Note from the Editor: “I apologize for the pun… Well, actually – on second thought – I don’t.”
On May 10 this year, Jim Butterworth with Jay Bowles and Capt. Joe Hall set out from Stuart, Florida’s Sailfish Marina aboard “Fishious,” Jim’s 21-foot center console for a few hours of trolling and the opportunity to see what was biting outside the Stuart Inlet. After countless days of the wind blowing 15 to 20 knots, it was a nice day for a boat ride, no pressure, no expectations. As the longtime adage advises, “You don’t know, if you don’t go.”
“Let’s just rig some naked ballyhoos and get our spread out,” Jim told Jay and Joe. Ten minutes later they were a quarter mile into the Gulf Stream trolling north at 7 knots. That’s when it happened.
Bam! There was a massive knockdown, and line screamed off the Shimano TLD 30IIA from the port-side outrigger. As Jim grabbed the rod to maintain tension on the fish, his first thought was, “This is no ordinary fish.”
With the line still screaming off the reel and the boat now out of gear, Jim still couldn’t gain anything on the fish, not even a crank. This fish was headed to Melbourne.
Two and a half hours later, a toothy blue-striped image appeared at the back of the boat. “Wahoo!” Jay and Joe shouted as the gaff moved close in for the snag, but this was no ordinary wahoo; this was a monster wahoo. Jim struggled to raise the 88-pound prize to the gunnel. To say catching this massive wahoo was a phenomenal feat would miss the fact it was hooked, fought and landed on 50-pound mono with a 100-pound mono leader.
How many times have we all reeled in a cut leader knowing it was a wahoo? It’s almost a given that you’re not fishing for wahoo if you’re not using wire.
This fish on mono goes into the Coastal Angler record book. Hat’s off to Jim Butterworth, Jay Bowles, and Captain Joe Hall.