By: Capt. Joel Brandenburg
If you’ve ever fought a wahoo you know what I mean. Wahoo is the fastest swimming fish in the ocean. Wahoo have been clocked at over 60 miles per hour. Most clients who high speed troll for wahoo on our boat say “how can a fish hit a bait that’s moving so fast?” The speed and agility of a wahoo is unbelievable. They are the perfect killing machines. 90% of the wahoo I’ve cleaned in the Florida Keys have baby tuna in them. Tuna are very fast, but no match for a hungry wahoo. A black fin tuna has hues of purple and orange over its deep black hide. The best colored artificial baits to use for wahoo are coincidentally purple and/or orange. Some people swear by red, but that’s because purple and orange make red. We catch wahoo using several different techniques, but our most effective way is high speed trolling.
Below are some high-speed trolling tips:
- We like to use tormenter plastic skirts and Nomad lures for high speed trolling rigged with a 250lb cable tied to 30ft of 100lb mono tied to a 1/2lb inline weight with 100lb braid on a bent butt rod n 50w conventional reel. At 14kts your lure will troll about 40ft deep. Set your clicker as light as you can possibly set it to keep your spool locked.
- We find the best time to high speed troll is on a sunny clear day with little or no wind and waves early in the morning or late in the afternoon. We try to pick areas that don’t have scattered weeds for a clean troll. Weeds will trip your reel.
- We’ve had our best luck in 100ft to 250ft deep just outside the reef. Troll over wrecks, ledges and structures also troll under war birds and next to floaters, even next to crab and lobster trap buoys and beside organized weed lines.
- We’ve done well high-speed trolling on the frontside and the backside of thunderstorms. We also troll color changes and temperature changes. Its best to have two trolling rigs going at the same time. The reason two seems to work the best is because wahoo run together and it’s common to have two hit simultaneously. Also, more than two at one time is too much chaos.
- Another good wahoo tip: when you are low speed trolling ballyhoo for mahi in areas that wahoo are likely to be in, don’t be afraid to use wire rigged ballyhoo. The mahi don’t seem to mind the wire and if a wahoo does hit you’ll be glad you were wire rigged. Many times, while trolling mono rigged ballyhoo we experience what we call “zoom pow. “The wahoo hits and all we hear is “zoom pow” as the mono leader snaps from its power and sharp teeth.
— For a charter with Ana Banana Fishing Company Marathon
Florida Keys call 813-267-4401 cell, 305-395-4211 office, or email us at
marathonkeyfishingcharters@gmail.com You can also visit us in person at Ana Banana Marina at 12699 Overseas Highway Marathon Florida Keys or Captain Joel Brandenburg 570 Sombrero Beach Rd Marathon FL 33050