Yozuri Bonita Leaders and setups

[reelparadise]

Box,

I have two yozuri bonitas that i want to run for some wahoo this year. What type of leader should i run with it to prevent break offs. I have 175lb Calcutta wire and was wondering whether to use this with a haywire twist or a thinner cable with it crimped on. What type of leader length is sufficient and what trolling speeds. Im guessing to run these on my long rigger or my way out down the middle. I have never fished for wahoo before and would like to target them and attempt for some hookups!
Thanks for the advice,

Mike

[AhiSlayer]

Aloha Mike
I don't like to use single strand with a vibration lure.

My favorite rig is not stealthy but it works so friggen ggod I havnt switched to stealthier presentations

up to a 650# offshore swivel snap connected to lure. up to 900# aircraft cable

Ono catch their food with a sudden burst of speed, then at high speed impact they open their mouth and swim through the bait,,left inside their mouth is a perfectly cut mouthsize chunk of bait,,they swallow and turnaround to mop up any thing their school mates didn't get

once they get to da age of 100#s dem buggahs got fewer class mates and roam alone or wit billfish.

Dem buggahs aint leader shy

Ahi

[phile10]

any specifics on where to purchase this material, or are there any other setups that others prefer?

[Capt_John]

I do the same as Ahi Slayer,but just a little lighter. The only time I use cable is on Bonitas. I've had success with 200lb. mono,but lost a few leaders. Hasn't seemed to hurt my catches.

[hotrodmarlin]

Damn good lure- I use single strand #7 or #9 piano wire with them. I tried 1 with cable and 1 with wire last year and caught more fish on the wire. Had the same results with a braid runner too. I lose a few to kinked wire every now and then but not really that many. Ahi and John- can you elaborate on the reasons you don't like wire?

[tunatamer4]

Hey Mike,

In my opinion, running your plugs with 10-12 inches of #10 wire or better attatched to a #150 spro swivel to mainline is all you need. As was stated, a WAHOO swims through the prey with mouth agape to sever fish and swallow.

The only thing I would reconsider is your placement in the spread. IMO, the plug should be run directly off the rod tip so the hook hits home in a hurry. Run a natural in the positions you stated so the fish won't drop it as quickly as if it were hard plastic. JMO, hope it helps.

[strike3]

If you want a cheap and easy way to catch wahoo, buy the Williamson prerigged wahoo lure (6 to 7 dollars). It is set up with stranded wire and ready to go, get the purple and black color with a silver metal pointy head, set it back about 100-200 feet and go into wahoo country they love that lure! The orange and black and the purple and black bonita are good also and do not be afraid to use the bigger ones although the small ones work good too. It does not matter for Wahoo what wire you use they will hit almost anything, stranded is more duarable. Mono in the 200-300 pound class will get other fish to hit. Nothing meaner than Wahoo, they are the devil of the sea!

[Capt_John]

Damn good lure- I use single strand #7 or #9 piano wire with them. I tried 1 with cable and 1 with wire last year and caught more fish on the wire. Had the same results with a braid runner too. I lose a few to kinked wire every now and then but not really that many. Ahi and John- can you elaborate on the reasons you don't like wire?

I've had the single strand wire kink up and the cable is more flexible. I don't think the cable sings in the water as much.I will say that the one problem I have with the cable is that if a wahoo somehow breaks a few strands of cable, you have to replace the whole thing.

[AhiSlayer]

aloha RP
I really don't like the hookup to boat ratio on these types of lures. Wahoo will allways swim straight due to their shape. What they lack in quick turning ability they make up by viscious head shakes. These shakes combined with a lure that vibrates constantly often leads to the hook hole becoming large enough for the barb to be ineffective at preventing the hook from backing out.

When I first started running them with a spread of surface lures I thought they were catching me fish that were not interested in my other offerings. Over the course of a couple of seasons I gathered enough catch data to prove to me that they did not add fish to my day. I think fish hit them first because they were deeper. on days when I didn't run them I averaged just as many bites with fewer lost fish

If you run yer boat 4to6 knots then a lighter leader will catch more fish. Just be sure you use enough strike drag and initial fighting drag to bury the large hooks.

For guys with two stoke engines I would rather talk about running wahooking lures at about 10 to 15 knots for obvious reasons

The cheapest location to purchase this type lure is offshore angler super stores. They stock one for 10 bucks that is very compairable to the 35$ models

As far as color goes,,,I started off thinking that colors that resemble reef fish should be run close to the reef,red/black, tony tiger ect. Then the purple/silver and blue and silver should be run well offshore of the reef. This mindset is a kind of match the hatch thing. Truth is I had just as many hookups running thw wrong colors as I did running the right colors. I haven't given up on the theory but so far it is kinda shot to shit. My favorite catcher was friggen pink and silver

I don't like single strand because the lure vibrates so much that any kink will collect the vibrations and weeken. If the single strand is too small the loops will actually wear through. The lure will just friggen vanish.

I don't believe the stuff about sound and wire/cable hum. The cable only needs to be two feet long. I have a bunch with only 1 foot of cable and I can't rember having a problem. I do remember having more trouble with cable fraying on leaders of 3 and 4 feet. I tie a bimini on the main line and catspaw to a swivelsnap then cable to another heavy swivel snap to lure eye. I like this system because it makes it easy to switch to another lure or switch the whole thing out for a longer marlin leader when I decide to fish for them buggahs

Wahoonbox didn't answer this post because his system involves skinning a bunch of ballyhoo. Then he drills little holes in secret stratigic locations on the lure and fills each hole with ballyhoo goo. The recipe for the hoo-goo is allso top secret. Then he stitches the ballyhoo skins over the bonita. He replaces the hooks with stealthy little stickies and positions them for perfect penitration. I'm not sure but I think he uses monel in there somwhere. Then he hermetically seals them in a secret brine that contains kosher salt, a dash of ddp & the lucky half of a wishbone. He doesn't even show this at his rigging seminars so he will probably just deny it.

Big Grin
LURES RULE!!!
yf
AhiSlayer

[JimH]

aloha RP

Wahoonbox didn't answer this post because his system involves skinning a bunch of ballyhoo. Then he drills little holes in secret stratigic locations on the lure and fills each hole with ballyhoo goo. The recipe for the hoo-goo is allso top secret. Then he stitches the ballyhoo skins over the bonita. He replaces the hooks with stealthy little stickies and positions them for perfect penitration. I'm not sure but I think he uses monel in there somwhere. Then he hermetically seals them in a secret brine that contains kosher salt, a dash of ddp & the lucky half of a wishbone. He doesn't even show this at his rigging seminars so he will probably just deny it.

Box, Is this true?????

Interesting- The devil of the see likes pink!