Damn Good Wahoo Fishing Charters

The best wahoo fishing charters are:

• BearCutBandit Sport Fishing and Sandbar Charters guided by Alek F.
• Nauti-Nurse Sportfishing guided by Seth H. with 34 years of experience
• Key Largo Sportfishing guided by Dustin H.
• Scale House Charters guided by Branden C.
• Nanny's Revenge Fishing Charter guided by Shane G.

Our Damn Good Guides currently offer 71 wahoo trips, and the most popular trips are Destin Bottom Fishing And Trolling guided by Jason, Palm Beach Offshore - 55' Viking guided by John, and Blue Water Spearfishing Trip guided by Niko.

Our guides are rated a 4.88 out of 5 based on 8009 verified reviews on Captain Experiences.

All guides on Captain Experiences are vetted by our team. You can access their reviews, click through trip photos, read bios to get to know them, and preview trip details like species, techniques, group sizes, boat specs and more.

Looking for kid friendly wahoo guides / fishing lessons? Check out our beginner and family friendly wahoo guides.

Deep Sea fishing is the most popular type of fishing for wahoo as well as nearshore fishing, inshore fishing, and jetty fishing.

The most common fishing techniques are trolling, heavy tackle fishing, and bottom fishing but live bait fishing and light tackle fishing are popular as well.

Prices for wahoo can range anywhere from about $1,000 to $6,100, but the average price for a half day trip for wahoo is $1,452. The average price for a full day trip for wahoo is $4,399.

Hiring a guide provides a number of benefits and many choose to book a fishing guide for a combination of experience, local knowledge, convenience, and cost-effectiveness.

Working with experienced fishing guides who know the best local spots and techniques can dramatically increase your odds of a great day. Having someone who is on the water every day and knows the area like the back of their hand is going to give you the best chances of success.

Booking a guide is also more cost effective, especially if you only get out a handful of times per year. When you consider all of the costs you would incur on your own such as the price of a boat, maintenance, insurance, gas, high-quality gear and tackle, repairs, and more, you’ll find that DIY is sometimes not worth the expense.

Even if you’ve got a great setup already in your home waters, booking a guide also provides a great opportunity to experience new techniques, new locations, or even a chance at a new target species to knock off the bucket list.

The most popular season for wahoo fishing is summer, and most anglers book their trips 19 days in advance.

See here for more information on wahoo fishing licenses, wahoo bag limits, and fishing season regulations for wahoo. When in doubt, your guide will always know all the relevant wahoo rules and regulations.

The wahoo (Acanthocybium solandri) is an aerodynamic predator who is known for its sharp teeth, zebra-like pattern, and speed, and they are prized gamefish because they are great to catch and great to eat.

The fish itself is very long and slender with a longish snout filled with sharp serrated teeth and a few small fins on the top and bottom of the fish. They have tiny scales similar to other members of the mackerel family. Its coloring is unique, generally showing a deep blue/purple color and silver below with vertical blue stripes running down its side that are especially prominent shortly after the wahoo is caught (be sure to snap some quick photos if you are keeping the fish, the colors fade quickly just like a mahi). 

Wahoo can be found in warm waters around the world and are beloved by anglers for their leap - it won’t happen every time, but wahoo are known to jump well out of the water (their speed helps them here). They have even been known to launch last-minute attacks at lures that are already coming out of the water at the boat. 


Wahoo size usually limits out at about 5 ft and 20-50 pounds, but they can grow up to 100 inches and a bit under 200 pounds. Wahoo generally reach maturity at about 2 years of age depending on location and gender and are believed to live until about 6 years of age, making them a relatively fast-growing species. They are known to grow fairly quickly, and after reaching about 40 inches can grow an additional 1.5 inches per month. Their size is also correlated with water temperatures, and although they are a warm-water fish they are known to be bigger in cooler waters.

The biggest on record is a massive 184 pound fish caught by Sara Hayward out of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico in 2005. This is also said to be a nearly impossible record to beat by some, due to the sheer size and separation from other records. Wahoo also frequently break off, are hard to target, and are commonly taken by the tax man (shark), so this record will likely stand for some time unless someone gets lucky!


Wahoo are distributed throughout warm waters worldwide and can be found in most tropical and subtropical sportfisheries around the world. Common destinations outside the US include the Bahamas and Mexico, but this is a common “bycatch” in many regions around the world while trolling. The more temperate the waters, the more likely the wahoo is to be seasonal.

The best season for Wahoo in the Gulf of Mexico is both November to February and again in August to September, although for much of the year wahoo are an incredible bycatch if you are lucky enough. On the Atlantic side, wahoo will swim north in the warmer spring and summer months and otherwise be found closer to south Florida and the Keys.

The season in the US is always open, so if you can find them you can keep them. There is no size limit and a bag limit of 2 only exists in Florida, Maryland, and the Carolinas.

Wahoo are pelagic and are generally a solitary fish, preferring to swim either alone or in fairly small groups. Because of this, they are usually caught on accident while trolling or targeting other species because they are hard to predict.

If you want to target wahoo specifically, you definitely want to set up a high-speed troll with artificial lures (or a slightly slower speed for live bait) on downriggers about 20-40 feet down. You really can’t troll too fast for a wahoo, and they are also happy to munch close to the boat. You can use a standard 80 or 100 lb braid and Rapalas.

They’ll make a big initial run and may give a few acrobatic jumps, so make sure you have a wire leader so make sure the wahoo doesn’t slice right through your line


Wahoo meat is white to grey, and delicate to dense, and is known to be delicious both raw and cooked. If they were easier to catch, the fish would almost certainly command a bigger commercial market. As it stands, if you are lucky enough to catch some, you are in for a treat. The flavor is somewhat mild and can be slightly oily (reminiscent of other mackerel). The Hawaiian word for Wahoo is “Ono” which translates to “good to eat”. We recommend eating some raw right off the boat before taking some home to grill for a firm, white, crisp grilled fish.