Using Wind On Planer’s to Catch Wahoo: The Easy Way
When it comes to targeting wahoo, one of the ocean’s fastest and most aggressive predators, there are plenty of techniques that work. High speed trolling gets a lot of attention, but one of our personal favorites is pulling planers. Wahoo are part of the mackerel and tuna family which explains its torpedo shaped body and incredible speed. They also dwell deeper down in the water column making a planer the key to success. It gets your bait down where these fish are actively feeding instead of leaving it running on the surface, out of their strike zone.
We always recommend putting out two planers when targeting wahoo. We run a number four planer as our long bait, setting it about thirty seconds back, and a number eight planer as our short bait, setting it around fifteen to twenty seconds back and troll at around 8 – 10 knots. This setup allows us to cover multiple depths and doubles our chances of getting a bite.
We troll our planer rigs at around ten knots and zig zag along the coastline between 100 and 300 feet of water. Wahoo may be pelagic, but they love hanging near structure, so we make extra passes over wrecks, ridges, and any areas holding bait. If you hook into one, there is a good chance there are more. Always mark your GPS where the bite happened and circle back to try and catch more!
We fish with a Penn International 50W spooled with 80 lb braid. From the braid, we attach the planer bridle rigged with SPRO #4 swivels. From there, we run 100 feet of 60 lb mono wind-on leader followed by 15 feet of 60 lb fluorocarbon leader. At the terminal end, we rig a bonito strip on an 11/0 long shank J hook, stacking a Mylar skirt, a squid, and a Sea Witch above the hook. This combination adds flash, vibration, and scent, which is everything a wahoo can’t resist.
Timing plays a huge role when it comes to catching wahoo. Sunrise and sunset are peak bite windows. We are usually leaving the dock in the dark so we can have baits in the water right at first light. We also like to fish within four days before and after the full moon. Late fall and winter are prime times to target wahoo, so now’s the time to start fishing for them.
If you want to see exactly how we rig our lures and planers, we have a full step-by-step tutorial available. Watch our detailed video on YouTube How To Planer Fish with Wind-On Leader | How to Catch Wahoo & Kingfish. We walk you through every part of the process to help you set up your gear for success.
