Offshore Fishing Report

As the winter weather winds into spring, don’t let this cooler weather fool you as the offshore Wahoo bite is hotter than ever.  Several captains, head boat and private charter boat alike are reporting record catches of these tasty speeding cousins of the kingfish.  A couple of boats have reported record catches of over 500 pounds of fish and several boats have had to come home early because of lack of room in the fish box.  I had the pleasure to venture out to the rocks myself the other day and I can tell you that we were completely covered up several times with at least three or four triple-headers.   We went eight for sixteen on Wahoo, plus a couple of bonus kingfish.  The optimal spread for these speed demons is a mixed spread of lures and skirted natural baits.  Most Captains I’ve spoken with, myself included, have had the best luck by pulling two or three lures short, on the flat lines and running skirted ballyhoo on the long riggers.  Lures that are currently hot are Braid Marauders, Yo-Zuri HydroMags, Megabait Megadiver 30+, and Megabait Sea-Boz.  The best colors for these lures have been orange and black, purple and black, blue and silver, and mackerel.  If you’re going to pull two or three lures on the short flat lines, I always put one right behind the boat, right in the prop wash.  More often than not this will be the first lure nailed in the onslaught, as these fish are not boat shy.  I’ll usually run the second lure about twenty yards behind the first, or if I am running three lures I will put two side-by-side twenty yards behind the first lure in the prop wash.  I usually fish three-skirted ballyhoo behind the lures, one on each outrigger twenty to thirty yards behind the flatlines and then the shotgun ten yards or so behind the rigger baits.  When targeting Wahoo, it is generally best to put some kind of skirt with either a weighted or popper style head in front of your long rigger ballyhoo.  I feel that these heads give the bait a little more action or hold it farther down in the water, depending on the shape, while the skirt serves to keep the bait fresh and add a splash of color to the ballyhoo perhaps making the Wahoo think it is something else or that something else is eating it.  I will usually fish three different head styles with three different skirt colors on each of the long baits.  For example, one of my main combinations is a Boone Chrome Jet on the right rigger, a Carolina Gentlemen or Islander on the left rigger, and a Softhead Little Hooker on the shotgun.  As far as colors go, I will mix it up until I find what is working.  With Boone Chrome Jets, my favorite colors are green and yellow, blue and pink, and purple.  My favorite Carolina Gentlemen, Islander, or Islander Jr. colors are the classic blue and white, green and yellow, green and orange, red and white, green and white, red and white, purple, and black.  The Softhead little hookers are great popper style baits that have caught everything from bonito to blue marlin for me.  The colors that have worked well for me are blue and white, and green and yellow.