Before we get into the intricacies of shooting them, we need to establish where

 one would hypothetically bump into a Wahoo, as this is fairly important in preparing the diver to engage the correct understanding of the fish in question, and perhaps what it's thinking...

Warmer, clean water is preffered, often around reef drop offs and floating debris or FADs (as Robin will tell you...). This means that the Wahoo is generally an "offshore" species favouring the cleaner water out in the Mozambique current. The current end of a reef or drop off (the end the current hits first) is a good place to start. Don't get dropped off on the reef, but further up current, giving you a chance to drift a bit before getting to the structure.

Another prerequisite is calm surface conditions (refferred to as "Wahoo weather) by the Zululanders. These fish like glassy conditions. They get pretty big, the line record is around 67kgs, and they're amoung the fastest fish in the sea.

What all this boils down to is that you'd more than likely bump into one on a calm autumn day on the zululand coast, over one of the deeper reefs, or off Aliwal on a good day. (Ask Sean).

Now for the trickier part of the equation, the character of the fish.

Somewhere down the line someone must have violated the Wahoo's personal space because it's this factor that directly affects spearfishermen. The most infuriating element in hunting Wahoo is the fact that 90% of the time, one cannot get close enough, with the fish keeping its distance, fleeing when the frustrated diver's sneaking tactic changes into a full scale chase. The will be the odd case where the following statement doesn't apply, but in general YOU CANNOT CHASE THIS FISH.

They're also very soft fleshed, and very fast off the mark, making the landing of these fish quite difficult, the spear tearing out easily.

Everything else is in the spearo's favour, the fish swim shallow, they're big, and sleek and beautiful, and they look good in pictures when you hold them up.

The Zululand school tells us to try and outswim the fish. If you see one coming, and you usually do in the clean water, turn around and try to swim away, and maybe down a bit, keeping an eye out over each shoulder as you do. More often than not you'll see the fish swimming alongside you, wondering what on earth you're doing. At this point, stop, turn, and as the fish swims away, slot him with the best angled shot you'll get. I managed to shoot a 34kg specimen by doing this.

A second method is just to hang on the surface, tuck your gun under your belly and don't make eye contact. The fish kind of dawdle into you, and you should be able to at least get a shot in. This works quite well if the fish are shoaling. On a recent trip we used this method and managed a number of fish around 25kgs.

The other method only works if the Wahoo swims below you. Wait till it's directly below or slightly in front, then duck dive and swim straight at it as fast as you like. They seem to have  blind spot, I've managed to get really close like this.

As far as gear goes, a long, accurate gun like a 1.3 (know your range), long bouy line, 40 metres or so, and a small float. You can put a boingee on if you like, I find them irritating. The fish should be able to pull the float under, preventing the spear from pulling out. The problem with this is that when hunting wahoo, you're in an environment where you could bump into lunker fish like Marlin or big Tuna, if you shoot one of these with your little float, you're in for a bit of head scratching.

 

By Graeme Duane