Wahoo Rigging – Some Helpful Tips

Wahoo Rigging, What Everyone Should Know If you read this entire post, I think you will find some genuine ideas for your next wahoo fishing adventure. Below are just some Insightful thoughts or observations on rigging leaders for Wahoo Fishing Everybody knows you have to use steel leader for Wahoo, right?  I don’t think the answer is always yes.  In fact, we are seeing more and more avid Wahoo Anglers turning towards mono on their lures. But their teeth are razor sharp?  True So the real question is, are the wahoo line shy where you are fishing, or even when you are fishing. I don’t think there is any clear-cut answer, but there is one thing I am certain of.  In some situations, you will get more strikes on mono. All that said, I still fish 80% of the time or more with ss cable, otherwise it just gets way to expensive and the truth is, the fish you lose or don’t get to the boat because of the mono probably outweigh the extra strikes you get. So when should I use mono? I think a good time for changing over to mono is when you absolutely know wahoo are around, but they don’t seem to be biting.  Especially when there are clients if you are a charter.  No one wants to lose a fish, but if no luck is coming on the cable, let the clients know you can switch to mono and see if it works, of course warning them of the risks.  Then if a strike comes, maybe you get lucky, maybe you don’t but at least you are pulling out all the tools. Another time to switch to mono is later in the day.  We all know that the primary feeding time for Wahoo is in the morning.  So, when they are hungry they get into a frenzy and eat anything.  At that time you definitely want the wire on all your leaders.  But as the day goes on, they get full and will only grab something that looks too tasty to pass up.  They become like a stuffed child that wont eat a thing, but if he notices a piece of candy….what the heck one more won’t hurt and bamb, Another wahoo on the line. Tis brings up another very important topic on colors. It is this same time later in the day when I believe it is a good time to switch to special colors like pink.  A pink desperado series wahoo lure like lady Magdalena or Virgin Mary ran behind 130-150 mono, might be one setup an uninterested and non-hungry wahoo might still take a stab at. Most people like dark colors for Wahoo.  Here is my Theory.  When Wahoo are feeding in the area on sardines, mackeral, skipjack, ballyhoo, you name it – they are in a bit of a frenzy eating everything they see.  In these situations they are hitting the dark colors that look like everything else and kind of ignoring the more crazy colors that stand out.  Not completely ignoring them, but just not as interested in just all the stuff similar to what they have been eating. So, this is when most Wahoo come to the boat during these times.  This is why most people might say Wahoo like dark colors.  But then, when they are not in this frenzy and strikes are less common, we have found they tend to come more on the pink, red and brighter colors. This is just some of our observations, but next time you are out in the water, think about this and how the Wahoo are acting around you.  We are fortunate enough to have an operation outside of Magdalena Bay where we have access to so many wahoo every day during the season.   So we can really analyze their habits, or at least try to, but I believe even in short trips after considering these observations, you also might be able to see the nuances of the amazing fish that we call WAHOO for a reason.