CLASSIC PREDATOR
Why wahoo should be on your bucketlist.
An iconic species of saltwater gamefish, the wahoo is widely distributed throughout tropical and subtropical seas of the world. Being a member of the ‘razor gang’, the teeth of a wahoo are surgically sharp and easily capable of slicing through even the heaviest of monofilament leaders or, as many anglers have found to their cost, human skin.
Highly rated as a food fish, the wahoo is one of my favourite fish to eat, but it is less susceptible to industrial commercial fishing than more tightly schooling and abundant species such as tuna.
The average size of wahoo caught on rod and line is probably 10-40lb, with a fish over 50lb being classed as a specimen. The current IGFA All-Tackle record for the species is a 184lb fish, caught in 2005 off Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
IDENTIFICATION
Clearly built for speed, the body of a wahoo is elongated and covered with small, scarcely visible scales.
The fish’s back is an iridescent, electric blue, while the sides are silvery with a pattern of irregular vertical blue bars, but these beautiful colours fade rapidly during death.
A member of the scombridae genus, at first glance wahoo (Acanthocybium solandri) can be mistaken for other members of the mackerel family. However, the upper and lower jaws of a wahoo are sharper in appearance than those of both the king or Spanish mackerel. A wahoo can be distinguished from Atlantic king mackerel and Indo-Pacific narrow-barred Spanish mackerel by a fold of skin covering the mandible when its mouth is closed. The mandible of the king mackerel is always visible, as is also the case for the smaller Spanish mackerel and Cero mackerel.
TOP TECHNIQUE
Annoyingly, certain species of fish are deterred from striking a bait or lure if it incorporates a wire trace, but when wahoo are known to be active in a particular area, the use of wire is essential, or else you’ll experience a constant succession of bite-offs.
Wahoo are often found in open blue water, usually many miles from any noticeable structure or features, and in areas, such as deep drop-offs, reef edges and banks, that concentrate the various baitfish upon which they feed.
Few anglers specifically target wahoo, but the species is often a by-catch when trolling lures and baits. Wahoo will chase down and strike lures that are trolled really quickly, as much as nine to 12 knots or even more.
Effective lures include the skirted styles (used for billfish), cedar plugs and diving lures such as Rapala’s iconic Magnum CD14.
Anglers fishing poppers and jigs in suitable areas often hook wahoo, which always react immediately by scorching off on the first of several blistering runs, each of which will easily exceed a hundred yards or more.
BEST DESTINATIONS
Were money not an issue, then some of the very best wahoo fishing is found well offshore from the Pacific coast of Mexico, in truly remote areas such as Clipperton Atoll. These areas are fished by long-range charter boats based at San Diego in Southern California and the Baja Peninsula in Mexico.
There is also excellent wahoo fishing around many of the remote islands scattered throughout the Pacific, notably Christmas Island, Fiji, Vanuatu and New Caledonia. Further east, wahoo can be caught in good numbers at almost all of the great bluewater destinations in the Indian Ocean, notably Kenya, Tanzania, Maldives, Madagascar, Seychelles and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
For anglers with limited time and budget restraints, it is worth noting that wahoo can be sought, with a reasonable to high chance of success, from many of the most popular package holiday destinations around the Caribbean.
Negotiating at the dockside with local boat operators at most harbours can result in some great deals for last-minute day or halfday trips. These typically focus on trolling lures just outside the reef; perfect tactics for wahoo.
One of the best wahoo fisheries in the world is located in the Atlantic around the Desertas Archipelago off Madeira. Here large numbers of wahoo from 50-100lb are caught in September and October. In recent years the area has become popular with anglers looking to catch potentially record-breaking wahoo in various light-line classes.