In my last post, I mentioned the conditions were getting “right” and I expected the fishing to “bust loose” soon. We are coming up on a full moon and this time of year that means the Wahoo should be biting. Well, believe it or not, I was Right! Hell, maybe I’m starting to figure this fishing thing out after a little more than 30 yrs!
We had the same group as we did on Wednesday, and we fished the same area as we did on Wednesday. But with much better results today. In the fall and on the full moon, Wahoo are one of the fish we target. A Wahoo is the largest and fastest member of the mackerel family. They look very similar to a King mackerel. They have the same basic size and shape. Wahoo has a small retractable dorsal fin, while King Mackerel only have a fixed dorsal fin.
The Wahoo is much prettier in my opinion. King Mackerel have a “mother of pearl” look to them. Wahoo have vertical blue striper.
Wahoo are also faster than the King mackerel and most other fish. There is not a mate or Captain on the dock that has not blistered their thumb from giving a drop back to a fish thinking it was a Sailfish only to find out it was a Wahoo. When a Sailfish hits, you want to give put the reel in free spool so the Sailfish can turn the bait and swallow it before you set the hook. The mate will keep his thumb on the spool so it does not backlash, (tangle). if the mate doesn’t see the strike, a good mate will often give a dropback just in case it is a sailfish. If it is a sailfish this increases your chances of a hookup.
Unfortunately, if it is not a sailfish, but is a wahoo instead, he will blister your thumb with the friction of the spool against your thump before you have a chance to lock up the reel. They are that fast!
Wahoo is also the best eating member of the Mackerel family. Their meat is firm and white and not oily at all. Many of the Captains and mates on the dock consider Wahoo their favorite fish to eat and they get a pretty good selection to choose from.
We caught 3 nice wahoo today. The biggest one was about 30 lbs. Not my biggest, but a nice fish. If I could catch that size all day, I would be happy. The bite was early and we were one of the first boats to the area. By the time most of the other boats got there, the bite had shut down. That will happen when you get a bunch of boats running around over them. I’m glad we got an early start.