Florida Keys Wahoo Spearfishing: How to Spear your First Wahoo in South Florida!

So, you live in South Florida and want to spear a wahoo. If you’re anything like us you’re new to Bluewater spearfishing and are looking for a place to start before heading out. In this video we want to show you the process from start to finish.

Step one is gear. You need the right tools for the job for this type of spearfishing. First let's talk about the gun.

You likely only have a small reef gun. When you start diving for wahoo, you want the longest gun you can get with as many strong bands as possible. The ideal setup is a 60+ inch gun with 3+ bands that are at least 5/8th inch thick, like this marauder here. The gun should have a full breakaway system so that your shaft doesn’t break when the fish makes a run. This spear then breaks away from the gun and is attached to 80+ feet of floating line with a large float on the other end. Getting this ideal setup is expensive, so you may need to simply use your current setup with mild adjustments. This Riffe 110 euro is my reef gun, and isn’t exactly the ideal wahoo gun but it can get you started. We have this gun rigged with a triple wrap that breaks away to a line and float. This isn’t ideal, but it’s a place to start without investing over a thousand dollars in gear.

The next part of your gear is a flasher rig. These can be bought at your local dive store, but you can also make them yourselves. The goal here is to create flashes in the water column that imitate baitfish, without using chum that would attract sharks. We use a 16 oz sinker “buzz bomb” attached to 3-5 flashers on a heavy monofilament line. This is attached to a float.

Next you need some throw flashers to help bring in the fish even closer. We made throw flashers out of pvc pipe and reflective tape. This tape can be found online, but we got some at the dollar store that works great. Experiment with different types of pvc and different shapes to get a throw flasher that sinks slow enough to be recovered.

Now that we have the gear, we can talk about where to dive for wahoo. We’ve heard that the best places to dive are between 90 and 300 feet over structure that holds bait. Wrecks and deep reefs are great places to start. Make sure that you are somewhere that it's legal to spearfish, as some wrecks off of key largo are in the key largo management area and you cannot spearfish there.

So you have the gear and you know where to go. The next question is when should you go. Wahoo are found off key largo year round, but are thick in the winter time. They like clear, blue water that is found in the gulfstream. It's hard to find wahoo when the water is green. We’ve found that wahoo can be found more frequently around the full moon between November and February.

The next step is to spend time in the water, often times a lot of time. When we first started diving for wahoo we went several trips without seeing a single wahoo. The water this time of year is cold and sitting around in cold water isn’t fun. It takes a lot of sitting and waiting and suffering through the cold. But when they come in, it makes it all worth the wait.

Our next piece of advice is to only unload your gun when you are ready to. The last thing you want is to unload your gun on a triggerfish out of boredom and on your way up see a pod of wahoo. Resist the urge to shoot the first fish that swims into your spread unless you would be ok with missing a wahoo due to that shot.

You know you’re getting into wahoo territory when you start to have baitfish around your flashers. Keep working your flashers and keep your eyes out. If you see a wahoo, don’t panic. Throw your flasher past you so that the wahoo have to swim by to get to it. Take your time and slowly swim at an angle to the fish. Don’t swim directly towards the fish as that spooks them a bit. Get as close as you can. When you think you are close enough get closer. Look for the white in their eyes and then make your shot. Where do you aim? We’ve heard that shooting them in the tail is a good holding shot, but if you have it go for the headshot. Try to avoid the soft flesh in the neck area of the fish. If you hit the fish, let him take the float but keep it in sight. Throw your gun in the boat and follow the line until the fish finishes his run. Then gently pull him up while keeping the line away from you. If he goes to run again, let him take the line. The last thing you want is to let the fish pull off after you finally get a shot at one.

Let us know what you think of these tips! we learned a lot this first year of wahoo spearfishing and hope we can help you be successful in your search for your first wahoo

Видео Florida Keys Wahoo Spearfishing: How to Spear your First Wahoo in South Florida! канала Derek Van Hook