Wahoo fun 9/10/14

  • Tuesday was a public holiday here in Antigua, a buddy of mine who recently got into freediving said let's go and try for some wahoo, Eli is a ninja fisherman and very good freediver but had never been in the blue spearfishing. So I geared him up and out we went, he got into the water first when we decided on our drift. Almost immediately he shouted they are everywhere, I said well shoot one! He correctly took his time getting comfortable while I slipped in with my never seen water polespear,  small yellowfin were working the chum line along with blackfin and small dolphin fish. Below that were the Wahoo and they were everywhere! Strangely there were 20lb'ers swimming with 40 lb'ers, but they were all shy. I heard a THUNK while trying to get the Wahoo close enough for the polespear, looked around and Eli was fighting a wahoo! He had shot a small one on a long shot with my new 160 Bluewater euro. Shot was a little high and it got off sadly but still an amazing effort for the first time, dudes form underwater was better than mine! I went back to enjoying the nature and trying to convince wahoo to die by polespear, buggers were having none of it though :laughing: . Actually stabbed a few dolphin with the polespear unpowered trying to get them off the chum line :rolleyes1:.
    Decided it wasn't the day for the polespear and went back to the boat and got my old gun, my first Bluewater gun, my old faithful. I had both guns rigged to their reels AND I had attached 100ft float lines to the back of the guns as a safety, and as well the fact that both of us were in the water with no one in the boat to chase us down or throw a float to clip on in case of a giant fish. The boat was on a parachute to slow its drift.
    I dropped on a fatty at around forty and started a long stalk, all fish were being shy and refusing all enticements to come closer, this pattern continued all day. Lined up perfectly and fired only to have my line tangle on the way out, it was kinda funny actually :@  I hadn't cleared it in my rush to get into it with the Wahoo, always double check before starting the hunt boys and girls! Back on the surface I was reloading and had the privilege of watching my buddy line up on a wahoo perfectly and nail it! Yeah man! Got it all on video 2!  :thumbsup2:
    Fish thinned out so we decided to reset, while on the boat the blackfin tuna started jumping and low and behold a white marlin started jumping over and over again a few hundred feet from the boat! Amazing! I was told I could not hunt it  :nono:. Started the second drift.
    Second drift we managed to empty the chum bag into the sea all at once :(:(  reloaded the bag and started to hunt again, Eli got another small one very quickly, I waited for the fatter ones on the edge and managed a great shot placement with my old girl, to this day still the most accurate gun I have ever fired, reason I got other guns is she is a tad underpowered when the fish stay out, just like this day! The shot was beyond her range but I took it, the spear only went half way in but nicked the tail spine which slowed the 39'er way down, with 325 ft of reel line and a 100 ft bungee I played her out, and swam hard with her trying to put no pressure on the fish till she tired out, went a ways out with the fish before it tired after a long fight. Then it was just a matter of gently raising her to the surface, I could see only the skin was holding the mori tip in. The feeling of relief when it was in my hands!  :hooray::ecstatic
    Fish would not allow us near the entire rest of the drift.
    Reset for the last drift of the day. I made sure my gun was loaded before I hit the water, Eli was loading his gun when two 40'ish wahoo showed up right below the flashers, I immediately dived down and targeted the closest one from above, dropping in on his blind spot, took the shot from above and nailed him. Fight was on! This hard fighting fellow dragged me hard and fast down current of the boat, so far away the boat was a tad to small for my liking :thinking:  towed me right past another boat full of young bucks chunking, I laughed telling them I was fine but might need a ride later on . Again a long fight but one that took a lot out of me kicking against a lively 39 pound wahoo, trying to guide the fight inch by inch back to the disappearing boat. Finally got it up to the surface and with serious leg cramps got it and myself aboard. I was done! Amazing day and finally a diver in the water I could call a dive buddy. :thumbsup2:



    A bad day at sea is better than a good day in the boatyard
    George Steele

  • Sounds like you had fun, I love the big smile.


    I think you meant to type a 12 vs a 9 for the month date. Dec vs Sept. :cool2:

  • Sweet!!! Itz amazing how spent fighting a fish and the conditions can make you feel. I love when a plan works out:) sound like fun!! Even reeling in all the reel line;) best of both worlds. I have a feeling your friend in gona bug nonstop to go again. I know I would!! Btw wahoo guts make the best chum ever!! The stomach cut into strips is only second to conch as the best bonefish bait on the planet. Next to a fish cleaning station, forget it!!! Ive started savind all my fish skins when I process and freeze them for use on the next trip as chum. Has worked well and saves us $$$

  • For some reason, no matter what we use, it seems if its been frozen, it works but never as good.
    Wahoo, permit and kingfish skin are Awsome chum.
    Ymmv.

  • Sweet!!! Itz amazing how spent fighting a fish and the conditions can make you feel. I love when a plan works out:) sound like fun!! Even reeling in all the reel line;) best of both worlds. I have a feeling your friend in gona bug nonstop to go again. I know I would!! Btw wahoo guts make the best chum ever!! The stomach cut into strips is only second to conch as the best bonefish bait on the planet. Next to a fish cleaning station, forget it!!! Ive started savind all my fish skins when I process and freeze them for use on the next trip as chum. Has worked well and saves us $$$


    Never known that! Do other wahoo go for the wahoo guts? I was actually begining to get pissed i had written this long as fishing report and no one said a word.. :@ :confused1:

    A bad day at sea is better than a good day in the boatyard
    George Steele

  • Sounds like you had fun, I love the big smile.


    I think you meant to type a 12 vs a 9 for the month date. Dec vs Sept. :cool2:


    I did! thanks for catching that, wonder if Dan can fix it for me? Thanks for reading it John :thumbsup2:

    A bad day at sea is better than a good day in the boatyard
    George Steele

  • I know the feekling:)! Your report was a ray of sunshine in my otherwise glummy work day;) being landlocked by lifd sucks!!Yes wahoo go apeshit over wahoo guts specially fresh ones. A whole head also works well also. Sometimes we cut off the head to ice em better and they always get a ton of attention. Try to flare the gill to slow the decent. The skins sometimes fall like a snowflake all slow and give off amazing flashes. Im pretty sure theyll canabalize an injuredfish.

  • Love your reports George - even if they make me sick :laughing3:


    I know you know this but call me a concerned old fart for stating the obvious.


    Diving alone in blue water spearing powerful fish with a reel off a sailboat can be iffy. Sailboats, as you noted, really are not very manure able or fast enough to rescue your ass if something goes bad fat. Great you had a dive buddy this time. N:nono:


    Solution is to send me airline ticket, business class is sufficient, so I can watch your sorry ass when you spear us some nice Hoos. :laughing3:

  • You sound like a perfect candidate for one of those nautilus lifelines;) ill probably get one also. Keep up the great work

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