Inspiration: This winter I spent a month and a half in the Florida Keys. While there I fished and became friends with a handful of captains. I had the pleasure of spending one day at the “Bars End” off from Key West with Capt. Justin Rea.
We free lined pilchards back into the tidal currents with light spinning gear, and the action was fast! We landed one King Fish and Bonita after another. Knowing that the ultimate prize catch was a Wahoo, with each fish I hooked I’d look at Justin and ask..”Could this be a Wahoo?”
He’d shake his head no. “You’ll know when you got a Wahoo, the reel will hit pitches that would make a dog howl!” Turned out we didn’t have the baitfish that the Wahoo really wanted.
But late that afternoon a fish grabbed my bait, I quickly closed the bail and came tight… The drag began to SCREAM! As it was pushed to its limits I don’t think even the folks at Penn meant for it to make that noise. There was no end to it either… the fish just kept going.
Justin looked at me with a huge grin and said, “Now that is what it’s supposed to sound like!” He started the Outboard, pulled the trolling motor, and gave chase. The Wahoo did exactly what he needed to to get rid of the annoying line attached to him that slowed his run from 60 mph to about 58mph. He went straight to the anchor rope of the nearest boat. After 10 minutes of dragging Justin’s Yellowfin Bay Boat around, he wrapped us on the anchor line, said his goodbyes and was gone.
As the saying goes, the fish that gets loose is the one that you’ll never forget. I can’t wait to get back down to the “Bars End” and get the better of one of those crazy fast torpedos!