The Complete Guide to Wahoo Baits

Wahoo fish (Acanthocybium solandri) are among the most prized game fish in offshore waters, renowned for their blistering speed, aggressive strikes, and delectable meat. These ocean speedsters can reach up to 60 mph, making them one of the fastest fish in the sea and creating unforgettable battles for anglers lucky enough to hook one. This comprehensive guide covers everything you need to know about wahoo baits and techniques to improve your chances of landing these magnificent predators.

Master the Art of Wahoo Fishing

Wahoo - High Speed Trolling with RJ Boyle

Mike Dupree reels in a wahoo while slow trolling

Wahoo Fishing – Slow Trolling with Mike Dupree

high speed trolling spreads for big and small boats video cover

Wahoo - High Speed Trolling Spread

high speed trolling wahoo pro tips video cover

Wahoo - Fishing Tips for High Speed Trolling

high speed trolling wahoo rigs and terminal tackle video cover

Wahoo - Rig and Terminal Tackle for High Speed Trolling

Shawn Rotella holding a wahoo caught slow trolling live bait in Hawaii

Wahoo Fishing – Slow Trolling with Shawn Rotella part 1

wahoo caught slow trolling with Capt. Shawn Rotella in Kona

Slow Trolling Live Bait for Wahoo - Shawn Rotella part 2

Featured

captain shawn rotella with his custom wahoo bullets

Wahoo Fishing Lures and Rigging Concepts - Shawn Rotella

high speed trolling wahoo tournament secrets video cover

Wahoo - Secrets of High Speed Trolling

lure rigging for high speed trolling wahoo video cover

Wahoo - Rigging Lures for High Speed Trolling

Understanding Wahoo Fish Behavior

Before diving into specific baits and rigs, it's essential to understand wahoo behavior. These sleek, powerful fish are migratory and adapt to varying conditions. Knowing how and where wahoo hunt puts you in a better position to catch them.

Wahoo tend to be structure-oriented, often found around:

Underwater wrecks and artificial reefs
Deep drops and ledges
Temperature breaks
Current edges
Floating debris and weed lines
Oil platforms and seamounts

Even in relatively shallow water (as little as 90 feet), wahoo can be present if there's a good food source. They're known to suspend in the water column beneath schools of bonito and other baitfish. Their feeding patterns are often tied to tidal changes, moon phases, and light transitions, with dawn and dusk being prime times.

One caveat: just finding bait may not guarantee action. Wahoo are finicky and usually eat when the tides are moving. Even way offshore, where tides seem insignificant, there's still something about a transition period that triggers a wahoo bite. Tides are especially crucial when fishing for wahoo close to shore. There are also peak activity periods just prior to sunrise to early post-dawn. Wahoo have a habit of feeding during this time. The bite might last only 30 to 45 minutes, but it's aggressive.

Savvy anglers also watch for heavy cumulus clouds that block the sun during the day, creating light transition periods when baitfish become more vulnerable and predators like wahoo feed more actively.

Mike Dupree of X Rayted Fishing in North Carolina with a nice wahoo caught slow trolling

Best Baits for Wahoo Fishing

Live Bait for Wahoo

When it comes to live baiting for wahoo, certain baitfish consistently outperform others. The effectiveness of different live baits varies by region:

North Carolina

Blue Runners: Hardy and widely used for trolling
Blackfin Tuna: Often school in the same areas wahoo frequently hunt
Bonito: Durable and effective for attracting wahoo

Florida

Blue Runners: Popular due to their availability and resilience
Goggle-Eyes: Known for their active swimming, especially in the Keys
Speedos (Mackerel Scad): Excellent bait, particularly in the Middle Florida Keys

Louisiana & Upper Gulf of Mexico

Cigar Minnows: A top choice for live bait trolling in the Gulf
Hardtails (Blue Runners): Reliable and durable for slow trolling

The Bahamas

Goggle Eyes: Liveliness for long periods make them ideal for slow trolling
Speedos: Fast, erratic swimmers, which trigger predatory strikes from wahoo.
Blue Runners: Highly durable able to withstand the stress of trolling
Bonito: Effective for trolling near offshore structures

Hawaii

Aku (Skipjack Tuna): A premium live bait for Hawaiian waters
Opelu (Mackerel Scad): Abundant and highly attractive to wahoo
Goggle-Eyes and Ballyhoo: Also frequently used in Hawaiian waters

Costa Rica

Bonito: Extremely effective when rigged with stinger hooks to prevent short strikes
Blue Runners: Reliable option, especially near offshore drop-offs and seamounts

Other effective live wahoo baits include:

Frigate mackerel
Small little tunny
Albacore
Skipjack
Pogies (menhaden)
Pilchards
Croakers
Threadfin Herring

When using live bait, proper handling is critical. Stressed baitfish won't swim naturally, and wahoo can detect the difference. Maintain a well-oxygenated livewell with adequate space, and handle your bait with care. Healthy, frisky live bait dramatically increases your chances of enticing wahoo to strike.

Learn About Wahoo Baits and Bait Rigs

Bait Rigging - Strip Baits for Saltwater Fishing

Wahoo Fishing – Slow Trolling with Mike Dupree

Wahoo Fishing – Slow Trolling with Shawn Rotella part 1

Slow Trolling Live Bait for Wahoo - Shawn Rotella part 2

Indian Ocean wahoo caught trolling a swimming plug

Trolling Lures - Swimming Plugs

mike dupree holds a wahoo caught slow trolling ballyhoo

Wahoo Fishing – Slow Trolling with Mike Dupree part 2

Bait Rigging - Cutting Strip Baits

Ballyhoo Bait Rigs for Slow Trolling Wahoo

Understanding Live Bait Characteristics

The characteristics of different live baits significantly influence their effectiveness for wahoo fishing:

Size and Profile

Larger Baits (bonito, blackfin, skipjack tuna): Attract larger wahoo, mimic natural prey size, but may be more challenging to keep alive
Smaller Baits (speedos, goggle-eyes, blue runners): Easier to keep alive, versatile for various wahoo sizes, but may attract smaller wahoo

Swimming Behavior

Strong Swimmers (blue runners, goggle-eyes): Create more vibration and visual stimuli, attract wahoo from greater distances
Erratic Swimmers (mackerel scad, speedos): Mimic injured prey, trigger predatory instincts

Durability

Hardy Baits (blue runners, bonito): Withstand the stress of trolling, remain lively for extended periods
Delicate Baits (threadfin herring, cigar minnows): Require careful handling but offer natural presentation

Scent and Oil Content

Oily Fish (mackerel, bonito): Produce stronger scent trails that attract wahoo from greater distances

Color and Visibility

Flashy or Reflective Baits (speedos, pilchards, goggle-eyes): Stand out in clear water conditions
Dark-colored Baits (blue runners, bonito): Create strong silhouettes against surface light

Impact of Water Conditions on Bait Selection

Different live baits perform better under specific water conditions:

Clear Water

Best Baits: Blue runners, goggle-eyes, and speedos
Why: Their flashy appearance and active swimming are highly visible

Murky Water

Best Baits: Bonito, little tunny, and scad
Why: These emit stronger vibrations detectable by wahoo's lateral line system

Strong Currents

Best Baits: Bonito, frigate mackerel, and blue runners
Why: These hardy baits can swim actively against strong currents

Choppy Seas

Best Baits: Speedos and blue runners
Why: Their erratic swimming in rough waters mimics distressed prey

The Importance of Bait Movement

The movement or action of live baits is critical in attracting wahoo:

Erratic Movement: Baits like goggle eyes and speedos that exhibit darting, unpredictable swimming patterns mimic injured prey
Vibrational Cues: Active swimmers like blue runners create water vibrations detected by wahoo's lateral line
Speed and Agility: Fast-swimming baits like frigate mackerel match wahoo's speed-based hunting style
Natural Swimming Patterns: Properly rigged bait maintains smooth, lifelike motion without spinning

Dead Baits and Strip Baits

Strip baits are a standard on many charter boats because they're easy to store in quantity. Bonito strips are particularly effective, as is dolphin belly. For maximum effectiveness, skirt your dead baits with a sea witch or lure skirt.

Some anglers prefer speedo cross-sections cut about an inch wide, as they look more natural than simple chunks of meat - like something that's been bitten in half. When fishing chunks, try throwing several unhooked pieces in the water before casting your hooked bait, which can make wahoo less wary of the wire and leader.

Among dead baits, ballyhoo reigns supreme for several reasons:

Natural appearance and action when rigged properly
Versatility in rigging options (whole or strips)
Strong scent and oil content
Wide availability in frozen form
Durability when trolled at medium speeds
Excellent compatibility with skirts and lures

Other effective dead baits include:

Bonito strips (known for durability and strong scent)
Flying fish (effective due to their natural profile)
Squid (versatile when rigged with skirts)
Tuna belly strips (highly durable and oily)

Wahoo Rigs: Setting Up for Success

Proper rigging is crucial when targeting these toothy predators. Wire leaders are almost always necessary due to the wahoo's razor-sharp teeth.

For bait fishing, use single-strand wire (stainless steel wire from Malin or AFW) connected to the hook with a haywire twist. On the other end, even a small barrel swivel can handle fish up to 100 pounds. Prepare about a dozen or two rigs in advance, as bites often come in quick succession, and wire tends to get bent during fights. If you go with piano wire, replace your wire and hook after each fight to ensure strength and maintain a straight wire for the stealthiest presentation. The stainless wire is reusable, unless it kinks. See our video on Ballyhoo Wahoo Rigs for Slow Trolling where Captain Mike Dupree details the use of wire.

The way wahoo attack their prey influences how you should rig. These predators typically make a high-speed pass on their prey to injure it with their razor-sharp teeth, then turn and come back to finish the job. When trolling lures at high speeds, a 3- to 4-foot 400 lb cable attached to a shock leader works well. However, for slow-trolling live baits, lengthen the leader to 12 or 18 feet, and even longer when drifting baits.

Stinger Rigs for Wahoo

Stinger rigs with treble hooks are particularly effective for wahoo fishing. Experience shows that wahoo strikes often result in fish being hooked on the treble hook rather than the J-hook. The J-hook frequently serves primarily as a bait carrier, while the treble hook does the heavy lifting.

There are an infinite number of ways to rig wahoo baits. With live baits, you can put a live bait hook through the roof of the fish's mouth, through the nose, bridle the bait, hook it in the back, add a stinger hook or two, or any other combination that works. How big your bait is does factor into your choices. Since wahoo have a tendency to slash the back half of a bait, the larger the bait, the greater the need for a stinger rig.

A typical stinger rig starts with a lead hook (often a J-hook) and adds one or more treble stinger hooks. The J-hook goes through the top of the mouth, nose, or is bridled. The treble hook is usually embedded below and between the bait's dorsal fin and tail fin or allowed to swing freely. Try J-hooks in 6/0 or 8/0 size (upsize for bigger bait), and short shank treble hooks in No. 2 to 4 attached to the fish about 5-6 inches back. A good wire size is No. 6, 8, or 10, with water clarity and bite aggressiveness determining your wire size.

Common Mistakes When Using Live Bait for Wahoo

When using live bait for wahoo fishing, anglers often make mistakes that reduce their chances of success:

1. Poor Bait Presentation

Improper Rigging: Incorrectly rigged live bait can spin unnaturally, deterring wahoo from striking
Using Dead or Weak Bait: Live bait must be lively and vigorous to attract wahoo

2. Neglecting Wire Leaders

Using Monofilament or Fluorocarbon Leaders: Wahoo have razor-sharp teeth that can easily cut through non-metal leaders

3. Ignoring Water Conditions

Fishing in the Wrong Temperature Range: Wahoo thrive in waters between 70°F and 80°F
Not Accounting for Currents: Strong currents can drag bait out of the strike zone

4. Mishandling Trolling Speed

Trolling Too Fast or Too Slow: Live bait requires slower trolling speeds (around 3–5 knots)

5. Poor Line Management

Not Monitoring the Line Closely: Wahoo bites can be subtle, especially with live bait
Setting Drag Too Tight: A tight drag can cause hooks to pull out during wahoo's initial high-speed run

Techniques for Wahoo Fishing with Bait

Live Baiting for Wahoo

One effective technique for live baiting for wahoo involves using an electric reel as a downrigger to get baits deep in the water column. This approach is particularly effective when fishing known wahoo spots like wrecks and reefs.

Some captains use live bait on downriggers, placing them between 90 and 120 feet deep, while just bumping an engine in and out of gear to maintain position. Others use kites to present live baits like speedos, which can be particularly effective when wahoo are mixed with kingfish.

While high-speed trolling has its advantages, live baiting offers a different experience. When you're sitting still with a live bait and no lead on the line, the sudden burst of speed when a wahoo takes your bait creates an intense, memorable fight.

Slow Trolling with Bait

While high-speed trolling (12-18 knots) is a common approach for wahoo, trolling at slower speeds (6-9 knots) with a mix of dead baits and artificial lures can be equally effective and allows for more bycatch like mahi, tuna, and billfish.

For slow trolling, a typical wahoo spread might include all wire-rigged baits with heavy-head lures like Ilander Flashers rigged with medium to large ballyhoo. While surface baits do get bit by wahoo, the baits placed deeper in the water column often have the most success.

How many baits you decide to put out comes down to how many you can manage. A lot of fishermen utilize a simple and efficient three-rod spread with two lines from the gunnel with planers and one down the middle way back. If you're more experienced, you can run as many as eight lines.

A typical slow trolling spread may include:

A planer rod (No. 8 or No. 16 planers, even a No. 24 if you are running 80 wide reels, about 100 feet back)
2 short rigger rods (left at 150 feet, right at 200 feet)
2 long rigger rods (left at 250 feet, right at 300 feet)
A shotgun lure run way back (350 feet or more)

Remember that the size of your planer is determined by the temperature. When it's hotter, the deeper you should fish because wahoo will suspend at greater depth.

Learn Slow Trolling Techniques for Wahoo

Wahoo Fishing – Slow Trolling with Mike Dupree

Wahoo Fishing – Slow Trolling with Shawn Rotella part 1

Slow Trolling Live Bait for Wahoo - Shawn Rotella part 2

Ballyhoo Bait Rigs for Slow Trolling Wahoo

Wahoo Fishing – Slow Trolling with Mike Dupree part 2

Bump Trolling

Bump trolling is a productive tactic to use around offshore structure like oil rigs. Once the baits have been deployed, put the boat in gear and idle forward for a minute or so, then take it out of gear. This is a great way to cover the vertical water spectrum, plus it keeps your baits out of the props.

Try to use baits that naturally want to swim down when bump trolling. For baits that don't want to swim down, you may have to use a ball sinker to keep the smaller bait swimming deep and stop them from rolling on the surface.

Drifting with Chum

Another great way to target wahoo is to load up with threadfins, pilchards, or cigar sardines, run offshore to a weedline, rip, edge, or color change, shut down, and drift with the current while chumming. You can chum with live or dead baits. Hook a similar sized bait as the ones you're chumming with behind the boat, letting it fall naturally with the chunks.

When you're drifting, your boat becomes a large floating object that will often hold baitfish, making it attractive to the inquisitive wahoo. When they encounter the chum, wahoo will regularly swim right up to the boat, where you can then sight cast to them with a live or dead bait.

Getting Baits Deep - The Key to Success

The art of bait presentation is critical. If you are not getting your baits in front of the fish, you are not getting action. Wahoo as a species is known to suspend in the water column, well below bait schools. You can drag lures or baits near the surface all day and get zero bites if the fish are holding at depth.

It is critical when wahoo fishing to get your baits below the surface. Getting your baits just four or five feet below the surface is important, but getting baits down 20 to 40 feet is the real difference maker. To reach these depths, you need to use downriggers, planers, trolling leads, or wire line.

To get baits down in the water column, you can use:

Planers (attached directly to your line via clips or run from a cleat)
Downriggers (effective at slower speeds of 6-7 knots)
Lipped diving plugs (with upgraded hardware to handle wahoo)
Inline trolling weights

Any method that gets some of your baits down is crucial to successful wahoo fishing.

Learn Planer Fishing

Offshore Fishing with a Trolling Planer

Planer Fishing - Rods and Reels

Planer Fishing - Bait Rigs

Planer Fishing - Sea Witches and Water Color

Planer Fishing - Techniques for Driving Center Consoles

Planer Fishing - Small Boat Techniques

Planer Fishing - Downriggers

Planer Fishing - Big Boat Techniques

Planer Fishing - Techniques for Big Boat Driving

Planer Fishing - Trolling Nearshore

Best Locations and Timing for Wahoo Fishing

Many professionals target wahoo during optimal moon phases, typically four or five days before and after a full moon. The moon phase plays a role in feeding activity - the bigger or darker the moon, the more water that moves on the transition.

Capitalize on transition periods throughout the day, especially when tides, sunrise, and the moon phase align. Once the bite slows, consider moving to another area to fish a later tidal change - this approach can lead to multiple productive wahoo sessions in a single day.

The bait schools typically hang on the up-current sides of structure, and that's where you should concentrate your initial fishing efforts. Use your fish finder to locate the bait and then commence fishing. A fish finder is perhaps the most relevant piece of hardware on your boat - locate the bait, and chances are good you will locate predators.

Conclusion: Putting It All Together

Wahoo bait fishing is a useful skill to master. It is far more economical and at times more productive than high-speed trolling. Establish solid sources for bait or learn areas where you can easily catch your own. Rigs are not difficult to learn, though the presentation is where the learning curve gets steeper.

Successful wahoo fishing comes down to understanding these magnificent predators and presenting baits in ways that trigger their aggressive feeding instincts. Whether you prefer live baiting for wahoo with speedos and goggle eyes, slow trolling with rigged ballyhoo, or other techniques, the right combination of bait, rig, and presentation will dramatically increase your chances of connecting with these ocean speedsters.

Remember that the most important factor is finding areas holding wahoo in the first place. Knowledge of bait behavior, rigging techniques, and tide timing helps bag more of these prized game fish. With practice, patience, and the information in this guide, you'll be well on your way to consistent wahoo success.

Seth Horne In The Spread,
Chief Creator