Today was the 2nd trip this week for these folks.
They fish 2 days ago and we caught a basked full of Yellowtail Snapper and some Cero Mackerel on the Reef. So today they decided to try their luck offshore. Hey heard about the Wahoo from yesterday and only one of them had caught a Wahoo fishing before.
The wind had let up a little bit since yesterday, but it was not calm. Seas were about 3 ft. Not horrible, but you knew you were on a boat. I worked east making sure to pass over some of the deep wrecks up that way. The wrecks hold a lot of bait and other fish and Wahoos are big-time predators. They like to hand around wrecks in search of a meal. I was hoping we could oblige one with its last meal.
Fishing was not fast and furious, but when you are looking for big fish, that’s usually the way it is. We did manage to catch a couple of Black Fin Tuna. They were keepers but honestly not very big. We also got a skip Jack Tuna. They don’t get as big as Black Fin Tuna and this one was an OK size. We picked up a big Rainbow Runner on one of the wrecks. Its been a while since I caught one of those trilling/
We worked our way east going over 5 different wrecks. We were about 13 miles east of Key West and halfway through the trip so it was time to turn around and start working our way back. I zigzagged in and out from different depths, 250 ft to about 550ft) and over different wrecks. I was wondering if we were going to get our big fish today. We did
On a wreck in 300+ ft of water, the deep troll bent over and started screaming line out. Now it’s not uncommon to get big barracuda on the wrecks and they will make a strong run. Usually not quite as impressive as a Wahoo, but every so often one will fool you. As my angler was fighting the fish, you could see the tip of the rod bouncing. That is from the fish shaking its head trying to dislodge the gook. That is a sign that you have a wahoo on and not a barracuda. In the end, we boated a nice 25 lb Wahoo. Not quite as big as the day before, but I’ll take them that size any day