Capt. Tony DiGiulian shows off a nice wahoo caught in local waters. Photos by Steve Waters/The Coastal Star
By Steve Waters
The days leading up to and following the full moon in August are a prime time to catch wahoo. No one really knows why that is, and anglers really don’t care. They love being able to catch the speedy, often elusive, extremely tasty fish.
This year the full moon is Aug. 19.
Capt. Skip Dana of Deerfield Beach prefers to fish “three to four days before a full moon and then a few days after. The day of the full moon is usually slower, with the best bite at midday.”
Capt. Tony DiGiulian of Fort Lauderdale said that the absolute best times to hook a wahoo can be when the moon rises and sets during those days, as well as when the moon is directly overhead.
Websites provide that information. For example, according to www.timeanddate.com, in Boca Raton the moon sets at 6:34 a.m. Aug. 19, 7:42 a.m. the next day and 8:49 a.m. the day after that.
Tactics for catching wahoo range from trolling high-speed lures, to slow trolling with live bait, to kite-fishing with live bait, which is Dana’s preference.
“You get more bites live-bait fishing than any time of year. I’d rather catch one on live bait than 10 trolling a lure on a planer,” Dana said.
He starts fishing in the morning by putting up two fishing kites, each with three lines. The kites get the baits away from the boat and suspend them at or just below the surface.
Dana also puts out two flat lines with live baits that are allowed to swim wherever they want, along with two lines with sinkers to get those baits down deeper.
“Once the sun is up, I’ll start slow-trolling for them. I’ll go out to 200, 300, 400 feet and put out goggle-eyes, blue runners, speedos, little bullet bonitos. All you’re doing is bumping the motors in and out of gear to keep the lines tight as you move,” Dana said.
DiGiulian said trolling bonito strips and ballyhoo behind removable planers, which are clipped to the line to get a bait 30-50 feet below the surface, is effective for wahoo.
But he added that more and more local anglers have been high-speed trolling for wahoo, as is commonly done in the Bahamas.
“Here, we gear everything down,” he said. “In a center-console, we’ll fish three lines, and instead of 130- or 80-pound outfits, you could go down to a 50- or 30-pound-class outfit with 50-pound braided line. The lower profile you can be with everything — leaders, hook size, swivels — the more bites you get.
“Instead of using big 42-ounce high-speed trolling leads, gear down to 16- and 24-ounce leads. Instead of heavy 400-pound leaders, go down to 100-, 130- or 150-pound leaders at the heaviest.
“And instead of the bigger lures that you use in the Bahamas, use smaller pointy-headed lures or little bullet-headed lures that produce a lot of smoke (bubbles) with 6/0 or 7/0 hooks instead of 9/0 or 10/0 hooks.”
DiGiulian recommended trolling those lures at 11-12 knots instead of 15-17 knots. He puts one line down the middle, 250-300 feet behind the boat. The other two lines, which can be fished out of rod-holders on each gunwale or out of the outriggers, are 140 and 180 feet behind the boat.
Those distances can be adjusted based on how the wahoo react.
He trolls single- or double-hooked bonito strips and ballyhoo at 9-11 knots behind No. 6 and No. 4 planers with monofilament shock cords of at least 100 feet.
The daily bag limit is two wahoo per angler. DiGiulian said wahoo is “arguably my favorite fish to eat,” and the firm, white flesh is versatile.
DiGiulian fillets wahoo instead of steaking the fish because it gives him multiple options: He can eat thin slices sashimi-style with soy sauce and wasabi; sear a loin on all sides in a pan with olive oil, butter and soy sauce; or prepare bigger pieces on the grill — all of which is reason enough to go fishing the week around Aug. 19 for wahoo.
The daily limit per angler is two wahoo.
Outdoors writer Steve Waters can be reached at steve33324@aol.com.
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