# Rather be lucky than good!! WAHOO!!



## Sailminnow (Jun 23, 2018)

10/6/18 Amazing day on the gulf

Our goal for the day was to go to our normal spots, bend some rods and drink a beer or two. About 11:00am we had ran out of live bait and were tired of catching 25” Amberjack so we decided to get our king rods out and do some trolling. We caught a few Mahi right off the bat on some floating weeds and then a king……. About 30 minutes later the rod goes OFF and is screaming, we knew we had finally hooked a “Smoker King”. After clearing the lines and patiently waiting for this kings initial surge to stop, we came to the conclusion that we were out matched. Our Penn Warfare 20N and 15 LB mono and a short wire leader were about to be pushed to the limit. Time to put theboat in gear and start gaining some line back before we get spooled. Not long after we started moving in the offset direction of the fish he finally slowed down. My brother Chad was on the rod, and he was adamant that he is not able to“turn “ the fish. At this point we are getting excited because this was going to be our best king of the season without having seen the fish. I am trying to position the boat so we can maintain line tension but get closer to the fish…… about that time the fish finds his 2nd run, Chad is thumbing the spool to add some extra drag…. the drag washers may have been toast at this point. We slowly gain ground on the fish only by moving the boat toward the fish. In the side of a 3ft wave we catch our first glance atthe fish about 100 yards out…..we see a glimpse of him and exclaim “Giant King”. The fish then commits toward the boat and at about 20yrds he then sticks his head out of the water. This is no king we are dealing with, this is a MONSTER WAHOO. Myself and the 2 others voice our opinion on how important that we all focus and do our job because nobody on dry land will believe this “Fish Story”. Here we are 14nM south of Perdido Pass in blue water no deeper than 100’ fighting one of the apex predators of the pelagic species, with less than abundant experience and WAY undersized tackle…..what could go wrong?? The fish gets under the boat and is pitched so that he is chasing the back of the boat. Weare having to keep the boat in gear and turned….. we spiraled for what seemed like forever in 3ft seas and finally the fish turned back around us and after another full lap around the boat with Ryan, my brother-in-law armed with the gaff, the beast made his final mistake he surfaced alongside the boat and Ryan laid a heck of a gaff shot through the head/gill plate. Ryan and Chad were ableto drag the fish over the rail one at the head and the other hoisting the tail,He was finally ours!!!. After we all settled down we decided to troll a weed line headed north. We landed another king and Mahi, but decided it was time to get this fish to the dock. We stopped at San Rock Cay marina and asked if we could use their scale. He weighed in at 80.53 pounds. A day we will never forget. If you look at the pictures you can see the tiny bait(yo-zuri crystal minnow) he hit. The aft trebles could not be any deeper in the corner of his jaw and was probably the key to usbeing able to land this fish, we ended up having to cut it out on the filettable.


Keep in mind this is our fist season with a boat and this caught us WAY off guard.... we were in awe of the size of this fish and how we were able to put him on the boat. I'm certain we just used up all of our beginners luck!


Tight lines!


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## Realtor (Oct 1, 2007)

dang, I was excited reading that!!!!!


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## jack2 (Mar 19, 2010)

Realtor said:


> dang, I was excited reading that!!!!!


ditto, jim, i could see that monster running, too. the read was excellent.
nice fish.:thumbup:

jack


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## cody&ryand (Oct 3, 2007)

Heck of a fish and great read


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## jjam (Dec 9, 2007)

Yes, great read, thanks for sharing and wish you many more exciting days on the water. You're definitely "HOOKED" now!


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## NipTide (Nov 13, 2008)

Very nice story and congrats on a heck of a fish!


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## hebegb again (Oct 9, 2017)

Awesome fish AND fish story!!!


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## Michael f sights (Jun 19, 2012)

Stud Hoo, CONGRATS!


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## chuck62 (Oct 4, 2013)

Great story and awesome fish!!


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## iJabo (Jul 6, 2013)

That tiny Crystal Minnow is almost comical sticking out of that 'hoo's mouth. Absolute stud.


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## Jason (Oct 2, 2007)

Studly hooter and congrats to ya'll. Welcome aboard and remember when posting pics, NO FEET!!!! hahaha Newbie but now you are inducted into the Foot Thread....hahaha


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## WAHOOU39 (Jan 14, 2008)

Congrats....nice Wahoo!


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## Bill Me (Oct 5, 2007)

That is a stud fo sho! Always the best when you are overmatched and not expecting. Interesting that it really seems like a skinny fish. At that length I would not have been surprised to see it at 100lbs. Very cool.


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## Bluecape (Sep 29, 2016)

Great story and an experience you will never forget! Congrats!


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## Reelbait (Mar 3, 2013)

Really nice hoo!!! A fish story I believe.


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## capt'n slim (Feb 8, 2008)

hell yea, good read


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## Beachbum420 (Apr 19, 2018)

Monster Hoo good job boys!!


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## Durkee (Sep 21, 2015)

Very nice!! We caught a big one like that on a small rapala diver (mahi colors).. we troll that every time now!! That’s a beast!


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## Blackhawk (Aug 18, 2016)

How fast were you trolling? That was a lucky catch, but sometimes it takes luck to make a good day, a great day.


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## Snagged Line (Sep 30, 2007)

Exciting story.... feel like I was there....... sorry I didn’t help more...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Solace (Apr 23, 2009)

Awesome, and jealous! Wahoo of a lifetime. Thanks for sharing.


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## Sailminnow (Jun 23, 2018)

Jason said:


> Studly hooter and congrats to ya'll. Welcome aboard and remember when posting pics, NO FEET!!!! hahaha Newbie but now you are inducted into the Foot Thread....hahaha


 
Thanks! I will work on my cropping skillz haha.


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## Sailminnow (Jun 23, 2018)

blackhawk said:


> how fast were you trolling? That was a lucky catch, but sometimes it takes luck to make a good day, a great day.




5.5-7mph


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## still flippen (Oct 6, 2007)

Great day and story!! :notworthy:


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## Stegmj (Oct 31, 2018)

Sailminnow said:


> 10/6/18 Amazing day on the gulf
> 
> Our goal for the day was to go to our normal spots, bend some rods and drink a beer or two. About 11:00am we had ran out of live bait and were tired of catching 25” Amberjack so we decided to get our king rods out and do some trolling. We caught a few Mahi right off the bat on some floating weeds and then a king……. About 30 minutes later the rod goes OFF and is screaming, we knew we had finally hooked a “Smoker King”. After clearing the lines and patiently waiting for this kings initial surge to stop, we came to the conclusion that we were out matched. Our Penn Warfare 20N and 15 LB mono and a short wire leader were about to be pushed to the limit. Time to put theboat in gear and start gaining some line back before we get spooled. Not long after we started moving in the offset direction of the fish he finally slowed down. My brother Chad was on the rod, and he was adamant that he is not able to“turn “ the fish. At this point we are getting excited because this was going to be our best king of the season without having seen the fish. I am trying to position the boat so we can maintain line tension but get closer to the fish…… about that time the fish finds his 2nd run, Chad is thumbing the spool to add some extra drag…. the drag washers may have been toast at this point. We slowly gain ground on the fish only by moving the boat toward the fish. In the side of a 3ft wave we catch our first glance atthe fish about 100 yards out…..we see a glimpse of him and exclaim “Giant King”. The fish then commits toward the boat and at about 20yrds he then sticks his head out of the water. This is no king we are dealing with, this is a MONSTER WAHOO. Myself and the 2 others voice our opinion on how important that we all focus and do our job because nobody on dry land will believe this “Fish Story”. Here we are 14nM south of Perdido Pass in blue water no deeper than 100’ fighting one of the apex predators of the pelagic species, with less than abundant experience and WAY undersized tackle…..what could go wrong?? The fish gets under the boat and is pitched so that he is chasing the back of the boat. Weare having to keep the boat in gear and turned….. we spiraled for what seemed like forever in 3ft seas and finally the fish turned back around us and after another full lap around the boat with Ryan, my brother-in-law armed with the gaff, the beast made his final mistake he surfaced alongside the boat and Ryan laid a heck of a gaff shot through the head/gill plate. Ryan and Chad were ableto drag the fish over the rail one at the head and the other hoisting the tail,He was finally ours!!!. After we all settled down we decided to troll a weed line headed north. We landed another king and Mahi, but decided it was time to get this fish to the dock. We stopped at San Rock Cay marina and asked if we could use their scale. He weighed in at 80.53 pounds. A day we will never forget. If you look at the pictures you can see the tiny bait(yo-zuri crystal minnow) he hit. The aft trebles could not be any deeper in the corner of his jaw and was probably the key to usbeing able to land this fish, we ended up having to cut it out on the filettable.
> 
> ...


Dang you had me on the edge of my seat!!!!


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