Long Island Offshore Fishing Report & Forecast: Dec. 2014

Capt. Luke with wahoo caught high speed trolling on Simms Bar, Long island.
Capt. Luke with wahoo caught high speed trolling on Simms Bar, Long island.

[dropcap]R[/dropcap]ig up your high speed lures and fuel up your tanks, December is here and the wahoo are running thick off Long island. Simms Bar always seems to pay off nicely with a few wahoo. Some loner yellowfin tuna are still in the area and we have caught them while high speed trolling as well. My personal favorite lures are Islander Flash lures rigged with double skirts and double 11/0 size hooks. These lures, with their nylon hair, hold up good for multiple bites so you get more bang for your buck. We prefer to take no risks and run all cable on our rigs starting with a 30-foot 270-pound cable wind on leader then a 24-ounce trolling lead and a 30-foot 480-pound cable shock leader to the lure. Sometimes instead of the cable wind on leaders we will run 100 to 200 feet of 110-pound Monel trolling wire wind on leader. This helps to track better through the water and prevent cutoffs at the lead; however, the angler wiring the fish needs to pay particular attention not to kink the wire and risk losing a nice fish. If jigging is more your sport you can plan to moor a FAD (fish attracting device) made with palm fronds and a wood pallet in an area 400- to 500-feet deep. Leave it for a few days and come back to a school of wahoo ready to hit your jigs on the first drop. We have had fun catching half a dozen wahoo this way, as well as numerous mahi-mahi with pitch baits. When high speed trolling in places like Diana Bank, the sharks are always following the boat ready to take their taxes of fish, so when we hook up, we like to tell our anglers to crank down on the fish like crazy while we slow the boat right down to 2 to 3 knots, and from time to time even put the boat in neutral just to get a whole fish in the boat. Safe fishing and tight lines.