July 7, 2004
Wahoo: How to Consistently Catch Them from Sailboats

	This wahoo ate an 8-inch, skipjack-colored Australian Runner swimming plug trolled on wire line at 4 knots in an inner passage of the Vava'u Group, Kingdom of Tonga. Tackle was a Penn 9/0 and Capt. Harry's bent-butt wire line rod.

Some questions come up very consistently when Wendy and I are doing seminars based on The Cruiser's Handbook of Fishing, or speaking with fellow sailors at far-flung anchorages. One of these is "We're doing pretty well now trolling with mahi mahi and other odds and ends, but how can we consistently target wahoo?"

As with any quarry, it helps to know the biology of the animal you seek. Wahoo (Acanthocybium solanderi) are very fast-swimming members of the immense family Scombridae, which includes all of the tunas and mackerels. Although an oceanic species, these fish orient to coastlines and bottom features, frequenting sea mounts and steep drop-offs. Larger individuals may be solitary, but smaller ones and more often even the big fish occur in groups. Schools of usually smaller wahoo may be found associated with floating debris offshore, or near points of reef particularly in tropical Indo-Pacific atolls. While the species reaches a maximum size of at least 183 pounds, fish between 15 and 50 pounds are common catches when you employ the right techniques. Wahoo tend to be most abundant in winter months in the tropics, with the exception of the packs of smaller fish on offshore debris, or congregated at reef features and passes in the lower latitudes.

Alvey Reefmaster commercial deck winch, available with a short boom and block, and several mounting options. The large, easy-access drag knob is on the opposite side of the reel from the handle in the photo.

Fishing operations catch wahoo primarily by trolling flashy offerings deep and fast (11 to 18 knots). These speeds don't work for most of us, unless of course we have access to a drop-off somewhere in the lee where we can employ our dinghies. We can get our offerings deep--30 to 60 feet--by using either wire trolling line, a downrigger, or a trolling planer. Then the only trick is to use lures that work well at 2 or 3 to 8 knots. These include large spoons and swimming plugs (for example the Australian Runner, made by Williamson Lures in South Africa, www.williamsonl.com; and assorted lures available from either Capt. Harry's Fishing Supply, www.captharry.com, or Offshore Angler Saltwater Specialist Catalog, at www.basspro.com ). Jet heads and large dark-colored trolling feathers rigged with strip baits work well at higher dinghy speeds (8 to 13 knots is fine), and whole natural baits rigged with weighted octopus skirts or sea witches also do very well.

OK, OK you say, enough with the details...just tell me one thing to do that works. Fine. Here's the deadliest sailboat wahoo outfit for trolling (and excellent for tuna and other offshore and bottom fish).

Buy an Alvey commercial deck winch and mount it somewhere on your aft railing (Alvey Reels, 2-6 Antimony Street, Carole Park, Queensland, 4300 Australia, phone 61-7-3271-2844, fax 61-7-3271-2451, email info@alvey.com.au ). Load it with .040 diameter 110 pound test Capt. Harry's Monel trolling line (www.captharry.com) and haywire twist a snap swivel to the end. Purchase a 9-inch Australian Runner in either black and purple or skipjack color, haywire twist 30 feet of #8 single strand stainless steel trolling leader to it and a black barrel swivel to the other end. Clip this on to the snap swivel. File the hooks on the lure to razor sharpness. Drop the lure overboard and let out 300 feet of wire line. Adjust the drag on the Alvey to about 18 pounds. Troll the lure at 4 to 9 knots along steep reef drop-offs, points, around a seamount, or past floating debris offshore. Hang on, because if there're any wahoo around the wire, it will soon be zipping off the Alvey and you'll have a fight on your hands, as well as fresh wahoo steaks on the grill after you bring it to the gaff. Further rigging details appear in Chapters 2 and 3 of The Cruiser's Handbook of Fishing.

Our Alvey Reefmaster has caught countless wahoo, yellowfin tuna, narrow-barred mackerel, dogtooth tuna, sharks, groupers, snappers, skipjack tuna, mahi mahi, and other species. We recommend it as the most maintenance-free, efficient device for consistently catching all sizes of fish trolling from sailboats where the object is simply to land the fish with minimum fuss for the purpose of eating it, or to show it to the kids and release it. It's also great for bottom fishing, in depths to 1000 feet. A high proportion of Australian sailors have at least one Alvey clamped to the taffrail with good reason.

Another option is to load an old Penn Senator 9/0 to 12/0 with the same trolling wire and mount it similarly to the rail. These drags need much more attention than the Alvey, however, to keep them smooth, and if you go ahead and buy a wire line rod to match these reels you will have spent considerably more than if you simply purchase a commercial deck winch. The rod and reel approach to wire line trolling would permit use in the dinghy, although the smaller Alvey models could also be mounted on dinghy transoms.

Whichever way you go, the techniques for consistently catching wahoo while trolling from your sailboat will add a whole new dimension to your catch, and to the galley table.