 There are not too many fish in the ocean that can overtake a wahoo, speed wise. They are super fast on the fin and with small razor teeth, can mutilate anything in the way of their mouths.
Having such a high metabolism, they are loath to take artificial baits that are not running through the water at a fast rate of knots and which are not tracking correctly.
Generally found in clean water, their exceptional eyesight is such that lures for this species must be "spot on" in many ways. A wahoo lure must be capable of swimming up to 12 to 14 knots. Coming from off shore waters which are often less than calm, this is a big ask for a lure to stay below the surface in rough water let alone track straight. Puncture proof bodies are also a necessity and of course hardware should be big and heavy duty. An important point with a wahoo lure is that is capable of supporting grossly oversize hooks that will give the amount of 'bite' on the hook to enable a wahoo to stay solidly connected once impaled. This is no place for small weak treble hooks and flimsy split rings.
It is not unusual for my wahoo lures to be stripped of trebles and the hooks replaced with 10/0 game hooks.
When jigging for this species and green jobfish, my favourite jig is a gold 70-gram Halco Twisty armed with an 11/0 Mustad game hook.
One of the lures that meet the demands required of a good wahoo artificial is Halco’s Giant Trembler lures that have exceptionally strong treble hooks attached at the point of manufacture. To a point, larger trebles and single large game hooks will not affect the way this lure swims. Once past a certain speed barrier, it will lay on its side just under the surface and continue to catch fish at an even higher speed.
Another lure to add to your wahoo armament is the Halco 190 Laser Pro. There is not another lure on the market bar the Giant Trembler that can get near this one for robustness and catchability when it comes to targeting wahoo. I've had these models swimming as straight as an arrow at 14 knots in choppy water to catch these fish. Upping the ante on the hooks wont affect them too much but if in doubt, put a slightly heavier hook on the forward hook point and a lighter hook on the rear, to prevent them tilting rearwards and piercing the surface.
Towing these two lures in the vicinity of bommies and deeply submerged reefs will produce the goods. As with Spanish mackerel, traces are mandatory for this fish and the black super snap traces by Halco will not invite unwanted strikes at the weak part of your terminal gear resulting in lost fish and lures.
By Rick Huckstepp |
Rick Huckstepp spent his early fishing years in the southern parts of Australia before moving to the Northern Territory to run a fishing charter business. He has fished extensively around Australia, into New Zealand and through out the South Pacific writing for many of Australia’s fishing and boating publications about his escapades.
