Wahoo/Dorado/small Tuna species Fishing advice
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My (extremely small!) tuppence worth is that 50s would be too heavy for the dorado and skippies, however as Dave says a marlin or big tuna is going to be a hell of a lot to handle on a 30. Dorado are great fun on 20-30lb gear! That said, if you get into the realms of 50lb class, you're going to need a harness/chair etc...
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2,394 Posts
As Kingfish said Marc you'll have much more fun on the lighter gear. But, if you have one out there, have a spin rod - a 7 footer's about right - and 12lb line, rigged with a small lure, ready at all times. You'll have immense fun on that either casting at a shoal of Skipjack on the surface or, with the boat stationary, casting at Dorado following the hooked one in.
Perhaps consider a stand up 50 once you've got a few of the smaller pelagics under your belt.
Dave
G
Guest
·Spot on Dave
Don't spoil your fun on the fish up to 50lb by going too heavy.
Any pelagic up to about 100lb will be just about manageable on 12lb class gear (anything over 20lb will be spectacular fun and 100lb will be "interesting").
A little bit of knowledge is helpful as the bigger fish could be just a little unnerving when they don't appear to be slowing down at all (they do eventually) so Dave's suggestion of starting with Skipjack's is great. On 12lb class or spinning gear they are brilliant sport and will give you all the basic knowledge needed to handle bigger fish on light tackle.
Don't spoil your fun on the fish up to 50lb by going too heavy.
Any pelagic up to about 100lb will be just about manageable on 12lb class gear (anything over 20lb will be spectacular fun and 100lb will be "interesting").
A little bit of knowledge is helpful as the bigger fish could be just a little unnerving when they don't appear to be slowing down at all (they do eventually) so Dave's suggestion of starting with Skipjack's is great. On 12lb class or spinning gear they are brilliant sport and will give you all the basic knowledge needed to handle bigger fish on light tackle.
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hi, what is the season for dorado there?
ours is best from late july, through to november time.
have you got many barracuda,i saw a couple of big ones last year, but we seem to have had an explosion of little ones, maybe 25cm long??hope they stick around to grow up!!
cheers dave.
ours is best from late july, through to november time.
have you got many barracuda,i saw a couple of big ones last year, but we seem to have had an explosion of little ones, maybe 25cm long??hope they stick around to grow up!!
cheers dave.
Hi CC,hi, what is the season for dorado there?
ours is best from late july, through to november time.
have you got many barracuda,i saw a couple of big ones last year, but we seem to have had an explosion of little ones, maybe 25cm long??hope they stick around to grow up!!
cheers dave.
June through to december is supposed o be best for them here,although ive never got into them myself.
Loads of schoolie barracuda here and sometimes tough to get them to take a lure,although they do love small Needlefish lures and are good fun on light Carp gear.
Not seen a big one for a while o be honest.
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1,183 Posts
MS1000:
I don't know your area well so the following is going to be quite general.
At this time of the year you should probably have more tuna around. Dorado and wahoo in summer and into autumn. The game plan for each species is a little different.
The small tunas you will likely have in your area are skipjack and albacore. You will probably be able to find them in depths of about 80 fathoms and deeper. The best way to find them is to look for signs of life. Working birds will help you find the fish. Look out for flocks and single birds "working" or "looking". The two birds that will probably help you most are the shearwaters and the white terns. Other good signs of life can include turtles, dolphins and big whales. Also look out for current and wind lines as well as surface rips. Commercial tuna boats can also be a good sign. Look out for boats that are stopped and fishing instead of cruising. There may be restrictions how close you can approach a commercial tuna vessel so avoid the temptation to go in for a look see.
Dorado normally prefer warmer surface temperatures of 21 degrees Celsius and above. Again they can be marked by working birds although this tends to be more true of bigger fish. Floating objects and any signs of life are always worth checking out. You will often find them free swimming in the open ocean. The Atlantic Islands tend to have large numbers of small dorado between 2 and 6 lbs. These are a little small to be fun on anything except very light tackle but they are great to eat. Dorado make themselves very visible by jumping across the water as they chase down your lures. Beautiful fish and again very good eating. You may want to carry some chum and bait to fish them on ultra light tackle if that's your thing.
Wahoo are a little different to the other two. You will probably find them closer inshore in the 30 to 40 fathoms zone. You can probably expect some good sized fish of 40 to 50 lbs plus and you will need to be on your game to land them. Generally speaking you should think about working the inshore ledges between 25 and 50 fathoms. If you have a sounder watch carefully for balls of bait. Wahoo get clever quite quickly if they are heavily fished so you need to fish smart. This normally means targeting dawn and dusk and tide changes.
For lures you will want a good selection of small octopus skirts ie muppets and maybe some feather lures which will be effective on all the small tunas and dorado. A single O'Shaughessey hook of 6/0 to 7/0 will do. Rig them on about a rod length of 80 to 100 lb clear mono leader. You can't go wrong with pink and blue/silver. Trolling speed of about 7 knots is fine.
Wahoo need a little different terminal gear. The best way to catch wahoo on lighter tackle like 30 lb is trolling with plugs or if you know a very good spot you can go there with live bait like mackerel. Rapala magnums are fine, the CD14 size is great, but can be tricky to tune. Also they need a bit of nous to get running at the speed you want to troll. Halco laser pros are a very good choice if you can find them. You will want a short wire leader to avoid biteoffs, not more than 3 feet, 2 feet is fine. I've had good luck with mackerel colours and red/white. You want to troll them as fast as you can go without the lure popping out the water. If its rough and you can't troll quickly with the plugs without the lures popping out, try small metal jet heads with 7" size skirts and a single hook about 7/0 or 8/0 size. I've had the most success with black but blue/silver and mackerel colours are also good, pink can also work. Hooks must be razor sharp, their mouth is very hard and you can't set the drag too heavy with 30 lb or else the line will break on the strike.
PS you will have noticed that Jason Pipe made a post re fishing La Gomera. If you ask nicely he may help you out with some good advice.
I don't know your area well so the following is going to be quite general.
At this time of the year you should probably have more tuna around. Dorado and wahoo in summer and into autumn. The game plan for each species is a little different.
The small tunas you will likely have in your area are skipjack and albacore. You will probably be able to find them in depths of about 80 fathoms and deeper. The best way to find them is to look for signs of life. Working birds will help you find the fish. Look out for flocks and single birds "working" or "looking". The two birds that will probably help you most are the shearwaters and the white terns. Other good signs of life can include turtles, dolphins and big whales. Also look out for current and wind lines as well as surface rips. Commercial tuna boats can also be a good sign. Look out for boats that are stopped and fishing instead of cruising. There may be restrictions how close you can approach a commercial tuna vessel so avoid the temptation to go in for a look see.
Dorado normally prefer warmer surface temperatures of 21 degrees Celsius and above. Again they can be marked by working birds although this tends to be more true of bigger fish. Floating objects and any signs of life are always worth checking out. You will often find them free swimming in the open ocean. The Atlantic Islands tend to have large numbers of small dorado between 2 and 6 lbs. These are a little small to be fun on anything except very light tackle but they are great to eat. Dorado make themselves very visible by jumping across the water as they chase down your lures. Beautiful fish and again very good eating. You may want to carry some chum and bait to fish them on ultra light tackle if that's your thing.
Wahoo are a little different to the other two. You will probably find them closer inshore in the 30 to 40 fathoms zone. You can probably expect some good sized fish of 40 to 50 lbs plus and you will need to be on your game to land them. Generally speaking you should think about working the inshore ledges between 25 and 50 fathoms. If you have a sounder watch carefully for balls of bait. Wahoo get clever quite quickly if they are heavily fished so you need to fish smart. This normally means targeting dawn and dusk and tide changes.
For lures you will want a good selection of small octopus skirts ie muppets and maybe some feather lures which will be effective on all the small tunas and dorado. A single O'Shaughessey hook of 6/0 to 7/0 will do. Rig them on about a rod length of 80 to 100 lb clear mono leader. You can't go wrong with pink and blue/silver. Trolling speed of about 7 knots is fine.
Wahoo need a little different terminal gear. The best way to catch wahoo on lighter tackle like 30 lb is trolling with plugs or if you know a very good spot you can go there with live bait like mackerel. Rapala magnums are fine, the CD14 size is great, but can be tricky to tune. Also they need a bit of nous to get running at the speed you want to troll. Halco laser pros are a very good choice if you can find them. You will want a short wire leader to avoid biteoffs, not more than 3 feet, 2 feet is fine. I've had good luck with mackerel colours and red/white. You want to troll them as fast as you can go without the lure popping out the water. If its rough and you can't troll quickly with the plugs without the lures popping out, try small metal jet heads with 7" size skirts and a single hook about 7/0 or 8/0 size. I've had the most success with black but blue/silver and mackerel colours are also good, pink can also work. Hooks must be razor sharp, their mouth is very hard and you can't set the drag too heavy with 30 lb or else the line will break on the strike.
PS you will have noticed that Jason Pipe made a post re fishing La Gomera. If you ask nicely he may help you out with some good advice.
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good luck mate im looking forward to seeing the pics!
For wahoo and presumably cuda in that area (the two often hang around in the same neighbourhoods. This is what I have found...
Skirted hooks - normally black / red and white / blue and green combinations work really well.
If you can find where they are feeding use the large versions or Rapala Shadraps / Fatraps.
Sometimes spoons can come into play.
Troll about 6-7knots, this way if you miss the Wahoo, you are bound to catch something else.
Instead of a downrigger and all the hastle involved especially if you are fishing alone or with one or 2 people use a dep diving lure or there are many devices that you attatch to your line and can get your desired bait down to at least 50foot, this casn be varied as to where the fish are.
Don't forget these are predetors so cover as much water as possible with particular attention paid to drop-offs. Fishing around fish farms will also be very productive, however dont get close due to snags on their buoys etc.
Don't underestimate the power of live / dead bait. Often small skipjack trolled behind the boat are deadly.
Hope this helps.
Let us know how you get on.......
Skirted hooks - normally black / red and white / blue and green combinations work really well.
If you can find where they are feeding use the large versions or Rapala Shadraps / Fatraps.
Sometimes spoons can come into play.
Troll about 6-7knots, this way if you miss the Wahoo, you are bound to catch something else.
Instead of a downrigger and all the hastle involved especially if you are fishing alone or with one or 2 people use a dep diving lure or there are many devices that you attatch to your line and can get your desired bait down to at least 50foot, this casn be varied as to where the fish are.
Don't forget these are predetors so cover as much water as possible with particular attention paid to drop-offs. Fishing around fish farms will also be very productive, however dont get close due to snags on their buoys etc.
Don't underestimate the power of live / dead bait. Often small skipjack trolled behind the boat are deadly.
Hope this helps.
Let us know how you get on.......
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2,394 Posts
Hi Makubwa
And to some extent this links in with your earlier post regarding your access to a small boat off Fuerte Ventura.
Unlike most other parts of the world you'll find the Barracuda encountered off the Canaries are an 'emaciated' European variety, not the Great Barracuda. They seem to range up to about 12lbs maximum. I've only ever caught them closer inshore using either small Rapalas or tiny livebaits. Someone's going to correct me - in the Azores they call them, phonetically, chicharro. I'm sure the names the same in the Canaries - they're a small bream like species.
Dave
Hi Dave, you are right, the Barracuda we get here inshore arent the Greats. They grow to around 1.5m and are nowhere near as aggressive.
Not sure if this is what you mean,but the Chicharro we get here are similar to Mackerel :
Well after finally getting the work finished on the boat i went out on Monday evening if only for a couple of hours just to get the tackle sorted and make a list of things id forgotten for the next trip !
Just wondered what a good all round setup regarding lure spacing/placing would be for 4 rods?
Also i saw a hell of a lot of flying fish gliding out of the water, are they being chased by something or is this something they do usually ?
Just wondered what a good all round setup regarding lure spacing/placing would be for 4 rods?
Also i saw a hell of a lot of flying fish gliding out of the water, are they being chased by something or is this something they do usually ?
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2,394 Posts
Sorry, missed your post.
Unfortunately without outriggers it will be quite difficult to get good lure separation. Certainly make sure though that your lures are straight running lures. If the lures are too 'active' you'll be forever untangling them.
You may want to try with the two short (inner) lines 'banding' then down to the mooring 'D' rings on your transom. Make sure though that the rubber bands you use are light and that you wind then carefully around the line. It's important that they don't slip or that you knot them. Either way might result in a broken line.
Also I should try staggering the short and long lines to assist in separation. Be very watchful though when you execute turns. You want the 'longer' to pass over the 'shorter'. And, as soon as you're straight, make absolutely sure the lures aren't tangled. That can be extremely difficult but, as you turn, the shorter of the pair should slow down and sink slightly and the longer speed up. The critical point to watch for is where the line from the longer might touch the water. That's the point that the hooks on the shorter may tangle with it.
Now to your flying fish. An excellent sign because it suggests the water's warming up. As to what eats them? Just about anything! Dorado, Tuna but also Dolphin (the mammals) and the 'switched on' sea birds. (I've watched them off places like Venezuela keep pace with the boat and then swoop down and seize them whilst they're airborne having been spooked.)
Please make sure you keep us up to-date with your catches.
All the Best.
Dave
Hi Dave, thanks for the info.
Ive looked into getting 2 small outriggers for the boat as in all honesty when out the other night it turned into a bit of a nightmare fishing with 4 lines in such a close space. The guys getting back to me on monday for a price so hopefully i should get them on early next week.
Lots of flying fish and baitfish around the other evening but no success yet. Im out all day today so hope to get something to report back with this evening.
Cheers all.
Ive looked into getting 2 small outriggers for the boat as in all honesty when out the other night it turned into a bit of a nightmare fishing with 4 lines in such a close space. The guys getting back to me on monday for a price so hopefully i should get them on early next week.
Lots of flying fish and baitfish around the other evening but no success yet. Im out all day today so hope to get something to report back with this evening.
Cheers all.
Finally had my 1st hook up while trolling after 6 x 4 hour sessions. Trolling a Wiliamson live squid at about 20m done the trick but the hook pulled after 3 or 4 mins. Gutted, but the bite and the screaming reel after all those quiet hours was certainly worth it and has given me the hunger to get out after more.!!
Presume it was a Wahoo as the squid was a total mess.
Presume it was a Wahoo as the squid was a total mess.
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