The weather continues to improve and spring fever is starting to affect more and more anglers. What is lacking is the real driving force of this avocation and that is an influx of fish. What is needed are reports of fast wahoo action, the arrival of mackerel small enough to be used as live bait or sightings of schools of yellowfin tuna. Any one of those would be enough to galvanise the faithful into action. Sad to say, none of those have happened yet but with the warming water and ever-improving conditions, something will happen sooner or later.

More and more commercial fishermen are starting to put in the time that it takes to located fish and to decide on the best strategy to use. For the most part this is trolling and trying to cover as much water as possible as there do not seem to be any areas that are harbouring a concentration of fish, meaning wahoo or tuna.

When all else has failed, there is still some benefit to be had from bottom bouncing: coneys and hinds continue to please although the numbers and size of the fish are nothing like the good old days. The odd "choicer" fishing the form of an amberjack or bonita or gwelly provides the variety even though the tackle in use cannot generally be regarded as sporting.

Coming back to the inshore and reef areas, those who know will start to be thinking about fishing for grey snappers. This species is best exploited at certain times in certain places. If you are not one of the cognoscenti, then this probably won't help you much. Snappers start to come inshore around now and like to hang around certain objects that provide shade, even moving from one side to the other as the sun progresses across the sky (wow, that is so wrong to say but what an illusion!).

Fresh bait, especially freshly hauled fry, really helps in catching snappers and thinner monofilament helps as well. There are some pitfalls about using light line, most of which have the snapper tearing into or around some underwater obstacle at a great rate of knots which all too often results in a breaking of the line. In short, if you are not one of the handful of experts, you are likely to enjoy a most frustrating experience but one that can while away the hours with the possibility of reward.

Of interest to those who don't know it all already, there is a commercial website for an on-line fishing tackle retailer called Leadertec. Quite apart from selling all sorts of terminal tackle (as opposed to rods and reels) they also offer tips and techniques which are quite handy. This is extremely useful for those learning to tie knots of varying sorts or to choose leader materials or to learn the gentle art of crimping.

There are plenty of other features including a gallery of fish pictures from all over the world. Perhaps of interest to charterboat operators is their "Fishing Hotpot" section. This lists locations worldwide and they invite captains to advertise their boats (for free) in exchange for pictures and details of their operations. Elsewhere on the website they even include information on ocean phenomena like tides as well as providing the IGFA angling rules and other related information. So much more than just a tackle store! The website can be found on the internet at http://www.leadertec.com/tips_index2.html.

Those who are organised enough to plan their lives in advance or who have to make arrangements before they can consider going fishing might want to take note of this year's tournament schedule as approved by the member organisations of the Bermuda Game Fishing Association.

This schedule (see this page) is as near set in stone as can be; with weather and organisational difficulties being the main sources of change. Fortunately, in relation to the former, most tournaments have alternate dates. Most of the ones that don't have alternate dates are fixed: like the 4th July Blue Marlin World Cup and the Bermuda Big Game Classic, the logistics of which were put into place last year.

There you have it. At least, the information as to when the various events are going to be staged. Details of weigh stations and so forth will be made known by the various organisers as their events approach. Other anglers and the tackle shops are also good sources of information and, more importantly, gossip.

To really put things into perspective, the first of the new season's tournaments is only two weeks away. If you have to get gear or the boat ready, you basically have little more than a weekend to do it. So get on with it, or face the possibility of missing out on the first of the season's Tight lines!!!