Catching Wahoo In Florida

Wahoo fish can be found all over the world, where ever there are tropical or sub tropical waters there are usually some wahoo fish too. Here I will be going over how and where you can catch wahoo if you live in Florida. But before we get into that let me give you a little bit of information on wahoo fish.

They are among the fastest fish in the sea, shaped like a torpedo they give saltwater anglers a fight of their life. Other names for them are the ocean barracuda and the tiger fish. They are also in the mackerel family, and they are delicious to eat if you can catch one.

Wahoo fish can be found in Florida on the Atlantic coast, especially from mid Florida down to the Florida keys about 40 miles out. They are found in depths of waters from 100 feet to 600 hundred feet deep. They can also be found along the Gulf Coast up by the panhandle about 20 miles out.

When it comes to catching wahoo, you must decide how fast you want to troll for them. Lots of fishermen choose to keep it around 16 knots or less, but if you are doing that you might as well be trolling for mahi mahi or sailfish. Why not bump the speed up over 20 knots so you can cover many miles in a very short time increasing your chances of wahoo bites.

Trolling at a speed of 20 knots or more is not going to bother a hungry wahoo swimming at 50 mph. They feed on bonito and tuna a lot, which are very fast bait fish so they are used to putting the pedal to the metal to fill their bellies. So taking this into consideration you will need a nice sized trolling lure that resembles one of these bait fish.

When it comes to bait and tackle, you will want a reel that can hold about 50 pound test, and about 500 yards of fishing line. You will want to have a couple of leaders on, about 300 pounds with a leader weight, along with a 3 foot cable leader. The 300 pound shock leader should be about 20 feet.

Try to avoid tying knots to connect everything together, instead use some ball bearing snap swivels. There are many kinds of fishing lures out there that are designed especially for wahoo fishing, just make sure that the lure can handle the trolling speed of 20 knots or more if you choose to go that fast.

Unlike dolphin fish, wahoo tend to travel and hunt alone, meaning you will not find them in schools. When trolling look for water temperature change, floating boards, seaweed lines, birds diving or circling, all of these are good indications that there are some wahoo close. The biggest all tackle record for wahoo is 158 pounds 8 ounces.

Since these great saltwater game fish are so hard to catch, and cost a lot of money to invest in fishing for them there are no regulations on them. There are no closed seasons, bag limits or size, catch as many as you like, it will not be a cheap or easy task to do so though.