Live Baiting for wahoo

[ohfishalee]

I am trying to master this technique here in Bermuda but have suffered from multiple cutoffs behind the rear hook. I have had success with bridling using a small piece of 80# dacron on the lead hook and equally as much with the lead hook being pushed through the cartilaginous bit between the eye socket and the mouth itself. The baits have lasted 20 mins to two hours.


The problems I am having is with the rear hook placement and also the correct depth to fish in. I have fished everywhere from 30 fathoms to 120 fathom curves.

i have only found this online http://www.sportfishingmag.com/speci...000074946.html



any ideas?

[WAHOONBOX]

I am trying to master this technique here in Bermuda but have suffered from multiple cutoffs behind the rear hook.

MY FIRST THOUGHTS HERE IF YOU ARE GETTING A CUTOFF IT WAS NOT A WAHOO TO BEGIN WITH.....I FEEL HE IS A ONE GULP-ONE SHOT-ONE KILL TYPE OF GUY AND USUALLY INHALES A BAIT.




I have had success with bridling using a small piece of 80# dacron on the lead hook and equally as much with the lead hook being pushed through the cartilaginous bit between the eye socket and the mouth itself.
IF IT WORKS AND YOU DID SAY " YOU HAD SUCCESS" THEN DON'T CHANGE A THING BRO



The baits have lasted 20 mins to two hours.IF YOUR LIVE BAIT LASTS THAT LONG THEN I SAY YOU ARE DOING BETTER THAN MOST......HECK I CHANGE OUT TROLLING DEAD BAITS EVERY 10 MINUTES OR SO .....SO IF YOUR LIVE BAIT IS HOLDING UP THAT LONG THEN I SAY YOU ARE DOING WELL.


The problems I am having is with the rear hook placement and also the correct depth to fish in. I have fished everywhere from 30 fathoms to 120 fathom curves.


THE CORRECT DEPTH?....I HAVE CAUGHT WAHOO FROM 70 FT TO 500 FATHOMS...IF THERE IS FOOD THERE WILL BE PREDATORS ....BUT MY PREFERRED DEPTH WHEN TARGETING WAHOO WOULD BE 18O-240 FEET...

YOU SIR HAVE THE LUXURY OF FISHING THE BERMUDA WATERS WITH YOUR SHORT RUNS....HERE IN CAROLINA LIVE BAIT MUST SUSTAIN AND SURVIVE AVERAGE RUNS OF 45-55 MILES TO GET TO THE FISHING GROUNDS




any ideas?

GOT ANY PICS?

BOX.........

[edistorunner]

you just need to send james a PM.

[Captain Michael Buffington]

MY FIRST THOUGHTS HERE IF YOU ARE GETTING A CUTOFF IT WAS NOT A WAHOO TO BEGIN WITH.....I FEEL HE IS A ONE GULP-ONE SHOT-ONE KILL TYPE OF GUY AND USUALLY INHALES A BAIT.

are you smoking drugs Marty? They are high octane scissors that cut something in half and come back and eat the rest as it falls. Live baiting hoos is like live baiting kings in deeper water. Concentrate on where your temp break intersects with your ledges. If you feel a sharp jerk and then nothing immediately freespool and he will come back for seconds most of the time unless you stung him.

Mike

[WahooKing]

First thought...if your bait is getting cut in half, your stinger hook needs to go further back in the bait...They are known to slice and dice their meals...But the big girls (80#+) usually just inhales the entire bait.

If I were live baiting Hoos, I would troll around the general areas and find the fish first...Then, I would either live chum and/or slow troll live bait around the targeted structure...If your bait doesn't last long, you are either trolling to fast and/or the stinger hook is not in the right position so the bait can swim naturally...Search the net on how the SKA guys live bait for Kings.

I would say the article you provided, pretty much sums it up.

Anthony

[Capt. Lyndon]

The few times that I have pulled live bait for 'hoos, I run an oversized king mackerel rig. #2-2/0 trebles, depending on the bait size, and either #9 or #10 single strand. Start with 10 ft. of single strand, hay wire your lead treble, then haywire another length of wire from the eye of the lead treble, with the length a little over 1/2 the length of the bait, to another treble. Then 1 or 2 more length's of wire and trebles, depending on the size of the bait. The lead hook goes through the bait's nostrils, then making sure you have plenty of slack in the wire, the rest of the trebels along the length of the bait, with the final hook near the tail. It is very important that you have enough slack in the wire going to the stinger hooks for the bait to swim freely. If you wanted to add some flash, or make you're baits look bigger, add a skirt on the main leader. One other trick, put a turbo rattler a foot or so in front of the bait. The vibration and rattle will drive the bait insane, and help draw bites. Adjust you're speed to the speed of the bait. You don't want the bait passing the boat, but you don't want to drag them either. As was also mentioned, be ready to drop back if you get a strike. If the fish misses the bait and you drop back, alot of times, the fish will come back and eat again. Running trebles, you need to run you're drag lighter than normal, since alot of times, the fish will be hooked in the side of the head or in the body. The lighter drag will help keep from pulling the hooks on a foul hooked fish. I know rigging like this isn't IGFA legal, but when meat fishing, what does it matter. One other thing, using rod with a fairly limber tip will help with the action of the baits, especially on days that it's sporty. The limber tip will absorb more of the boat's surge, instead of jerking the bait's out of the water, or putting undue stress on them.

[Ace1st]

For live baiting Hoos I agree with hitting up Wound Up James on PM. He helped me out a couple years back on how he was doing it. It is very similiar to King Mac fishing, just beefed up for those Macs on steroids. I know he used a single on the nose and a treble further back. He kills them with this setup. Look him up if youre in Bermuda.

Im no pro wahoo fisherman like some, but I have to agree the big girls seem to grab the bait whole and run for the horizon. But I can also say that they do slice and dice, I have hooked a many a one that cut the bait in half and I dropped it back with a 5-10 count. They will cut it, turn and slam it if the bait drops naturally after being hit. You just cant have alot of drag on the strike or sometimes you wont know the baits been hit.

Try High Speed with Wahoo Kings technique, it works too!

[Captain Michael Buffington]

maybe I was abit strong. They eat chunks whole as long as they dont have a 3" single strand trace albrighted to fluoro...100 lbers eat a freshly chopped in half live mini false albacore when they turn the beak up at everything else and you can rig that thing with aircraft cable almost. It has come to the boat eating chunks and sees the wire but doesn't even hesitate on the twitching half fish.

How hard does a hoo need to hit a "bait"? No offense Cpt. Lyndon but I don't think they really "miss" anything. I think they plan on clipping everything. I use a single on my marlin rigs because imho they "eat". In my experience wahoo don't really eat on the first pass as a rule but they damn sure make certain they maim. All this of course relies upon them not being wahoo in need of high speed spectacles that cant see 20+ feet of wire streaking through the water in front of the bait.

But who knows...I hear thats the way it's done.

Mike

[WAHOONBOX]

MY FIRST THOUGHTS HERE IF YOU ARE GETTING A CUTOFF IT WAS NOT A WAHOO TO BEGIN WITH.....I FEEL HE IS A ONE GULP-ONE SHOT-ONE KILL TYPE OF GUY AND USUALLY INHALES A BAIT.

are you smoking drugs Marty? They are high octane scissors that cut something in half and come back and eat the rest as it falls. Live baiting hoos is like live baiting kings in deeper water. Concentrate on where your temp break intersects with your ledges. If you feel a sharp jerk and then nothing immediately freespool and he will come back for seconds most of the time unless you stung him.

Mike

I DON'T DO DRUGS BUFFINGTON...NEVER HAVE AND NEVER WILL....I WILL LEAVE THE DRUG ABUSE TO YOU SIR


AND I MERELY STATED AN OPINION TO THIS THREAD AND STAND BEHIND IT AND WAS HOPING THAT PEOPLE WOULD COME HERE AND RENDER THERE THOUHGTS AS WELL BUT DO IT IN A POSITIVE WAY INSTEAD OF SAYING SOMETHING SMARTASS AND ATTACKING OTHER MEMBERS LIKE YOU ALWAYS DO

[Patudo]

James Robinson (Wound Up) and some of the other skippers are real masters of that fishery. Charter them for a couple trips and copy their rigs, presentations and approach. Learning from these guys is an investment in knowledge that will almost certainly improve how you fish.

The bigger the bait the more I think wahoo are likely to slice and dice. Live skipjack trolled for marlin most often comes back as a half, smaller bait clipped off behind the head. I prefer two hook lure rigs on nine inch and larger lures if there is a reasonable chance of contacting wahoo.