three events, it is more than likely that the winners will have done so.

Anyone looking for an away match should be aware that the US Virgin Islands July Open Tournament is looking for observers for this year's event. It is to be fished during the July full moon period 22nd-26th July in St. Thomas. Anyone interested in availing themselves of this opportunity to ride on a luxury sportfisherman in what is arguably the most productive bit of blue marlin bottom in the world should go the to the Virgin Islands Game Fishing Club's website at www.vigfc.com. Details are available there. This particular tournament is not to be confused with the US Virgin Islands Open/Atlantic Blue Marlin Tournament (aka the Boy Scout Tournament) that is fished over the August moon.

Plenty of marlin activity is planned and there will still be a few wahoo around for traditionalists. The yellowfin seem to have recently moved from Argus Bank to points unknown but they should soon show up somewhere where they should please the light tackle aficionados. With the amount of offshore effort being put in by the combined local and foreign fleets, it should be too long before someone identifies the right locale to put in the chumming effort for some old-fashioned Bermuda Tight lines!!!