Determined to test the legendary winter wahoo fishing out of Venice, Weston and I had been planning this trip for more than two years. We struggled to find fishable weather during the short time window of January and February, when big wahoo are found at Gulf of Mexico oil rigs some 15 to 30 miles off Venice.

Deepwater Rigs in Sight

Finally, Mother Nature was on our side, with a forecast of 2- to 3-foot seas. As we crossed into the Gulf through the Southeast Pass of the Mississippi River, a significant chop, seemingly left over from the previous week of windy conditions, greeted us.

Nonetheless, the ride in the high-bow catamaran was surprisingly comfortable, and with four 300-hp Yamahas pushing the boat at a cruising speed of 45 knots, we found ourselves approaching the first rigs within 30 minutes once outside the mouth of the Mississippi.

We found conditions marginal for wahoo at those first rigs, with greenish-brown water at 58 degrees F. Wahoo normally appear around Gulf rigs where water temperatures run at least 62 degrees and less than 86. Within that range, significant temperature breaks attract wahoo, which often frequent the colder side of such breaks.

“I look not only for temperatures more than 60 degrees,” McKnight says, “but also signs of baitfish on the big Simrad sounder. Some rigs are better at holding wahoo than others, so I spend most of my time on those.”

Despite the cool water at the first rig, McKnight felt it was worth a shot, and we set out a trolling spread consisting of two 30-wide Shimano Tiagras and two Shimano Talica II 25s, all spooled with 60-pound braid and 100-pound mono top shots. The skipper ran Rapala X-Rap Magnums, deep divers designed to reach 25 to 30 feet at 7 to 8 knots.

Most large diving plugs with large lips, designed to run consistently deep, will catch wahoo in the Gulf off Venice. Many pros favor Rapala X-Rap Magnum 30s, as does McKnight. “I find that these perform most consistently in catching wahoo here,” he says. Other popular diving lures include Mann’s Stretch 25+ and 30+, Bomber’s Saltwater Grade Certified Depth, Nomad DTX Minnow, and Yo-Zuri’s Sashimi 3-D Magnum.

Got Jacks? Move On!

It seemed that McKnight’s hunch paid off when, during the second pass, we hooked a fish that made a spirited run, though not with the characteristic drag-melting pace of a wahoo. After a 20-minute tug of war, we released a bicep-building brute of a jack crevalle, a good 30 pounds. We quickly cranked in the lures and moved on to try several more rigs with little success.

When we moved to rigs farther offshore, we found water conditions that were significantly better. Water temperatures here were around 68 degrees and offered the clear, deep-blue color we had hoped for. As we rolled up on a high, narrow rig, McKnight pointed to the depth finder, saying, “That’s what we’re looking for.” Lighting up the screen were long, slender images of fish stacked like cordwood in 80 to 150 feet of water.

As soon as our plugs passed the first leg of the rig, the right long rod whipped down and began vibrating violently as the reel screamed, the mono top shot disappearing in an instant.

I jumped from the back of the center console, where I’d been leaning, to grab the rod from the right gunwale holder, then watched braid melt away — 100, 200, 300 and approaching 400 yards. I glanced back at McKnight, a quizzical look on my face, silently asking if we might have to chase down this fish. The captain, with the calm voice of experience, said: “That’s a nice fish! Let’s get him away from the rig.”

Day’s First Wahoo is a Whopper

McKnight sped up slightly, angling away from the rig, until we had cleared the fish. Pulling fish at a slight angle away from the structure keeps them from reacting violently, as they’re likely to do when pulled at a severe angle away from the path they’re swimming.

McKnight’s maneuver kept the line pressure moving the fish’s head away from the rig and discouraged it from swimming into rig structure and cutting the line. Once we’d coaxed it away from the sharp legs of the platform, it was up to me. As I regained line, I could feel the strength and weight of the fish. Knowing wahoo are famous for vicious head shakes, and that they can easily unbutton themselves from treble hooks on plugs, I tried to bring the fish to the boat as smoothly as possible.

I could not imagine this fish having the energy to do anything more after the long first run of the fight. After 15 minutes, I had it within 100 yards. I thought the end was in sight, but the wahoo had other ideas, and scorched another run of 150 yards or so.

But this run proved different from the first, neither as fast nor as sustained; I could tell the fish was wearing down. With the same steady pressure, I continued to gain line until the wahoo appeared from the depths, about 5 feet from the boat. McKnight smoothly gaffed the fish and, in a single motion, lifted it over the rail.

Break Out the Bright Lures

On the second pass by the same rig, we hooked up again and landed another wahoo around the century mark, which hit the deck and found its way to an ice bath in the fish box. The skipper decided to change the trolling setup slightly, adding a pink Yo-Zuri Bonita on the right short.

Heavy, lipless, fast-vibrating lures like the Bonita and the Braid Marauder are designed to troll at a wide range of speeds, and McKnight wanted to give the wahoo a slightly different presentation with a tightly vibrating lure in the spread. Pulled on a spread close to the boat, just outside the prop wash, such lures make a great complement to long lines pulling lipped lures.

Capt. McKnight says: “Generally the brightest colors catch the most fish. It’s best to vary color patterns and types of lures to find the most effective combinations. If you’re in an area where you’re marking fish or where you know wahoo frequent due to current and structure, don’t be afraid to change color and lures to find what works best.”

At the end of the day, the long lines with Rapalas and similar lipped plugs caught the most fish. McKnight trolls these at a speed slower than I’m used to while fishing for these speed demons. Our trolling speed never topped 7 knots. “High-speed trolling just hasn’t proven to be as successful in the Gulf as it seems to be in the Atlantic,” McKnight says.

When an angler hooks a wahoo on a plug, it’s important to judge how the fish reacts to pressure and, if possible, discourage the violent head shakes for which these surgically toothed critters are famous. When some of the wahoo I hooked that day fought straight up and down, I could feel them opening their jaws and viciously shaking their head. Luckily, most stayed connected.

An Expert Trolls the Rigs Strategically

Combine the experience and skills of a seasoned captain with a little luck, and you can enjoy a phenomenal experience fishing winter wahoo out of Venice. McKnight fishes the rigs methodically. He starts by carefully determining the areas of a rig that hold fish and trolls plugs over them.

“Wahoo are ambush predators,” McKnight explains. “They like to attack from below, so something swimming directly overhead triggers that instinct.”

In terms of where wahoo are likely to be around a rig, I noticed we marked them mostly on the up-current side stayed on the up-current side of the structure. “Wahoo are definitely affected by current and feed more aggressively in faster current,” the skipper explains. He focuses his efforts where the current changes direction laterally, such as around the structure of an oil rig, or vertically, such as around significant depth changes that force currents upward.

We trolled around several other rigs without any action before returning to the rig where we had caught the largest fish of the day. As the Simrad “chirped” away, images of the wahoo we had seen earlier reappeared, though the fish now seemed more spread out. On multiple passes, we failed to get bit, so McKnight decided to change the direction and angle (relative to the rig) of the troll. Sure enough, on the next pass over the area, pulling lures in the opposite direction at a 30-degree angle to the side of the rigs, and passing within 25 yards of the up-current leg, we hooked up to wahoo and even some bycatch — a nice yellowfin tuna.

End of a Great Trip

Weston and I ended up with a fish box full of wahoo. One unusual aspect of our trip was an almost unheard-of 100 percent success rate in landing hooked fish. The trip back to the dock was quick. We made it back to the Southeast Pass of the Mississippi in 30 minutes, cruising at 48 knots. Unfortunately, we hit something just under the surface while running, knocking out the lower unit on one of the four outboards. The boat still made great time on three engines.

The great staff at Venice Marina cleaned our fish, setting aside a few wahoo steaks. We took them upstairs to the restaurant, where the chef grilled the wahoo to perfection — a fitting culmination to a fantastic day of winter wahoo fishing in Venice.

Tips for Planning a Winter Wahoo Trip to Venice

Give Yourself Time

The key to fishing in the winter, with the weather so unpredictable and many days unfishable, is to be flexible. I had cleared my schedule to have a six-day period in total to find a weather window. Secure at least a three-day booking with a charter captain in Venice who will target wahoo. We decided to book four days to ensure we could get at least two fishable days.

Look for a Package Deal

Venice is rather remote; there are houseboats available in Venice proper (the Lighthouse Lodge is about 10 minutes north of town). Most captains will book a package trip that includes lodging in a houseboat, condo, or one of the nearby lodges.

Stop En Route for Food

There are limited grocery options locally, so it’s best to buy essentials you’ll need before you arrive in Venice.

Stay in Contact with your Captain Beforehand

I called McKnight four days prior to our trip to get an idea about the weather and texted or called every day up to the first day of the trip. Because of unfishable offshore conditions, we moved the trip two days ahead and made it happen. When the weather offshore isn’t cooperating, you can experience some great inshore fishing for redfish. Many captains can substitute an inshore trip for a blown-out offshore one, many times at a lower rate.

How to Bring Fish Home

You’re likely to bring back wahoo from days you do get offshore. The Venice Marina folks packed the fish in flight-approved, insulated containers with cold packs to check on our Southwest flight from New Orleans. We neatly taped the boxes shut to keep the contents from opening in handling and flight. However, the TSA folks dismissed our handiwork, cutting the tape to check out the contents. We couldn’t talk them out of it, but they were kind enough to retape the containers. If you plan to fly fish home, make sure you allow additional time for the TSA screening. For us, the additional time was a small inconvenience for great wahoo steaks we had when we arrived back home.

Louisiana’s Wahoo Season

Areas like Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, and San Salvador, in the Bahamas, have gained attention for the size of their wahoo, but what about the best bets for wahoo in U.S. waters? A National Marine Fisheries Service study showed that the catch rate for wahoo was the highest by far off Louisiana’s coast, with one wahoo caught for every five hours of offshore trolling. That rate is five times higher than catch rates off the North Carolina coast, and six times higher than off South Florida’s coast.

Venice wahoo are typically caught in the largest numbers during January and February, when they average 50 to 60 pounds, which is larger than in the spring months. You’ll find most charter captains who fish out of Venice recommend January and February as peak months for targeting wahoo, although the fish are also caught with some frequency from March through June, but only sporadically after that, until winter.

The post The Gulf’s Wintertime Wahoo Wonderland appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

The South Florida seas had grown into nasty 4- to 5-footers; the sky darkened. If it hadn’t been the August full-moon period, Capt. Chris Fay would not have ventured offshore. But he and his buddy were confident that it was prime time to catch a wahoo. “It was rough, nasty,” recalls Fay, of Deerfield Beach, Florida. “We had been fishing in 300 feet, but we saw a storm coming in, so we went into shallow water, 97 feet.”

Fay continues: “Right before the sun went down, the moon was coming up. As soon as that moon popped, the one fish that we were looking for decided to feed. We were doing a turn, and I looked over at the short planer rod, and that thing just started dumping. The fish made a 350-yard run, and we knew exactly what it was: a big, fat, giant wahoo.”

The fish, which ate a split-tail mullet, came within 15 feet of the boat after that initial run, then took off on another run. The wahoo eventually came close enough for Fay and his friend to sink two or three gaffs into the fish. Then they struggled to lift the wahoo into their boat.

They headed straight for the dock after that, where the wahoo bottomed out a 75-pound scale. “We just said we’re going to call it 80 pounds,” Fay says. “When you go specifically looking for that one bite on that day, there’s no better feeling, especially when you put in the time and effort.”

Full Moon Wahoo Fishing

Anglers catch wahoo year-round throughout southeast Florida, from Jupiter to Miami, yet relatively few know of the hot summertime bite. Savvy anglers and captains like Fay say that the absolute best time to catch the most and biggest wahoo — 40 pounds and up — occurs around the full moons in July, August and September.

In the northern Gulf — a well-known action spot for big ’hoos — the prime bite happens in February or March, with no known summer-full-moon bite. In North Carolina, however, a summer fishery ignites a day or two before the full moons of July and August. The fish come in fairly close to shore, says tournament veteran Mark Henderson, who once caught a 75-pound wahoo in 42 feet of water on a live bluefish in summer.

“My favorite moon is in August,” says Fay, who prefers the days leading up to the moon and the day after. “There’s so much more water flooding out of the inlet, and the fish are waiting for the food (baitfish) to come out. I like to fish 2 miles north and 2 miles south of the inlets.”

Capt. Skip Dana, who charters selectively out of Pompano Beach, Florida, says that the wahoo bite can be exceptional around the full moon in September. He prefers to fish “three to four days before a full moon and then a few days after. The day of the full moon is usually slower, with the best bite at midday.”

Even kayak anglers take ­advantage of the summer-full-moon wahoo bite. “I’ve caught them all the way out from a week before the full moon to a week or a week and a half after,” says Joe Hector, who puts on kayak-fishing ­tournaments out of Pompano Beach. Of note, one of his tournaments around the full moon in August produced eight wahoo, including a 71.9-pounder and two others over 50 pounds. “To me, August is the prime time to get those monster wahoo,” Hector says.

Best Tides for Wahoo Fishing

Capt. Stan Hunt, who used to charter out of Pompano Beach before retiring, caught one of the region’s most ­celebrated summertime wahoo years ago. Fishing in a local tournament, his first fish of the day was a 74.2-pound ‘hoo that he caught trolling in 95 feet of water off Hillsboro Inlet. The biggest fish of the event, that wahoo helped Hunt and his crew to a victory — and a nearly six-figure payday.

Where Hunt chooses to fish depends on what the tide is doing because that determines where the bait will be. On the last of an incoming tide, baitfish are pushed close to an inlet, so Hunt fishes shallow. When the tide is out, he fishes around wrecks and other baitfish attractors in 200 to 400 feet of water.

Fay says his favorite tide time to fish for wahoo falls on what he calls the switch of the tides: the first hour of the outgoing and the first hour of the incoming. Fay also likes to fish around wrecks, particularly in depths ranging from 140 to 240 feet. He also studies his depth recorder to locate schools of fish on which wahoo feed. “Get your electronics dialed in to where you can mark the bonitos,” he says. “Where there’s bullet bonitos (tuna) and little blackfin tuna, there’s going to be wahoo. If there are tunas in 400 or 500 feet, guess where the wahoo are?”

Trolling for Wahoo

Fay usually fishes a split-tail mullet from a planer 100 feet behind the boat. If he wants the bait deeper, he lets out more line. He also fishes big swimming mullet on two shorter planer lines, each about 20 feet behind the boat.

“There are two kinds of wahoo,” he says. “The shy wahoo that’s going to swim up to the bait three or four times before eating it on the long planer, and the big wahoo that’s not afraid to hit the short planer. They’re not swimming up to look at it; they’re swimming up to crush it. Seventy to 80 percent of my bites come on the short planer. They’re nasty, they’re mean, and they come right up in the prop wash.”

His spread also includes two big lures on the short outrigger lines. He likes to fish lures made locally at RJ Boyle Studio, as well as Ilanders with ballyhoo. On the long rigger lines, he trolls two midsize baits such as a Sea Witch with a fresh bonito strip on a long-shank 10/0 or 12/0 hook.

Fay says, on low-light days, he uses bright colors such as pink-and-blue and chartreuse-and-purple. On bright days and in clear water, he likes blue-and-white, all white and pink-and-white. “In August, my spread is almost all pink. Why? Because shrimp and squid are around on that moon.”

Hunt trolls bonito strips behind Sea Witches or ballyhoo with a skirt; he ties both rigs himself. Both the lures and skirts feature lots of Mylar for added flash, and his favorite skirt color is blue-and-white. He rigs the baits with a single hook, and pulls two of them on planers from the cockpit and one on a weighted line from the bridge at 8 to 9 knots.

Live-Baiting for Wahoo

Dana prefers to use live bait for summertime full-moon wahoo, especially in August and September. “You get more bites live-bait fishing than any other time of year. I’d rather catch one on live bait than 10 trolling a lure on a planer.

“Usually first thing in the morning, if there’s a little bit of a breeze, I’ll put out the normal spread and try to get surface bites,” says Dana, who’ll fly two fishing kites, each with three lines, a couple of flat lines, and a couple of deep baits. “They’ll sky on the kite baits, just like kingfish.”

Once the sun comes up, he starts slow-trolling in 200 to 400 feet of water. He rigs goggle-eyes, blue runners, speedos and little bullet tuna, and bumps the motors in and out of gear to keep the lines tight. “I’ll put one flat line 200 yards back, and one 50 or 60 yards back. I’ll put a downrigger bait on each side of the boat and stagger them. I’ll start at 75 and 125 feet down, and if I get a bite on the deeper one, I’ll go to 125 and 200 feet.”

When he gets a bite, his crew cranks up the downriggers to get the cables out of the way. Dana also pays attention to the depth where he catches the first wahoo because subsequent bites likely will be in the same depth. And don’t be surprised if you catch other species with downriggers, fishing deeper.

“There are 30- to 40-pound kingfish out there, and sailfish,” he explains. “I don’t know how many times the line takes off, zipping across the surface, and then a sailfish comes up jumping, and I thought I had a wahoo on.”

Hector buys live bait before he launches his Hobie pedal-drive kayak off the beach. He typically buys only five goggle-eyes and three pilchards, and keeps them in a 5-gallon bucket with a battery-powered aerator. Once he catches a wahoo — his personal best is a 65-pounder — he heads back to shore.

“When I’m targeting wahoo, my trips are short and sweet,” he says. “I’ll put out my first gog on the way out in 80 feet, then set up a drift. Or if the current isn’t strong, I’ll slow-troll [by pedaling the kayak]. I free-line a pilchard around 60 yards behind me on top, with a gog below. With goggle-eyes, sometimes to get them down I use a 2- or 3-ounce egg weight and try to keep it at middepth. If you put out two gogs together, you’re going to end up with a tangled mess.

“Believe it or not, I’ve caught more wahoo on big pilchards than on gogs. Some of my best catches have been on a 6-inch pilchard as opposed to a 3- or 4-inch one.”

Hector uses a Garmin depth finder to locate wrecks in 180 to 250 feet, and keeps zigzagging in and out of those depths unless he sees a sizable school of bonito or a solid color change, where the water abruptly changes from greenish to dark blue.

If he catches a blackfin tuna, Hector uses it to entice a wahoo bite. “I’ll cut open the tuna, take my gog or pilchard and stick it in the belly of the tuna, count to three, then put out the bait,” he says. “I believe it’s all about scent. Blackfin tuna and bonito have a distinct scent, and they’re very oily. I believe that’s why wahoo eat them. I once caught three wahoo in three days doing that.”

Wahoo Fishing Tackle and Rigs

Fay fishes his dead baits and skirted strips from a straight-butt rod with a Shimano Tiagra 30-wide reel spooled with 80-pound braided line. He uses a No. 6 or No. 8 planer and trolls at 6 to 7 knots. On calm days, Fay switches to a No. 4 planer and troll at 8 knots.

He connects the other end of the planer to 60 feet of 50- or 60-pound monofilament, attached with a double uni-knot to 10 to 15 feet of 60- to 80-pound fluorocarbon leader. Fay adds 18 to 24 inches of No. 7 wire leader to the fluorocarbon with a Spro swivel.

Dana fishes live baits on Penn high-speed reels spooled with 20-pound Momoi Orange Crush monofilament line on 7-foot medium-action 20-pound rods. He uses a 15-foot Momoi 30-pound fluorocarbon leader that he ties to the main line with a blood knot. To prevent cutoffs, he adds a 3-foot piece of 30-pound nickel-titanium leader wire attached to the fluorocarbon with an 80-pound Spro swivel. He ties the terminal end of the leader to a 6/0 VMC J hook, and adds a second J hook as a stinger.

“We always have a stinger on,” Dana says. “The length depends on the size of bait: 3 to 6 inches of No. 6 wire tied to a 4/0 VMC that we hook in the skin just enough so it holds.”

From his kayak, Hector fishes a Shimano 6500 spinning reel spooled with at least 300 yards of 30-pound monofilament on a medium-heavy rod. “In South Florida, you never know what you’re going to get — maybe a yellowfin tuna or a marlin, so you don’t want to miss the opportunities if you get them.”

His leader consists of 50-pound fluorocarbon or monofilament with a 6- or 7-inch piece of 30- or 40-pound wire. He fishes his baits on a 3/0 or 4/0 J hook with a 2/0 treble stinger hook. “Every single wahoo I’ve ever caught, when I gaffed it and brought it in the kayak, was caught in the throat, eye or side by the stinger. The lead hook was swinging freely.”

Hector ties all of his connections and keeps plenty of spare leaders in a small plastic bag. “I don’t do any swivels,” he says. “When I’m offshore in the kayak, I don’t want to be tying knots the whole time. If my wire gets kinked, I can tie on another leader [with an Albright knot].”

For anglers who have always wanted to catch a big wahoo, timing is everything, and there’s no need to brave wild winter weather to land that trophy fish — at least in South Florida. Check your calendar for the summertime full moons, put out your live bait or trolling lures, and get ready for that sizzling run.

The post Southeast Summertime Wahoo Fishing appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Many years ago, Kona skipper George Parker made ­headlines around the world when he caught the first certified, world-record grander Pacific blue marlin. Since that 1,002-pound giant in November 1954, Hawaii’s lee eddies have churned up a stream of 1,000-pound blues that continues today. Kona waters usually average two or three granders per year, along with more Pacific blue marlin IGFA records than any other sport-fishing hot spot. That parade of records continues. In March 2013, Alex Nuttall boated a 958-pound blue marlin with Capt. Chip Van Mols on the Kona charter boat Monkey Biz II to claim the IGFA women’s 130-pound-class record.

Kona’s consistent billfish success sparked a worldwide revolution in big-game fishing because these big fish were caught on lures pioneered and developed in Hawaii waters. Meanwhile, big-game fishermen elsewhere had been saying you could catch billfish only with bait. Even those doubters caught the Kona wave and started catching marlin on Kona-style lures. Kona is also the perfect starting point for novices who have never caught a fish in their lives. It happens every day, 365 days a year. Newcomers are well served by a well-maintained fleet of top-of-the-line boats and expert captains.

Plus, Kona’s big fish hunt in deep, calm waters near shore. The 100-fathom line is a 10-minute run from Kona’s two main fishing fleets at Honokohau Harbor and Keauhou Bay. What’s more, the biggest fish of any week is usually a marlin in the 500- to 900-pound range caught by a complete newcomer on a four- or six-hour trip. On any day of the year, a visitor can find a suitable charter and hope to catch one or more of Hawaii’s mighty four: billfish, ahi (yellowfin tuna), mahimahi (dolphinfish) and ono (wahoo).

Billfish of Every Kind

Blue marlin, black marlin, striped marlin, sailfish, shortbill spearfish and broadbill swordfish — Kona’s waters are home to every billfish found in the Pacific. But each has a different story, and you should know those stories when you make plans.

Big blues are the billfish that pay the bills in Kona. Blues of all sizes are here year-round, but they are usually most common during the summer tournament season, from June through early September. Mid-Pacific currents can supply a fresh run at any time, however. For example, sometimes April surprises offshore trollers with fish heavier than 500 pounds on every day of the lunar cycle. Catches like these show that the lunar cycle has little, if any, influence on billfishing in Kona (unlike the effect different phases might have in other fishing areas).

Kona granders have also been landed in January, March and July. March, which might otherwise be considered the offseason elsewhere, has turned up more of Kona’s historic granders than any other month, and that includes the 1,649-pound Kona all-time record in 1984. The 1,376‑pound IGFA record for 130-pound class was caught in May 1982. Indeed, granders have been caught in Kona waters every month of the year. Licensed commercial fishermen are allowed to sell blue marlin in Hawaii, but professional skippers prefer tag-and-release for clients who want to let vital fish go. In any given week, more of Kona’s blues are tagged than kept. Visitors should make their wishes known when setting up a charter.

Hawaii’s Striped Marlin

Striped marlin cruise through Kona water’s year-round, but the big run extends from December through March. The Hawaii state record, 212 pounds, turned up here at the end of March 2011. That’s big for a north Pacific stripe, which is noteworthy because South Pacific stripers max out at more than double the weight of their northern cousins. Striped marlin are most attracted to Kona when winter waters cool down into the mid-70s. During those “chilly” times, the luckiest trollers might get up to a dozen striped marlin bites, and hook about a third of them.

Those same striped marlin ­conditions also attract shortbill spearfish of world-record size. Kona’s frisky shortbills ­presently hold 16 IGFA marks for tackle as light as 4-pound-class, and even on fly gear. Record-seekers troll hookless teasers to draw a spearfish within range, and then present a lure, fly or bait on the most sporting gear available. For most visitors, however, the spearfish is a surprise catch when trolling for blues and stripes.

For black marlin, Kona is outside the normal migration range. The entire Kona fleet sees only a handful each year, and these are much smaller than the giants of the Great Barrier Reef far to the south. Old-timers will remind you that the state record weighed 1,205 pounds, but that once-in-a-generation fish was caught in 1980.

Broadbills are the secret sensations for fishermen who know when, where and how to catch them. Most of Kona’s rod-and-reel swordies are caught at night during ika-shibi (traditional hand line) trips that target tuna. With its giant staring eyes, the broadbill is readily attracted to lights at night and to the squid schools that gather in the glow. The state record 503-pounder took the bait in June 2006 at the start of what are usually the three best swordfish months. Only a few boats cater to the night-fishing trade.

Hawaii Tuna Fuel Jet Revolution

More than fifty years ago, Hawaii troller Henry Nishikawa ignited the jet revolution when he caught a world-record ahi on a metal-headed lure drilled through and through with holes. His 269-pound yellowfin didn’t last long in the record books after anglers in the eastern Pacific discovered a tribe of bigger tuna off Mexico. Yet the IGFA record book is still overwhelmingly Kona on the ladies’ side: Kona catches made by women hold the 16-, 20-, 30- and 50-pound-class marks.

Though Kona waters attract ­resident schools of yellowfin year‑round, ahi are most abundant in late spring and throughout summer. As schools migrate west to east through the islands, the big runs reach Kauai first by Mother’s Day in May and Kona by Father’s Day in June. When the action is wide open, lucky boats can catch as many as 10 a day, all in the 100- to 220-pound range, by trolling or live-baiting with aku (skipjack tuna) or opelu (mackerel scad). During the rest of the year, ahi specialists target them with green-stick gear, and continue to catch a few each trip.

Hawaii’s state record ahi (a July catch) of 325 pounds is unusually large for central Pacific yellowfin tuna. Kona’s biggest ahi each year normally hits 250 pounds (258.5 in 2013). The state record bigeye (277 pounds in July 2013) and the biggest albacore (89.2 pounds in April 2011) both were caught on the Big Island’s windward (eastern) coast. The albacore weighed more than any on the IGFA record list but did not qualify for world-record status because it was caught on commercial-fishing gear. Kona ­fishermen regularly catch albies (tombo ahi) in the 60s and 70s on sport fishing tackle.

Mahimahi, Hawaii’s Gift to the World

Almost 70 years ago, Hawaii Big Game Fishing Club official George Perry set the 130-pound-class IGFA world record for dolphinfish with a 72.5‑pounder. That record didn’t last long, but the name “mahimahi” is Hawaii’s gift to the world, because it replaces the confusing name “dolphin” on restaurant menus. Though Hawaii has no current IGFA mahimahi records, the state-record 82-pounder confirms the potential. That record fish was a September Kona catch, but mahimahi are available any time the current drags a “floater” within trolling distance.

Mahimahi live up to their name (it means “very strong”), and the brightly colored, agile acrobats do their muscular tricks in Kona waters year-round. Occasionally huge schools gather around flotsam and jetsam for a wide-open bite that can go on for days. Then, skippers gear down to match the catch with sporting 20- and 30-pound-class rods. Unless a Kona skipper finds a floater, mahi are incidental catches on marlin and tuna trips.

By the way, the mahimahi record aside, Perry went on to catch the largest blue marlin in each of the first two Hawaiian International Billfish Tournaments (HIBT). The HIBT became an annual Kona fishing feature in 1959 and soon inspired dozens of other Kona tournaments. During the most popular tournament months of June, July and August, events compete with each other every week

Ono Blitzes, Summer Phenomenon

A Guide to Big Fish off the Big Island

Ninety years ago, a mysterious fellow known only as “J.B. Stickney” caught a 124.75-pound wahoo in Hawaii waters to set the world record. That was five years before the IGFA was founded, a time when records were compiled by Van Campen Heilner of Field & Stream and Francesca R. La Monte of the American Museum of Natural history. Ono — what wahoo are called in Hawaii — average 30 to 40 pounds, which makes J.B.’s catch even more extraordinary.

Big ones do show up now and then — state-record-holders Tom Brandt and Sky Mullins surprised their 133.2‑pound ono off the windward coast of the Big Island in December 2000. The major ono run reaches the Big Island in May of each year and hangs around into early September. Some ono are caught year-round, with early morning being your best chance. Kona skippers typically troll the 40-fathom line at the start of each trip to pick up any ono that might be harassing the nearshore bait schools.

To ward off the ono’s sharp teeth, skippers rig their special ono lures with single-strand stainless leaders. Ono slash at heavy-headed subsurface lures like weighted jets and lead-head feathers. On a typical trip specifically for ono, a successful boat might catch three or four fish. In years when ono blitz the summer currents, boats are known to hook as many as 40 on a single trip.

Other fishing areas might see the diversity of big-game fish that Kona has, but few have them in the sizes regularly seen here. In Kona, your next strike could come on any day of the year, in any phase of the moon, at any turn of the tide, on routinely comfortable seas, and be one of the Pacific’s biggest and most exciting game fish.

Shore Fishing off the Big Island

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In warm-water locations worldwide, wahoo is predominantly targeted on the troll. While this is one of the most-productive methods to locate and target these gamefish, you tend to miss out on their hard fighting ability and extravagant runs using this method.

Southern California Wahoo Fishing

In Southern California, the long-range charter fleet has been targeting them quite differently for years. They cast to them with “wahoo bombs” and jigs. The methods and range of lures maximize the opportunity of encountering wahoo, often leading to multiple hookups on the boat. In some areas, wahoo really stack up in high numbers. With trolling, you might just get a strike or two when passing through a productive area. Casting to wahoo can be incredibly effective.

The long-range fleet comprises nearly two dozen boats that call San Diego Bay home. Each vessel has been thoughtfully designed as a multi-day fishing machine for anglers. When describing these operations, think of it as hotel meets tasty restaurant meets spacious fishing platform. Trips on these boats can range from just three days to 28 days. The longest trips use the extended period to explore far and reach remote bountiful banks for less-pressured bluefin tuna, yellowfin tuna, wahoo, dorado, yellowtail and more.

Southern California and its long-range boats have a significant history with wahoo (or “skins,” as they are called among the fleet). On these trips — which explore the local banks off SoCal all the way south to Cabo — wahoo is one of the primary fishing targets. While catching wahoo is not a new endeavor, how this fleet targets this delicious gamefish warrants explanation.

Trolling Helps Locate Wahoo

For better or worse, trolling is the most common method to target wahoo worldwide. It’s tough to argue that there is a better method to locating wahoo than trolling. In most cases, this leads to one or two fish being landed per bite. Here’s the important part: Anglers onboard should be ready to cast lures once a wahoo is hooked on the troll. Being ready to cast quickly leads to several more or, at times, a wide-open bite on these toothy critters.

Wahoo are seldomly alone, and usually, they are in schools ranging from just a few fish to dozens of fish. The schooling behavior presents an opportunity to maximize fish-catching after a troll hook-up. On these head boats, trolling Braud Marauders, Yo-Zuri Bonitas, Nomad MadMacs or diving lures are used to locate a school.

When to Cast Lures for Wahoo

Once a hook-up occurs, the deckhand at the bait tank entices the rest of the fish to stick around by tossing out some baits. Once the baitfish start flying, so do the lures. At this point, anglers will begin casting their wahoo bombs or other assortment of wahoo lures during what’s called “the slide.” The slide is when the boat is still in motion but slowing, eventually sliding to a stop. The overabundance of lures, bait, and hooked fish often turns wahoo aggressive, resulting in a feeding frenzy.

This style of fishing, at times, can be best described as controlled chaos. There is nothing like hooking a wahoo on a jig (often called an “iron”) or wahoo bomb. The sudden stopping of your jig at the hook-up, your line racing across the water’s surface faster than you’ve ever seen it. It’s truly an unforgettable experience. At times, these wahoo-feeding frenzies get so aggressive that they’ll strike just about anything you cast in front of them.

The Best Lures to Cast for Wahoo

Ideally, when casting to wahoo, you want you’re lure to have specific characteristics:

• Castability: Your lure needs to be heavy enough to give you the ability to make a significant cast as the boat is sliding. Most wahoo bombs and jigs are in the 2- to 4-ounce range.
• Speed: Wahoo are speed demons, and you need to be able to have a lure that matches their speed. You should be able to retrieve this lure at a very fast retrieve. A tight wiggle is all you need out of your lure.
• Hooks: Rig with the sharpest hooks available. Think your hook is sharp? Sharpen it even more. These fish have tough boney mouths, making penetrating their jaw difficult.
• Sink: You need a lure that will sink down after casting out. The urge is to cast then retrieve immediately, but I can tell you’ll double the number of strikes by letting your lure sink 30 to 50 feet down before retrieving.
• Color: While the verdict is out, and every angler will give you a different opinion, it’s common to have blacks and dark colors against fluorescent colors. Blacks and pinks are great for wahoo.
• Tip: When selecting lures to cast at wahoo, don’t limit yourself to wahoo bombs and jigs. Take the descriptors above; if it applies to your lures, try it.  Stick baits have also been a successful option in recent years.

What Tackle to Use for Wahoo

As you guessed, conventional tackle is the go-to option on the Pacific Coast. Today, we can access fantastic gear from various manufacturers with this fishing style in mind. Ideally, it would help to have a rod with substantial stopping power and a reasonably soft tip to allow load up when casting and hooking up.

A 7-foot, 6-inch to 8-foot rod with a “Heavy” or “Extra Heavy” rating usually does the trick. As for your reel, there are so many options available today. The three primary descriptors would be: (1) the ability to cast far, (2) stopping power (meaning high drag capability), and (3) high speed retrieve (meaning the ability to crank your lure fast!). Many anglers tuned into this fishery rely on reels with taller spools to increase their retrieval rate and add an oversize handle.

The addition of oversized saltwater baitcasting-style reels has also been a great bonus to this fishery. The reels are fished using 50- to 60-pound braid, connected to a monofilament or fluorocarbon leader.

Should Anglers Use Wire for Wahoo?

To use wire or not to use wire? That is a common question. Wahoo can sometimes be finicky. Presenting your lure without wire can significantly increase the number of hook-ups. At the same time, be ready to lose several jigs to those razor-sharp teeth. Single-strand wire is preferred if you intend to use wire, as it’s much stealthier than multi-strand wire. The recommendation is a simple haywire twist connection on single-strand, 60- to 90-pound wire.

Tips for Casting to Wahoo

• Biting near the boat. When pulling your lure out of the water, have it come to a complete stop, then lift. More than once, I have seen lures get bit as an angler pulls a jig out of the water during their last retrieve, surprising the angler and resulting in a rod and reel overboard.
• Wear close-toed shoes. Please wear boots or shoes when fishing for wahoo. Nothing is scarier than a wahoo flopping on deck with bare feet in proximity.
• Watch out for flying objects. Keep your eyes peeled for flying wahoo. Another crazy scenario I’ve seen several times on a wahoo bite. Wahoo will often fly out of the water in pursuit of their prey just inches from the boat.
• Try casting for wahoo anywhere you fish. While the method of casting to wahoo on a troll stop is a West Coast method, make sure to experiment with this in your wahoo fishery as it’s sure to put some on the deck. There’s no reason jigs and wahoo bombs wouldn’t work in other wahoo hotspots such as Bermuda, Bahamas or even far offshore Louisiana.

The post Explained: How to Catch Wahoo Casting Lures appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Charter Capt. Tyler Levesque from Madeira Beach, Fla. was fishing with a crew of anglers on his 31-foot Bertram boat the “Lady A” Dec. 5 off San Salvador in the Bahamas. It’s the famed spot where in Oct. 1492 Christopher Columbus discovered the New World.

The anglers were targeting wahoo and headed out that morning in calm seas and beautiful weather.

“We fished all morning with no bites, which is crazy because the fishing had been on fire for wahoo with 5 to 8 strikes per day,” said Levesque via email to Sportfishing. “We went back to land for lunch, and headed out that afternoon during a falling tide, which is when the fish were most active.”

At 4:45 p.m. that day, and nearing to the prime full moon phase, a big fish smashed a “cow bell” lure set up on a far back long line in 430 feet of water.

The wahoo’s first run was incredible, reports Levesque, as angler Drew Johnson grabbed the heavy-duty custom rod with Shimano “Beast Master” reel.

“That first run was awesome as it pulled close to 1,000 feet of line from the reel,” said Levesque, who runs South Atlantic Outfitters in Florida. “Drew was on that fish for 40 minutes before we could get it near the boat.”

But getting the fish into Levesque’s Bertram wasn’t easy.

“The wahoo surfaced and we could see it was a big fish,” said Levesque. “The last 30-feet of leader the fish was hand lined to the boat. Right beside us the wahoo did a last ditch head shake and threw the hook. Just For a millisecond the fish was free, but we hit it fast with a gaff behind the gills, then my mate Tyler Barrett hit it with a second gaff.”

Capt. Levesque saw the chaos trying to boat the wahoo. So he left the Bertram tower, rushed to the stern of the boat, and grabbed the tail of the still-flopping fish.

The group of men pulled the ‘hoo into the boat stern, then into the fish box, as they realized how huge the wahoo was.

“The size of the fish really began to sink in, and cheers rang out with hugs and excitement all around our crew,” said Levesque.

Read Next: Record 101-Pound Wahoo Caught Off Florida’s Panhandle

Back at the marina that afternoon the wahoo officially weighed 111-pounds, 2-ounces, a giant by any measure. But in San Salvador such fish are regularly seen. Currently there are four IGFA world line class records from San Salvador, including two fish weighing over 150 pounds.

The IGFA All-Tackle record for wahoo is a beast of fish, weighing 184-pounds, caught off Cabo San Lucas, Mexico in July 2005.

The post Huge 111-Pound Wahoo Caught in Bahamas appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Big wahoo are a big deal, and the 101-pounder caught by angler Derrick Dover while fishing with his dad Tony and brother Andrew Oct. 1 on the “Muscle Memories” boat is a record breaker.

They were entered in the popular Destin Fishing Rodeo, headquartered in the town of Destin in Florida’s Panhandle.

The anglers had first targeted grouper that morning. But slow bottom fishing made them start trolling, and it didn’t take long for them to hook and boat a 30-pound wahoo.

Derrick Dover told the Destin Log they were fishing 30 miles southwest of Destin. And after the first wahoo, they hooked another one that struck a Jag-A-Hoo Blue Water Candy lure.

“We were in the same area,” he told the Destin Log. “It took off and just kept going. I thought, ‘Oh this is a big one’.”

The wahoo screamed off a sizzling run lasting almost a minute before Derrick could turn the fish and start fighting it back toward their boat.

“Then I thought it got off because it started coming toward us, so I’m cranking and cranking,” he said.

But the fish wasn’t lost, it just rocketed toward their boat. Then it turned and zipped off on another scorching run.

Dover fought the fish through several runs, still not knowing how big the fish was, nor for sure that it even was a wahoo.

“He was down deep under the motor,” he said.

Then the anglers spotted the fish below the boat, and knew it was something special.

“He was huge, and nerves started to set in,” said Derrick who didn’t want to lose the prized wahoo. “After dad stuck the gaff in him, he was done.”

Back at the Rodeo weigh-in at Destin the fish officially scaled 101-pounds, breaking the previous Rodeo record of 98.2-pounds, set in 2010 by angler Omar Breiz.

The Florida record wahoo weighed 139.56-pounds, caught off Marathon in the Florida Keys in May, 1960 by angler George Von Hoffman.

The post “It Took Off and Just Kept Going!” Record 101-Pound Wahoo Caught Off Florida’s Panhandle appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

It was a perfect late-summer day for running offshore and probing deep reefs for bottom-hugging flounder. So, St. Augustine anglers Jon Herring, 58, and Fred Miles, 57, took advantage of it and ran out of the Ancient City. They settled their 21-foot Contender boat over a reef 17 miles offshore in 73 feet of water where a “live bottom” reef is noted for holding flat fish.

They were rigged right for it, with a cooler full of whole mullet baits from which strips could be cut and sent deep for flounder.

That’s when a giant wahoo suddenly showed just 15 feet from their boat.

“I yelled ‘Whoa, look at that the size of that one’,” says Herring, as the ‘lit up’ fish eased passed them, it’s radiant blue flanks clearly showing in the clear water. “I didn’t even want to try and catch the fish because we didn’t have wire leader to prevent leader cut offs. But Fred said, ‘give me a bait,’ and he rigged it on a jig head to his heaviest fishing outfit – which was still light – and flipped it to the circling wahoo.”

The big wahoo ate the 9-inch mullet immediately, and instantly severed the 80-pound test fluorocarbon leader attached to the bait, said Herring. But the fish didn’t leave. It just circled the boat, above the reef, looking for another meal.

Miles rigged another mullet, tossed it to the wahoo, with the same result. Time after time he rigged a bait, flipped it to the still-circling wahoo, and each time the fish wolfed down the bait, cutting the line like a hot knife through butter. But it continued circling their boat.

“We had one bait left, about a 12-inch live whiting we’d caught earlier on a strip bait and tossed into the live well,” explained Herring. “Fred hooked it through the nose with a 7/0-circle hook, and pitched it to the wahoo as it swam by us just 15 feet away.”

The wahoo took the bait, and the circle hook did its job by barbing the fish on the side of the mouth – its metal shank preventing the wahoo’s razor-sharp teeth from cutting the line again.

The medium-action flounder rod bent tight, and 40-pound test braided line ripped off his Daiwa “Saltist” 30-class level-wind reel, as the wahoo kicked into high gear and raced away.

Herring quickly pulled up the Contender’s Spot Lock bow-mount electric motor, cranked the big engine and gave chase to the racing wahoo.

“The fish nearly dumped all the line on the reel, and it took awhile to gain on the fish and get it close again,” says Herring, who manned the boat controls. “The wahoo stayed close to the surface until we got near it, then it went down about 30 feet, made another run, and we pretty much got control after that.”

The veteran anglers worked the boat, rod, and hooked fish just right, and about 20 minutes later the wahoo was at the surface, beat, and ready to be brought aboard. But they had no large gaff, only a small homemade gaff designed for handling small fish like flounder. It was made from an old golf club handle with about an 8/0 hook (having no barb) fitted in one end for small fish gaffing duty.

“That little gaff is all we had, so I used it and hit the wahoo near the tail, on the other end of those razor teeth,” said Herring. “Then I muscled it into the boat, Fred dropped his rod, grabbed the fish, too, and we put it onto the deck.

“Then we started jumping up and down like a couple of kids, laughing and yelling, back slapping and smiling.”

They loaded the fish into their cooler, but a couple feet of the tail wouldn’t fit. So they rearranged ice on it as best they could, then ran back to shore to weigh it and get it properly cooled before it spoiled in the Florida August sun.

Back at Camachee Cove Yacht Harbor in St. Augustine the fish weighed 86.7-pounds – a giant of a wahoo, even for St. Augustine, which annually gives up massive wahoo every winter, some weighing over 100 pounds.

But catching wahoo off the Ancient City in summer is a rarity, especially fish of such size. But Herring says a “temperature inversion” occurs every late summer off Northeast Florida, where cool water pushes in and that may have been why such a massive wahoo was so close to shore during the heat of August in Florida.

Asked about catching such a huge wahoo on such light flounder tackle, Miles was matter of fact.

“Braided line was the great equalizer,” he said about catching the wahoo. “And a lot of luck.”

The post An 87-Pound Wahoo Caught by A Flounder Fisherman appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

The Los Cabos region at the tip of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula is a sport fishing shrine that draws worshipful anglers from all over the world. The famed tourist destination includes Cabo San Lucas with its sprawling marina and easy access to the merger of the Pacific Ocean and Sea of Cortez, as well as the East Cape region a few miles north on the sparkling southeastern shores of Baja.

These waters harbor an incredible wealth of marine life, including gamefish ranging from billfish, mahi and wahoo in the blue offshore waters to roosterfish and grouper inshore. Here are some of the angling opportunities you’ll find around Los Cabos in spring.

Striped Marlin Mania

Few other fish attract anglers to the Cabo region like striped marlin. While this species feeds year around in these waters, the best time to fish for striped marlin runs from February through the end of June. While the stripers might show up anywhere, one of the best areas to find the acrobatic billfish in spring is the Golden Gate Bank, 15 miles north of Cabo San Lucas on the Pacific side, where upwellings create rich waters that attract sardines and Pacific mackerel. You might find a school of these marlin attacking a dense pack of bait on the surface, and well-placed live bait such as a mackerel or caballito (Mexican scad) will often draw immediate attention.

Bird Brain

To be clear, the surface feeding activity by striped marlin described above does occur during every outing. On many trips, crews spend time trolling and, at the same, searching the horizon for the telltale clouds of birds hovering over schools of sardines and other baitfish driven to the surface by ravenous striped marlin and other pelagic gamefish. When a boat crew finds these birds, they race to the spot, and once within casting distance, the anglers fling live baits into the melee, often producing multiple hookups followed by releases—an extraordinary opportunity for anglers to achieve personal-best billfish catch-and-release totals.

Other Targets

Striped marlin might grab most of the offshore attention, but there are many other spring angling opportunities in this region, including dorado, yellowfin tuna and wahoo, often found in the same offshore waters.

Close to the sandy beaches of the Sea of Cortez on the East Cape, anglers also can target roosterfish in spring. This fish’s unique comblike dorsal fin slices the water as the rooster attacks schools of baitfish. Roosters often behave like the striped marlin, feeding on the surface.

When roosters don’t show themselves at the surface, one of the most effective techniques for finding them is slow trolling live baits such as mullet or sardines along beaches. Other inshore gamefish such as Pacific jack crevalle and sierra mackerel join in on the near-shore feeding frenzies. Both of these species eagerly bite anything moving, including trolled cedar plugs, tuna feathers and Rapala diving plugs in a variety of colors.

Other species to consider in spring include California yellowtail, cabrilla (leopard groupers) and pargo (Spanish for various species of snapper) These delicious fish can be found along rocky areas of the coastline, and will readily strike a live bait fished near the bottom.

Cabo Launch Points

Los Cabos Airport in San Jose del Cabo serves both Cabo San Lucas and the East Cape, and it is less than three hours by air from most major Southern California airports. A transfer to Cabo San Lucas takes less than hour, while the drive to the East Cape takes about one hour.

Cabo San Lucas features a huge, bustling marina; the IGY Marina company is the largest resident operator with 380 slips, many of them filled with sportfishing boats to meet the needs of anglers wanting to charter. Hotels ranging from economical to luxury 5-star properties surround the marina, and make it convenient to walk to your charter boat for an early morning departure.

On the other hand, the East Cape has no marinas. Instead, each beachside resort has its own fleet of sportfishing boats that anchor in the typically calm waters in front of the resorts. Some properties build small piers where passengers can board and de-board, while others use pangas to ferry guests to and from the larger boats.

Charter Options

Back in Cabo San Lucas, for more than four decades, the Ehrenberg family has run the Pisces Sport Fishing charter operation in Marina at Los Cabos. Their boats are equipped with high-end rods and reels spooled with fresh line, available in various sizes from 30- to 80-pound-test trolling outfits. They also provide bait-fishing outfits with either 30- or 50-pound-test line, plus lures, leader, terminal tackle and more.

“Pisces Sport Fishing has gotten off to a record-breaking pace in 2022,” says Rebecca Ehrenberg, Pisces vice president of conservation, “In January, our fleet released 2,361 marlin, with excellent catches of 315 tuna and 181 dorado (mahi), combined with 282 wahoo and other inshore species. Our bookings through June are rapidly filling up. Our spring season should be remarkable.”

Read Next: Cabo San Lucas Fishing

Few destinations can match the Los Cabos region for the remarkable array of spring fishing opportunities to catch saltwater gamefish.

The post Los Cabos, Mexico: Spring Fishing Bonanza appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Offshore trollers can be separated into three categories: those who slow-troll, those who troll fast, and those who troll for wahoo. Comparatively speaking, that’s like driving your vehicle through a lunchtime Chick-fil-A parking lot, driving on an interstate, and driving in the Daytona 500.

High-speed trolling for wahoo is faster than ever, in part because of new lures, improved tackle, and faster, more-maneuverable boats. Anglers also have realized that they really can’t troll too fast for wahoo, which rank among the fastest fish in the ocean.

“I usually troll for wahoo at 14 to 17 knots,” says Capt. Cory Burlew (goddesscharters.com) of Deerfield Beach, Florida, who has fished for wahoo for 30 years. “When I first started, we did 8, 9, 10 knots. Thirteen knots was the big number in the late 1990s.”

“We troll from 12 knots up to 16 knots,” says Mark Henderson (fishlf.com), captain of the Liquid Fire Fishing Team out of Cape Carteret, North Carolina, who adds that wahoo can’t help but chase something whizzing by them. “They’re predatory. You get in their strike zone, it’s an instinctive reaction.”

Go-Fast Lures
Henderson, who competes in king mackerel and multispecies tournaments with his sons Joshua and Crockett, said at press time that the wahoo bite off North Carolina had been strong since fall. He commonly heard reports of fish from 50 to 60 pounds, as well as several over 100 pounds.

Henderson’s new boat, a SeaVee 390Z with four Mercury Verado 400 outboards, makes it child’s play for him to run 60 to 65 miles to fish for wahoo in 30 to 50 fathoms. He dials in the fish using his SiriusXM sea-surface ­temperature data to find breaks, where blackfin tuna, vermilion snapper and flying fish typically congregate—all prey species for wahoo.

“High-speed trolling covers so much ground, it’s becoming more and more popular,” Henderson says. “Yo-Zuri Bonita plugs are pretty popular. The Blue Water Candy Jag-A-Hoo is very popular here. It’s got a blade, so it creates a lot of flash. It’s a little heavier and a little bigger, so it stays a little more in the water. Purple-and-black, black-and-blue or red-and-black—those colors tend to entice strikes.”

Burlew, whose biggest wahoo weighed 110.4 pounds, does most of his high-speed wahoo trolling in the Bahamas and says he has always had luck with those same dark colors for big fish because the baits resemble bonito. He uses his own custom slant-head lures, which he plans to eventually bring to market.

“Most people use straight-running lures. I like slant heads because they run better and deliver more action,” he explains.

Burlew adds that many wahoo-­tournament anglers fish Black Bart Lures, such as the 12-inch San Sal Candy or Hawaiian Eyes. His lures are slightly smaller to better match what wahoo eat.

That’s also part of his tournament strategy. In the early days of high-speed wahoo trolling, when Burlew fished on Concrete Machine with Capt. Ron Schatman, the most wahoo won. Now, the biggest wahoo wins.

“The ones we use are the right size that the fish are feeding on,” says Burlew of his lures, which are 8 to 10 inches long. “Sometimes the smaller ones seem to catch more fish and bigger fish because wahoo feed on flying fish and small tuna. I feel like the big fish are lazy. They’d rather eat a small bait. It’s like walking by a buffet; are you going to pick up a french fry or a baked potato?”

High-Speed Tackle
Burlew and Henderson both usually troll five lines: one far behind the boat, one on each outrigger, and one at each corner. The latter four are staggered at different distances because sometimes wahoo prefer lures close to the boat, and sometimes they bite only the distant ones. Starting off with different colors helps the skippers determine what the fish want that day.

“I put out either three brights and two darks or three darks and two brights,” says Burlew, who fishes variations of the same color once he determines which is preferred. “The majority of the time, once you home in on a color, that’s when you get your multiples. Sometimes the fish like bright colors early in the morning. In dark-purple water, dark colors work best. Sometimes I use blue, black and white lures to imitate giant ocean ­flyers with white backs.”

A member of the Accurate pro staff, Henderson uses ATD TwinDrag 50-wide reels spooled with 50-pound Yo-Zuri Hybrid copolymer line. He’ll top it with 50 feet of 100- or 120-pound Yo-Zuri fluorocarbon, and tie that to a small, stainless-steel ball-bearing snap swivel. Ten to 12 feet of wire goes from the swivel to the lure. “If we have to change lures, we’ll cut down the wire until it gets to 4 or 5 feet. We try to keep baits in the water.”

He pairs the reels with custom 6-foot, 50-pound-class rods with AFTCO guides and bent butts. His anglers fight wahoo either from a swiveling rod holder or an AFTCO stand-up belt.

One of the key innovations since the old days of high-speed trolling is braided line. Burlew says he used to troll either 100-pound wire line or 80-pound monofilament line for wahoo. Although he prefers the stretch, shock absorption, and forgiveness of mono, he says it’s hard to overlook the advantages of braid, which is what he primarily fishes today.

“We can fish the drags a little tighter, and the braid cuts through the water better, so we can fish a little bit lighter lead,” says Burlew, who uses 80- or 130-pound Shimano Tiagra reels because of their strong drags and line capacity. “With monofilament, the farther out it gets, the tighter the drag becomes or the line breaks. With braid, you have the same amount of drag with half a spool. If too much line goes out, it’s easier to gain it back.”

Cable Benefits
Another recent adaptation for Burlew is using cable instead of wire to ­connect a trolling weight to the main line and to the lure. “What that does is it enables you to go shorter [on the shock cord],” he says. “If a fish hits the lead, it won’t cut you off. I use heavier cable—900-pound—from the snap swivel to the lead, and thinner cable—400 to 480—for the shock cord.

“All of my shock cords are the same length: 35 to 40 feet. When I used wire, my shock cords were 100 feet. Make sure your snap snivels are good. I like 300- to 400-pound snap swivels so strong that it takes Superman to open them up. Wahoo hit so hard sometimes, they’ll almost spring it open.”

Read Next: Louisiana’s Wahoo Wonderland

That’s the nature of this prime gamefish; it can’t help but shift into high gear to chase down a lure that zips past. Moral: The faster you troll, the better the wahoo bite.

West Coast Wahoo
To target wahoo out of Southern California, many anglers book trips on multipassenger long-range boats to fish Mexico’s Baja Peninsula. “Most anglers head south on a seven- or eight-day trip or longer to reach the wahoo areas,” says Steve Carson, a Penn and Rapala pro staffer from Carlsbad, California. “In some warmer years, the wahoo have been a little closer. From 2014 through 2016, Oceanside (California) was ground zero for wahoo.”

Carson says the boats run about 450 miles to a series of volcanic islets, known as Alijos Rocks, and to an area known as the Ridge. Wahoo typically can be found there from July through December, but he adds that the best months to catch the fish are probably September and October.

When fishermen trolling lures hook wahoo from a long-range boat, other anglers cast lures or live bait to the school. Carson says most of these bigger boats troll for wahoo at 9 to 11 knots, “although certainly plenty of fish are caught at 7½ knots.”

About 40 years ago, anglers fished chrome-plated lead-head jigs with feathers that weighed 10 to 16 ounces, he says. In the late 1980s, what Carson calls the pregnant guppy-style plug became popular.

The trolling lures of choice today include the Braid Marauder and the Yo-Zuri Bonita. Carson trolls a black-and-purple Rapala X-Rap Magnum XR40. He rigs the lure with 2 feet of 175-pound cable leader, and fishes it on 80-pound monofilament line spooled to a Penn International 30 or 50. The big reels become necessary if you hook a large tuna or marlin.

Carson upgrades the VMC 4X Perma Steel hooks to 6X to handle wahoo that can range from 30 to 100 pounds. “Anything over 60 pounds is considered big. A fish of 70 pounds will usually win you the jackpot.”

Other popular deep-diving plugs include the Nomad DTX Minnow and Bomber CD 30—the bigger the better. “We get so few opportunities to be in the wahoo area, we don’t want a tuna to bite,” Carson says. “Ten- to 15-pound tuna are just like flies. They’ll drive you insane. Trolling those big plugs is a way to concentrate on the wahoo.”

Favorite colors include orange with a black back or dark purple with a black back, although Carson says, “it’s really more the wiggle than the color. Every boat has one lure that swims the way the fish like it.”

Captains troll lures in the prop wash of the long-range boats, which seem to attract wahoo rather than repel them. “You get to see a bite quite often. That’s really thrilling.”

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Fishing the edge of the Bar off Key West, on the outside reef, Capt. R.T. Trosset targets wahoo with live speedos, bullet bonito or blue runners. Anywhere there is an irregularity in the reef, such as a high or low spot, it’s liable to attract wahoo. The best fishing conditions are during an east current or when the Gulf Stream edge moves in close to the reef, he says.

“The top fishing times are five days before the full moon and five days after in December and January,” says Trosset. “Also, mid-June to July can be hot, especially under flotsam in 200 to 2,000 feet.”

Once you hook one, keep fishing hard: Wahoo often school together, and you catch more. “I like fishing with live baits for the spectacular, skyrocketing bites,” he says. “I’ve caught more than 20 in a day, averaging 25 to 60 pounds.”

Around flotsam, Trosset trolls deep-diving purple-and-black bombers, or he’ll jig metal or bucktails 200 to 300 feet below the object. For live-baiting, chunking or jigging, Trosset prefers to use Fin-Nor 6500 spinners with 30-pound braid. For conventional setups, he opts for a Fin-Nor Marquesa 30 on a Tidal rod with 50-pound braid.

Explosive Tuna

For those who enjoy the promise of active fishing inherent in both jigging and popping, Key West in winter is hard to beat. Anglers well equipped can enjoy a variety of situations. Start trolling just a few miles from Key West where the bottom drops away from the shallow outer reef. You might soon find yourself in the midst of multiple schools of blackfin tuna, prowling the surface and tearing up baitfish.

Capt. Trosset runs just upwind of a frenzy and pops the power into neutral, so anglers can fire lures and jigs into the commotion. The whole area can remain alive with explosive blackfin pods for hours. Small lead-head jigs are hard to beat, perhaps mimicking the tiny jacks on which the tuna gorge. But they also climb all over small to medium topwater plugs, and the strike alone is worth the price of admission.

Madness on the Reef

Starting at some point in December and on through winter, big fish “cruise the edge of the reef, from Cosgrove to the buoy, and come up to crash the hell out of the ballyhoo!” Trosset says. “We look for the frigate birds,” he says, then get anglers ready to cast. “You throw a topwater into that, and you’ll get hit 95 percent of the time. And it can be anything!”

Trosset lists blackfin tuna, sailfish, little tunny, kingfish, cero mackerel, big yellowtail snapper, bar jack, jack crevalle and occasionally mutton snapper as among the game fish mixing it up underneath bunches of frantic ballyhoo.

“Sometimes we even get good gaffer dolphin — 12- to 20-pounders — up there when they’re chasing ballyhoo.”

Little Ledges Hold Big Surprises

In addition to fishing small ledges, Trosset has the option to put anglers over any of quite a few wrecks. The upside is that these offer a larger target to hit when dropping metal deep than does a small ledge. They also hold good concentrations of fish (typically including the most and biggest AJs). The downside is that unlike the little ledges for which many numbers fill Trosset’s GPS, wrecks are hardly a secret and get more fishing pressure more consistently.

Trosset points out there’s always the chance of finding new small ledges or slightly elevated hard-bottom spots since many remain uncharted. He recommends keeping a jig rod or two armed and ready for a stop ’n’ drop when the sounder shows something interesting while trolling. He recommends jigs that are in the shape of Bomber Saltwater Grade’s Darters (versus very long, skinny jigs), noting that he seldom needs to go to jigs heavier than 4 ounces. And of course, he’ll tell you that lead-heads with plastics still get great results (though these might be needed in weights heavier than metal jigs, since the latter tend to sink more effortlessly into deep water).

Tournament Sailfishing Hits High Gear

Up to 25 boat teams of elite sport fishermen are to compete in the Florida Keys Gold Cup Sailfish Championship series held in the waters off Islamorada, abiding by rules that strongly emphasize conservation and sportsmanship. Fishing is scheduled Friday through Sunday, Dec. 2-4, with an awards ceremony Sunday.

If a minimum 14 boats register in the overall Gold Cup Series, $20,000 in prize money is to be awarded. Amounts increase as the number of registered boats increases.

Each of the three tournaments in the series operates independently with its own set of rules and entry fees. At least one angler must be entered and paid for all three series events by the kickoff of the Islamorada Sailfish Tournament, first in the renowned triple-crown sequence.

A primary fundraiser for the Islamorada Charter Boat Association, the Islamorada Sailfish Tournament is the only event in the series to offer a junior division for anglers age 16 and younger. The all-release boat event opens with pre-registration Thursday, Dec. 1. An unlimited number of anglers is allowed per vessel.

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