Jan. '01
When is spring going to show up? I like the rain but for some reason this year I have had enough of it. I am taking a quick run to La La Land on business and I just hope that it will “sunny” California when I get there. There really is not much to do fishing wise during the winter storms. Just tackle repair and wishing you were fishing. But there are other things to do if you take the time. Most of the long-range vessels now have fishing reports on their web sites.
So how does this help you? Besides having fun and getting your mind off the winter storm blues. There is a wealth of info on these reports. What rod and reels were used to land that big tuna? Did they get it on a circle hook or on kite bait? What island is producing the best bite? How is the weather? Just a few of the things you’ll find out on line. If you need the url of the vessels in the long-range fleet you can drop by my web site www.onorods.com and go my Sea of Links page. You will find the url’s of all the boats as well as links to other interesting fishing spots on the web.
Last month I discussed which reel to “use” for wahoo fishing. What I was afraid would happen, did happen. I received several e-mails from anglers wondering if their reel would work because I didn’t mention it in the article. Or so in so at another tackle store said that I “should have mentioned this reel”. What can I say, there is no one absolute wahoo reel. Anyone that tells you that is well full of it. The reel only helps the fisherman. It doesn’t catch the wahoo.
Good friend and wahoo killer Pete Hanes could hook and land on just about anything he uses. We talked shop a little last month and we trade ideas back and forth. He fishes one way and I fish wahoo a different way. Is Pete’s way better than my way? It is for Pete. So before I go into rods for tossing lures for wahoo, there is no perfect rod.
But there are many different options to consider. The most important is hook setting ability. If you are using a mushy tipped rod you are going to lose wahoo. You will need a rod with a stiff tip to help bury a 7/0 or 8/0 siwash hook into the bony mouth of a wahoo. Pick a rod that has a fast or extra fast action and is rated at least 30-80 lb. That is the basic starting point. Next you will have to decide on the length. You can use anything from 5.5 to 9 foot for wahoo fishing. The longer rods are better for casting distance, while the shorter rods are better for pulling power. There are many that fit the bill companies like Calstar have close to 20 blanks and rods that you can use. Model #’s include: 760L, 765L, 700H, 700XH, 6470, 670, 6465, 6480, 6485 and 90 J.
So which one is right for you? As with the wahoo reel, the one that you can handle the best. So take some time with each rod or blank and how it feels in your hands. Remember you will be holding this rod at the rail waiting for someone to yell “Hook-UP”. It might be 5 minutes between stops and it might be an hour. You may get bit on your first cast or your 20th cast. Are you getting the idea here, that rod is going to be in your hands all day when fishing iron for wahoo. So take a little time when buying it.
The rod that I always grab is a Calstar 760L with Fuji Sic guides. It is a short 6 ft. rod with silicon carbide guides. The guides give me that little extra distance I need to make up for the shortness of the rod. The guides also reduce the friction when the line is retrieved so it takes less effort to crank that jig. Now wahoo killer Pete Haynes likes the Calstar 700XH and cuts a little off the tip. Pete likes and extremely stiff tip on his wahoo rods. We both catch your share of fish and both ways work. So it is all up to the angler to decide what will work best for him.