Fishing Charter – Trolling to Catch Wahoo

Angry Seas // High Speed Trolling - Wahoo Season - Florida

After January’s stormy seas we finally found a break in the weather that allowed us to get out to sea and start trolling to catch wahoo. Finally able to go on the hunt for some Wahoo, it’s 4:30A.M. and the Regulator 32’ sat fully fueled for our upcoming high speed adventure. Tackle, bait and crew were stowed as we made our way through the inlet on route to North Florida’s premiere Wahoo hunting grounds…“The Ledge.” Near flat conditions made for a quick run out to to 130’ where we deployed our High-Speed gear as the sun began to rise.  We ran a 5 line spread: (2) 50’s on bent butt rods in the transom running short and deep, two more 50’s on straight butts running long off the port and starboard sides, and a 50 on a straight but long down the middle as our shotgun bait.

With the sun starting to shine we noticed blended water, a lack of bait and consistent water temperature. These less than stelar conditions provided us with a slow start to the morning. Finding no rips, weed lines, bait or color breaks we decided to run north along the ledge at 15 knots in zig-zag patterns trying to make something happen while trolling to catch wahoo. Our first strike came on the west side of the ledge at 10:30 A.M. on the port long line. After letting the fish run for a few seconds we eased the motors down and began the fight. During the fight the fish wrapped the shotgun line as we were clearing the lines and we had to carefully reel both lines in at the same time. A well placed gaff shot and our first fish was aboard. The 45 lb. fish ate one of our new white over blue Angry Seas jet head trolling lures. We couldn’t be happier with the results we are getting with our new jet heads (the skirts screw on and off allowing for quick lure repairs while fishing). We put the fish in the box  and re-deployed our spread, this time with a foil blue/black over with white lure on the shotgun we turned around and went over the spot where the first fish struck. Wahoo tend to swim in packs and it’s always a good idea to work over an area when you get your first strike.

About a 1/4 mile from the first strike we got our second and final hook up of the day. The blue/white shotgun went off and we were able to clear the port side line before any tangles occurred. Slow and steadily  the fish came to the side of the boat. This fish was smaller but much more feisty than the first. A quick gaff shot and we were loading out second fish in the box. We continued to high speed without much luck so we set out our bait spread. After an hour or so of no bites pulling bait we decided to re-deploy the high speed gear and start heading home. The afternoon was much like the morning with little to no signs of life, so at 120’ we packed up and headed home. All in all a slow but successful day trolling to catch wahoo on the Angry Seas.

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