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Fall Wahoo
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Every October anglers across Louisiana look forward to the much-awaited end to the dog days of summer, anxiously welcoming the changing of the guard and the cooler fall weather and the great offshore fishing opportunities the autumnal equinox brings with it. The seasonal transition not only means shorter days and cooler temperatures, but the beginning of the mass migration of mullet and other baitfish from the protected shallow marshes and near-shore bays to the more saline offshore spawning grounds.
Safety in numbers? These relatively helpless souls only defense is to move quickly in a tightly packed balls until they reach the shelf where the mighty gamefish of the Gulf lie in wait to ambush them as easy prey; sometimes in waters as shallow as 150 feet. In one days fishing it is ultimately possible for any offshore angler to have a shot at just every apex predator on the Louisiana Saltwater Game Fish Poster without the long runs to Campeche.
Though mass majority of Louisiana anglers will be concentrating their efforts on yellowfin tuna, this fall, wahoo, while also abundantly available will likely be overlooked by most. Packs of hungry wahoo will be cruising the shelf off Louisiana as they do every fall looking to fatten up before the winter breeding run. Wahoo in the 40-60 pound range will congregate off the mouth of the Mississippi in the coming months in one of the largest breeding aggregations for the species in the Northern Hemisphere; rivaled only by the North Drop of the Bahamas.
In order to be successful at catching these speedsters of the deep, you will need to throw away the standard ideas of where to find them and do things a little different with your spread. I have found that cool weather wahoo fishing requires a lot of deviation from the normal approach in terms of bait selection, speed, number of lines fished (presentation) with water depth being the key deviant point. Shallow water structures in depths ranging from 200-600 feet are historically, the more productive areas from the fall and early winter.
You have got to reprogram your brain not to think you need to fish the deep blue water or rigs in far away places to find these fish. King fish anglers will tell you stories about wahoo they caught in 200 ft of water while fishing fall king tournaments in green water within sight of Southwest Pass. That may sound outrageous to most; but not those who have experienced success pulling the rabbit out of the hat, while the mass majority of others are off looking in the same old tired and crowded places pulling the skunk.
Most structures in 600-200 feet of water will hold bait and wahoo from fall to spring. Conditions and structure to look for include any discontinuity in the surface water or the bathymetric profile. Floating debris (the larger the better), color changes, rips on top; and shelf breaks (100 fathom curve), ledges, wrecks, reefs and most importantly rigs beneath the surface. Water color doesn't matter as much this time of year, as long as it is at least clean green on top. More than likely the color change to cleaner water is just beneath the surface. Bait will attempt to hide in the dirty water with the predators corral them from below.
Don't get discouraged if you come up empty at first. Work an area with at least 3 passes, focusing on the up current sides from different directions before moving on. If you do get a strike it is imperative to keep the boat moving in an attempt to draw more strikes from other fish. If you must stop or slow the boat to keep from getting spooled, make every attempt to reel the other baits in as quickly as possible. Pick up one fish stay put. They run in packs, and finding the pack is the key to big success this time of year.
When preparing your gear and presentation, it helps to understand how these fish feed. Wahoo always hit their prey from the side or underside at high speed, slicing them in two. My own inspections of wahoo stomach contents have yielded mullet, hardtails and bonita cut neatly into three pieces. A mid section and tail and head. Wahoo will race at their prey at light speed taking the middle section in between their razor teeth and turn back to pick up the head and tail pieces as they fall twitching to the seabed.
Hooks should therefore be sharp and sturdy with at least one set placed directly in the middle of the plug or surface bait. J-hooks are preferred over treble hooks and trebles over doubles. In fact always change out the stock hooks on diving plugs especially the double hooks and replace them with heavy-duty split rings and heavy-duty treble hooks.
When a wahoo makes its initial run, it usually stops, shakes it's head and starts off in another direction or heads directly for the boat. Double hooks almost always come out after the initial run unless constant pressure is maintained and drag settings are on the light side. If you change out the doubles and ensure proper drag settings your strike to fish in the box ratio will improve. I prefer 10 pounds of drag when using baits with treble hooks and 14 pounds when using J-hooks in conjunction with natural baits. Let's face it; you are going to lose some fish. Whether at the strike, during the fight or at the wire, these fish come off the line very easily, you are going to have to accept that it's is out of your control. The tissue around their mouths and as a whole is relatively soft; a fish that hits a bait as hard as they do is going to get fouled hooked or wear out a decent sized hole around it's jaw during a fight no matter what the drag setting. It is most important to keep the boat moving allowing for adequate pressure on the fish at all times during the fight.
Careful with a wahoo on the gaff or in the cockpit. Often times after a green fish comes in the boat, one twitch or violent set of head shakes will send the hook and bait flying across the deck; Also, take great care in handling any wahoo, or when removing deeply bedded hooks; their teeth are like little ceramic knives in a row and they love to shake around.
As far as the overall presentation is concerned. Fish the baits on the fast side, and try a mixture of baits. I like to troll 3-5 different baits anywhere from 8-10 knots. I like hard baits, soft surface baits and natural baits. Braid Marauders and Yo-Zuri Bonitas are by far the best plugs. They hold up, troll fast and are easy to reel in. They work best when fished close to the boat in purple, black or tiger colors. I like to set the first one about 10-20 yards back followed by a second bait 10 yards behind the first one. Then I will follow with a pink-skirted ballyhoo and a blue and white Islander or Black Hole with ballyhoo on the riggers. I may also try running a rigged ballyhoo on a downrigger in green water set at the depth where bait show up on the sounder. Only problem with the downrigger is it limits you to a top speed of 5-8 knots but some days it's the only bait a wahoo will hit so it is a definite must to have one.
If you are going to move from location to location it's never a bad idea to troll in open water. You are going to cover the ground anyway. Might as well do it in comfort with a shot at a fish, and on rough days it makes perfect sense. At 8 knots you can cover nearly 50 miles in a half day. Last fall when no other conditions were found we decided to work the 100-fathom curve in open water and it resulted in a 93 pounder early on. No telling how the rest of the day would have been since rough seas and an unsettled crew made for an early day. If you encounter calm conditions in clean water, try high speed trolling 2 baits at 15-18 knots when moving from place to place. A bright colored heavy feather or high speed Jet head run off the shotgun rod holders will work fine as long as the baits are run 100-150 yards back between the prop wash and the white water from the surface wake. This tactic resulted in the winning wahoo for the Isle of Capri Tournament, although it has yet to work for me.
Another trick to scoring big with wahoo is finding the pack or waiting for them to find you. Sometimes you may have to cover a lot of area to find them and other days you'll luck right into them. Back in 1993, my wife and I were fishing the rigs in 93 block (Now a traditional spot with a lot of pressure) one November morning without even a strike. We hit every rig 3 times with nothing to show, and then out of nowhere every rod had a fish on it. The action was so hot we had to cut down to using two rods (one for each of us). We probably hooked and fought twenty 40-60 pound fish in two hours. Every strike came when we passed between 93 A Platform and the standby buoy 100 yards away from it. I have experienced this type of action at the Lump too and in the Grand Isle 90 Blocks. And I have talked to other fisherman who can give the same testimonial about fishing every rig in Main Pass until they found one stacked with a dozen wahoo. In the colder months they definitely hunt in packs...no question.
The two key points to more successful wahoo fishing are 1- Always fish the baits you have the most confidence in, but don't be afraid to try one or two new baits or approaches; 2. Don't be afraid to bypass the traditional areas that get a lot of pressure, in favor of any of the rigs in 200-500 ft of water in Grand Isle, Ewing Banks, West Delta, South Pass and Main Pass Blocks.
Don't be afraid to deviate and do some exploring on your own, you may find the next historical spot!
Remember the toughest thing about fishing for wahoos this time of year is zeroing in the packs of hungry hoo's. They are a fast moving fish. You may have a successful day in one spot the day before and find that they are gone the next. Find the bait and you will find the fish. The more bait the better.
Look for pogies, scad, herring, juvenile bonita, mullet and hardtails on the surface when selecting an area to fish and then check in the stomachs of the wahoo you catch when you get back to the dock.
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