Wahoo Slide

[Pargon]

Have been communicating with Capt. Fred Archer over the last couple of years. I will never be able to accumulate the experience that Fred has, and along with his intensity about fishing and his innovative thinking process he is an invaluable resource. His books are gems and his spreader bars are a tried and true part of our arsenal down here for all kinds of inshore and offshore fishing. One of the slickest things Fred has taught us is the wahoo slide. "You don't want that set of teeth comin' over the side of the rail hanging on a gaff son. Those teeth are then somewhere between your chest and your face, where do you wanna get bit?" This is a paraphrase of Fred's opening argument, and he went on to tell us that if as you are ready to boat the wahoo you keep motorin' forward, open the transom door, and just slide 'em in, it works easily and the fish will remain motionless. Well after decades of gaffin' fish this seemed pretty foreign advice, but on our last stay in Mag Bay we had plenty of chances to try it out. The first one felt kinda weird, but following Fred's advice I grabbed the leader and slid 'er in. Slick as snot. The wahoo just lay there, no slashing teeth flappin' around the cockpit, no grey goo to clean up, nothin'. A dozen wahoo later we had become experts at this slick trick and had it down. Slide 'em in, bonk 'em on the head, scrub the grey slime off, and into the ice. Safer, easier, effective. Maybe this method is common knowledge among experts, but is was a revelation to us. Thanks Fred, you taught an old dog a new trick.

[WAHOONBOX]

OBVIOUSLY AND WITH NO DOUBT THE WAHOO SLIDE IS A COOL TRICK....AND THANKS FOR SHARING THE STORY AND PICS!!!

[Reelscreamer]

I am guessing this doesn't work that well if you don't have a transom door huh? LOL but all in all it makes great sense. My buddy had to get 7 stitches because of a wahoo grazed him on the inside of the elbow. Oh well wounds heal and chicks dig scars right? LOL

Jeremy

[DOGKILLR]

I HAVE 23 STITCHES ON MY ANKLE FROM ONE AND HE DIDN'T BITE ME JUST CAME ACROOS THE BOW AND FELL OFF THE GAFF....SLID OPENED MOUTH RIGHT ACROSS MY ANKLE. HIT AN ARTERIE AND BOY DID THE BLOOD SPURT. THOUGHT I WOULD DIE BEFORE I GOT BACK INTO THE INLET THE WAY I WAS BLEEDING. GOT TO RESPECT THOSE WAHOO AND OTHER TOOTHY CRITTERS.

[Boonebird]

I guess this is living proof that those archer bars do work. We have a slew of them on the boat i fish with but never had any luck with them. I sent fred a pm while pack he never answered it. Oh well Congrads on the catch. Good eats for sure.

[clt_capt]

Nice trick

[Pargon]

Yes they do. We're still working with them, trying to figure out what boat speeds, patterns etc. work best for us, but we've caught yft, sails, wahoo, stripes, blues, roosters, pargo, grouper, skippies and the occaisional needlefish with them.
-closer to the boat than you might naturally settle on
-we've had good luck using the small ones, even on big fish
-the 'toad' teaser, a fender teaser, seems to really help
-stiffer tackle results in better hookups, and when you hook anything, keep trolling for 10-15 seconds minimum, these fish are rarely alone
-minimum spread that we run are two dark colors close to boat (second wake) and a pair of brighter ones about #4
That's the direction that we're working in.
Good Luck

[WAHOONBOX]

IN HONOR OF THE WAHOOSKI....A FISH I DO SO DEARLY LOVE TO MESS WITH...I DEDICATE TO DA SPEEDSTER A RE-RUN BOX THEATRE HERE


HOW ABOUT A WAHOO SLIDE DOWN THE RUB RAIL TRYING TO GET THE CAMERA MAN TO WAKE UP!

ALSO ...ONE WAHOO COMES UNHOOKED AND AND THANK GOODNESS I HAD A GAFF IN HAND FOR MY FIRST EVER WAHOO FREEGAFF...

CRANK IT UP.....LITERALLY ....CRANK IT UP I TELL YA
www.wahoonbox.com/videos/freegaff.wmv