This past Mother’s Day, I ran into an awesome couple at Pancho’s Fuel Dock in Marathon — Jim and Tammy Adams from Denver. Jim, an investor, and Tammy, a spiritual adviser, were in town visiting a friend. While exploring the idea of purchasing a waterfront vacation home, they decided to spend a romantic Mother’s Day on the water. Just the two of them set out on their friend’s 26-foot Sea Fox. Jim, an avid fly fisherman, brought along his personal 12-weight fly rod and reel, along with a box of his favorite flies. They also borrowed a couple of conventional rods, reels and lures from their friend.
They fished around the reef in the morning with no success. Around 10:30 a.m., as they trolled a fly just outside the reef in 200 feet of water near the Sombrero Lighthouse, Jim hooked and landed an 11-pound cow mahi. A few minutes later, he caught and landed a 5-pound blackfin tuna and hooked and lost a large sailfish. Jim trolled around the 200-foot area for another few hours without a strike. As he managed the trolling spread at the back of the boat, Tammy took the helm. They had been told to follow birds while trolling, but they saw none. They found a white butterfly and Tammy told Jim to follow it.
The butterfly came a few feet from the boat a few times and then would fly almost out of sight and come back close again. Tammy, being a very spiritual person, was singing fish songs and said a couple of loud prayers for a fish to bite while still chasing the butterfly. Then, around 1:30 p.m., while still following the butterfly, a huge explosion happened 30 feet behind the boat where Jim was trolling a black, pink and silver fly on his 12-weight fly rod and reel. Jim screamed at Tammy, “I’ve got a big one, so put the boat in neutral.”
Jim had the fight of his life, he said. The rods doubled over and he got the drag locked down as he pressed his thumb on his line spool, trying to put the brakes on this monster. The reel got so hot that Tammy was wringing out a wet rag on it to could cool it down. Jim got back some line, then the monster took almost all of it out again. This back-and-forth fight went on for over 20 minutes. Toward the end of the fight, the fish started wearing out, and so did Jim. The fish came boatside; Jim handed his rod to Tammy, grabbed the gaff, and gaffed the giant fish into the boat. Jim had hooked this toothy wahoo right in the corner of the mouth.
They came up to Pancho’s Fuel Dock and asked the dock master Dale if they could weigh the fish. That’s when I heard Dale hollering, “Joel! Are you up there? You’ve got to see this.” I came running out to the balcony, and there was Jim and Tammy with the 69-pound wahoo sitting on the lobster scale. I told them it was one of the largest I’d ever seen in person. I informed Jim that his wahoo was one of the most sought-after gamefish in the ocean, and great eating. After telling me that he caught it on a fly, I had to come down from the balcony and see it for myself.
After doing some online research on the International Game Fish Association (IGFA) world record for wahoo caught on a fly rod and reel, it would have been No. 2 in the all-time wahoo world records. But in this case, Jim’s fish won’t count. The fly rule states that the vessel must be in neutral when the gamefish strikes the fly, and since they were trolling the fly at 6 knots, they were automatically disqualified.
Avid wahoo anglers know that most wahoo are caught on a full or new moon, and Mother’s Day was on May 12 on a quarter/half moon phase. Anglers also know that most wahoo are caught very early in the morning or very late in the afternoon. Jim and Tammy’s monster was hooked at 1:30 p.m. Most wahoo are caught around the 200-foot-deep range, and the best weather is no wind, clear skies and clear seas. Jim and Tammy did have that going for them.
This was my first Mother’s Day in years without a charter, and I couldn’t understand why because the weather was gorgeous that day. A wahoo is such a trophy fish because it’s hard to find one to bite, and they’re hard to hook. Once you do hook one, they’re hard to fight, and when you do fight one to the boat, they are hard to land, especially on a fly rod and reel. Jim and Tammy had a lot of odds against them last Mother’s Day. Was it the fly? Our wahoo do see every lure known to man come trolling past them on a daily basis. Was it that Tammy, mother of four, was blessed on Mother’s Day, or was it the white butterfly that guided them to a hungry wahoo? “Hoo” knows?
To book a charter with Ana Banana, call or text Capt. Joel at 813-267-4401 or Capt. Jojo at 305-879-0564, or visit anabananafishing.com.
