ALL WE COULD HAVE HOPED FOR:-)

I believe that's the words Dr. Dave used to describe our Wahoo fishing trip. 21 fish from 20 to 50 pounds, over 500 pounds total. Over 150 pounds of fillets. It was hard to keep track of as we ate 8 to 10 pounds per day, gave away some and brought 104 pounds of fillets back to Islamorada. The only thing we lacked was the "Big Guy". We saw a 101 pounder, caught by some guys in a boat next to us. They had a few other smaller fish as well. Other than that, we were probably the "High Hook" every day.

Now for the details. We read many articles and watched all the videos we could find on Wahoo fishing. I bought a couple of "the Wahoo King's" high speed trolling lures and several more trolling feathers. I had extra trolling leads, extra trolling wire, extra shock leaders and new wire line trolling rods. Don and I drove all over Islamorada looking for "Horse" Ballyhoo and found, at the best, only medium size. One guy at Bud-n-Mary's bait shop even told us, with the Sailfishing going on in the Keys right now, we were probably the only two guys looking for Horse Ballyhoo. I called Freddie, our fishing companion in Bimini, a couple weeks ahead of time to tell him we were coming. He said he was headed back to Andros soon, but he would wait for us.

We pulled out early Thursday morning for Bimini. We cruised up the inter coastal waterway to Key Biscayne and headed east. The crossing was uneventful. We got situated at the Big Game Club, cleared customs and relaxed with cocktails on the FF III. Late that afternoon, Freddie showed up and looked through all the tackle I had and said, we needed heavier hooks. The 10/0 hooks I had were too light duty. And, we really needed bigger Ballyhoo. He didn't care for the $60 lures I had bought from the Wahoo King but he liked the new wire line rods. So let me tell you, you can read all the articles, watch all the videos and buy all the "HOT" lures, but the proof is in the puddin'. Freddie's way worked, of course it always does. The fishing was nothing less than spectacular.

CJM has covered the daily catches but just so I can log the methods for next time, here is how we did it. Two mornings we were out by 7ish, one about 8 and New Year's Day we didn't go out until 9. Not sure why, none of us made it until midnight the night before. We caught our first fish about 8 and then most days had a lull until 10. From 10 until 2, 90% of the fish were caught. I think it was mostly due to the tides. It seemed like the tide was between low and high at 10, and hit high around 1:30. The moon was in the first quarter and the best bite was on the choppy days. We fished from 300 to 500 feet deep along the edge, same as for Grouper, just a little deeper. We trolled at around 2100 rpm's which was about 9-10 knots into the gulf stream and about 12 knots with it. We used double hook rigs, #12 wire and large Ballyhoo with various skirts. Skirts involving pink seemed to be the best. Some sparkle was usually involved. We ran the two wire lines on the corners with a 16 ounce trolling lead on one and a 32 ounce on the other. We trailed a naked lure on the shotgun far behind. We only caught one fish on the shotgun so the last day we left it out of the spread. We trolled a total of 256 NM. The down side was it took 487 gallons of diesel to high speed troll that distance.

We broke the cardinal rule of cruising when we crossed back to the USA. The rule is, be patient, pick your day and wait out the weather. Well, we haven't quite gotten that part down just yet. We crossed one day too soon and had to ride out our roughest crossing EVER. Windguru said 3-5 seas, higher in the gulf stream. Those 3-5's were most likely 6-8's with a few 10 feet+ from time to time. All in all a GREAT trip. Can't wait till the next time we can muster the time and energy to make a winter crossing and go after the "Behemoth Wahoo".

So until the next time I shall quote the pirate "Don Julio". I'm sure he stole it from someone so I shall steal it from him because that's what pirates do. "Land was created to provide a place for boats to visit and I'm a pirate, a weather beaten pirate, am sailing forever. So, I think we shalth batten down the hatches, get yer sea legs about ya, put yer big girl panties on, grab the rain slicker and the rubbers and head to the sea because the rougher the seas, the smoother the sail."

CTM