Wow! It is hard to believe that Cup Match is over! The next thing that we will know is that it will be Halloween and then Christmas will be upon us.

Happily for us fishy types, there is the brief interlude that will be the Royal Gazette (formerly Mid-Ocean) Wahoo Tournament which will be fished in September with entry forms appearing in the paper any time now. Depending on what happens, the wahoo run often comes ahead of the tournament and there are sages who will be watching for the first signs of the run pretty much from now on.

The weather over the holiday was not quite what the super keen anglers would have wanted. Even though, it never really developed into the grouchy conditions forecast, it certainly sounded nasty enough to cause a revision of the offshore plans into inshore picnicking and rafting up. The threat of heavy rain was off-putting even though virtually every homeowner would welcome a couple of inches in their tanks and not too many like fishing when there is lightning flashing around, specially not with all those metal outriggers sticking up into the sky.

Perhaps with the cricket and socialising now out of the way, the anglers will manage a day out tomorrow. After all, it only takes one successful trip to provide talking points that last a week and beyond!

August is often the best month for large yellowfin tuna with chumming and live-baiting being the preferred tactics. Sometimes trolling has to be resorted to, especially if the schools of tuna start driving bait up towards the surface and then smashing through them. It doesn't happen every year but is pretty spectacular when it does. When they do do this, they are often very fussy as to which baits they will take. Rigged flying fish naturals often get their attention and a few of the Mold Craft wide range lures work as well. It seems to be the colour combinations that make the difference: pinks and whites seem to be the best.

Wahoo continue to be on tap but the warm water often puts them off and there are those who believe that they go into spawning mode and lose interest in feeding. Having said that, another of their tricks is to hang around chum lines and scare other fish away. Live baits often work and it is possible to con a 'hoo into taking a chum offering. They shy away from wire leaders but are not infallible and, every so often, they can be caught on monofilament leaders. It helps to get the hook right into the corner of the mouth.

There is no shortage of small game: rainbow runners, jacks, mackerel and some of the deeper fish like bonitas and yellowtail snappers will please as well. Never fear, the sharks have not suddenly departed. They are still plenty in evidence and need to be factored into every equation. Using the right tackle can pretty much ensure that the angler gets the fish before the shark does, but don't expect not to have to pay some form of tax to the "Banks police".

One might have thought that last week would have put paid to the marlin-hype. Well, at first blush that would have been the case but things are not always as they seem. The many-time award winning Que Mas had cleared for the high seas, taken on the duty free fuel and departed for ports to our south and west.

Like many of the travelling boats, Que Mas drags a line across the briny in the hope of enticing a bit of action to relieve the boredom and just maybe turn up something fresh for the galley. As the day progressed and dinnertime came along, with most of the crew in the salon, the rod keeled over with a lively blue marlin on the end. This meant that the fishing action was on and some time later a large blue came to boatside dead. Judging the fish to be seriously on the large side, the crew decided to boat the fish and to weigh it when they reached their destination which would have facilities available. This is where the powers that be stated that if the fish were caught in Bermuda waters it would have to be weighted in Bermuda waters.

Although the boat was some 50 miles out when the catch was made this is still well within the Bermuda 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone (quite a sizeable chunk of the Western North Atlantic) and the decision was made to return, arriving at an unsociable hour. One of the visiting mother ships provided the weighing facilities and, sure enough, the big blue added Que Mas to the 2010 grander list when it tipped the scales at 1,005 pounds! Once this was dealt with, there was the matter of refueling at local prices (you can't clear for the high seas and then come back again expecting to get the same duty benefit again!) and venturing out again to leave these mightily productive waters behind.

Small wonder that so many American boats come here in the early season in search of real trophy fish. It is a far more favourable economic proposition that the eastern Atlantic; most boats can make the crossing on their own bottoms – for many it is only a 50-hour run and they can carry enough fuel. The fish here are big and numerous enough to justify the effort. The Island is way more civilised than some of the places that they have to go and the welcome is pretty much genuine. A nice place, close to home, with big fish – just about all they could ask for!

The latest innovation from the International Game Fish Association which should appeal to "green" types is the new electronic membership. Priced at $20 per year, there is currently an introductory offer of just $15. Electronic membership allows access to all the newsletters, the inner workings of the igfa.org website, on-line videos, discounted applications and other benefits. There is also a free electronic version of the Junior Angler's website. All you have to do is sign up to gain access. This can be done by going to the main IGFA website at www.igfa.org. And just to prove that the normally staid IGFA has truly moved into the 21st century, you can get to the IGFA on Facebook as well.

Next week brings a return to normalcy. Back to work for some and summer vacation for others. A few even make their annual holiday a bit of a fishing expedition. This is most easily accomplished if the destination is somewhere so inclined: Florida, the Carolinas or Hawaii but plenty of other places have something to offer as well. You might not think much of it but the Great Lakes have more exciting fishing than you think! There are also lots of opportunities to try something entirely different: like presenting a fly to a trout in a mountain-run stream. Markedly different but nonetheless still an opportunity for Tight lines!!!