Tips On Catching Wahoo

Captain Adrian Watt was born on the island of Cyprus and graduated to his first rod and reel at the age of five. Having fished around the world from the Arabian Gulf to the North Sea and English Channel, he finally settled for the tropical waters of the South Pacific around the island of Kadavu in the Fiji Islands. Director of Matava Resort Gamefishing, he skippers 'Bite Me', the resort's 31 foot DeepVee game fishing vessel and thoroughly enjoys exploring the light and heavy tackle fishing around the island and Great Astrolabe Barrier Reef. An IGFA Certified Captain, he advocates tag & release and is a keen supporter of the IGFA and the Billfish Foundation.

From Captain Watt:

Tips On Catching Wahoo - Lures That Work In Fiji

Season

From May to October, packs of wahoo congregate along the Great Astrolabe Barrier Reef. The average size of wahoo is about 50 pounds with a good fish weighing in at 75 pounds. Each wahoo pack usually has a fish of close to 100 pounds. We almost always use lures when targeting wahoo; however, we often get jumped by fish when bait and switch fishing for sailfish. If your teaser is rigged with monofilament, wave bye-bye to the end of your daisy chain.

Mass Attacks

The biggest problem we encounter is a mass attack; wahoo porpoising in at break-neck speed, every rod in the spread going off, and then multiple bite-offs as other wahoo attack the lines or swivels cutting through the water. We combat this by trolling a full spread until we find a pack and then switch to towing just two lures, often, just a couple of garfish (ballyhoo) on a two hook rig with a small pink skirt on the nose. Trolling speed is usually around si to seven knots. Most wahoo skippers around the world troll faster. Here, higher speeds do not increase strike rates. Last week on the Kadavu Seamount, we were feeding a skip-bait back to a small blue marlin and a 60 pound wahoo hit a Lumo green Pakula Sprocket that was only doing about 2 knots.

Wire Leaders

All our lures are rigged on at least four feet of 124 pound 49 strand wire (Longer if we think sails are in the area). At this time of year, if it isn’t on wire, it isn’t coming back.

Our Spread

Here is how we run our baits

• SHORT CORNER
  1. Wellsys Talai – Purple or lumo green
  2. Halco Laser Pro 190 minnow - Redhead
• LONG CORNER
  1. McWhog – Blue/Chartruese – Rigged in front of a garfish (Ballyhoo)
  2. Lurestreet Raptor minnow – Green/gold or Red/white
• SHORT RIGGER
  1. Wellsys Medium Turbojet – Blue Silver / Green Gold (Evil) (This is our absolute ‘must have’ in the spread)
• LONG RIGGER
  1. Lurestreet Yahoowahoo – Black/green/red (I have seen wahoo charge this lure from 100 yards away)
  2. Pakula Phantom - Blue Silver / Green Gold (Evil)
  3. Pakula Sprocket - Lumo
• SHOTGUN
  1. Hollowpoint Mahi Sniper – Black/green or Black/red or White/pink

  Where We Get Our Lures

  • Palm Fishing Australia
  • Wellsys Tackle
  • Melton International Tackle

  Lure Manufacturers We Use

  • Pakula lures
  • Hollowpoint Lures
  • Marlin Magic Lures
  • Wellsys Lures

  Sounds like the wahoo in Fiji are just waiting to be caught! Anyone want to give them a try?