Now you know what the old-timers meant when they said that winters were different back in the day. This present one is a real throwback to times when wood was collected for fireplaces, space heaters (especially the kerosene variety) were the norm and just about everyone wore a sweater. Last winter was nothing like this even though the cooler weather endured almost into June. Cold and blustery is a mild description of what 2010 has been so far and it doesn't quite look like we are out of the woods yet.

Naturally, this doesn't do anything for the angler. The commercial fisherman still has just a little over a month left to catch lobsters which enjoy a pretty reliable market. Fish, on the other hand, can be harder to come by even though wahoo and tuna are still marketable. The inclement weather means less effort and that equates to less catches. Having said that, there are continued reports of both wahoo and tuna on days when the winds ease up enough to allow the boats to get offshore.

Trolling seems to be the preferred method at the moment. This is probably because it allows a large amount of ground to be covered in a relatively short time. Because boats don't spend a whole lot of time offshore, at least not with any sort of continuity, it is hard to know where the fish are concentrated. So it is a bit of a shotgun approach to cover as much water as possible hoping to encounter a "fishy" spot before too late. If time permits, it is then possible to work the area to try to maximise the yield. The real heart-breaker is finding the fish, getting the strikes, but then dropping them. At this time of the year, strikes are not usually so numerous to allow too many to be lost, so making the shots count is vital to success.

While there is no accounting for bad luck, there are some things that can be done to increase the chances of success. A simple one that an amazing number of people don't actually do is to make sure that the hooks are sharp. No hook fresh from the box or shop is ever going to be as sharp as it should be. The lazy man's way of dealing with this is to spend a few minutes with a grinding wheel but that takes preparation and planning. One has to actually get the hooks and then take them to the workshop or garage and do the work. Most of us amateurs find ourselves suddenly going fishing and having to make the rigs up on the way out. That is why keeping a file in the tackle box is nothing short of a brilliant idea.

The best files are relatively inexpensive. A flat bastard in the 8 to 10-inch range is more than adequate. Filing a sharp point on the hook is simple once you get the knack of it. Don't be too surprised if early efforts reduce the barb to a, literally, pointless piece of iron. The trick is to remember that most points are triangular and that each face should receive about the same amount of filing as the others. Also, something that most people neglect is to remember to sharpen the barb edges and not just the point.

The other pitfall, once you actually get good at this task, is to over sharpen the hook. A really sharp, fine point may in fact lack the strength to bury itself in the fish's maw. After all, in the normal course of things, a wahoo's mouth is used to chomping down on fin spines or other bony protuberances, so it is pretty hard itself. A fine point will often fold over, making it all the less likely to penetrate. Done right, sharp hooks are more likely to hold and to save catches.

Of course, wahoo can be out and out nuisances. Just about everyone has had days when a wahoo is fought to the boat only to open its mouth just as it comes alongside and, out comes the hook. Another common occurrence, but way more rewarding, is to get the wahoo into the boat only to have it open its mouth and out fall the hooks.

When using double hook rigs like the ring-eyed hook and needle-eye hook combination, do make sure that one cannot slip through the other. This is worth some consideration because while at first glance it may look like that, once the hooks are twisted and some pressure put on them, sometimes one can be forced over the other. Think about it, while the ideal situation would be to have both hooks imbedded in the fish, with wahoo it is usually just one (often the trailing one) and you don't want to have everything go slack and your double hook rig return to the boat as a single hook rig.

Another thing that amateurs often get wrong (don't laugh, this is true) is the tying of the line. Knots are not everyone's forte and when a line comes back minus the swivel and leader 'cut away" is the usual cry. Take a good look at the end of the line. All too often it will have a bit of a curl, a symptom that the knot pulled rather than some sharp-toothed critter did the damage. If you really can't tie knots or are unwilling to learn how to, just get someone who knows to do it for you. That will help to keep your blood pressure down.

On the odd occasion that the fish are really biting so fiercely that cut aways are common, try a variation on the rig that was attributed to being developed in the Bahamas. Make a wahoo leader the usual way but then cut it somewhere in the middle, so that the hook end is on one piece of wire and the eye end is on the other. Then, use a barrel swivel to join the two pieces up again. What this does is allow the lure to travel about halfway up the leader, stopping at the swivel. If cut aways are the problem any fish going for the lure a second time will be rewarded with wire on both sides. That, at least is the theory as compared to a normal leader where the lure will travel right up to the snap swivel with wire on one side but just vulnerable monofilament on the other.

Now that you have learned these tips to better wahoo fishing and are ready to tell your mates that you have always known about them and regularly employ them, the trick is to get offshore to where you can put them into practice. Maybe if you are lucky enough to do so in the next week or so you'll have a shot at some Tight lines!!!