Fun Wahoo Facts!

It’s Wahoo Season and the bite is on!

The Wahoo (Acanthocybium solandri), also known as Ono in the Pacific, is a fast, beautiful and delicious fish, making it a prize catch for recreational and commercial fishermen. 

Wahoo are the fourth fastest fish in the ocean, after the black marlin, sailfish & striped marlin, capable of speeds up to 60 mph! Their long, hard first run is unmistakeable and creates an adrenaline rush when they bite! 

They can be caught throughout the year. However, November through February are our favourite and most productive times to fish for wahoo, as they migrate through the Caribbean. 

As a structure oriented fish, they are primarily targeted at around 400ft on the edge of the Belizean Barrier Reef.

They are one of the best eating fish. Their firm white meat can be barbequed, fried, sautéed or smoked. And, they are delicious eaten as sashimi or ceviche.

The wahoo grow quickly, reaching sexual maturity within the first year of life. They are found in small loose groups of a few fish but, when spawning, can be found in large schools of hundreds of fish. The International Union for Conservation of Nature, lists the wahoo’s conservation status as “Least Concern” meaning it is not in danger of overfishing.

Females will produce several million eggs each time they spawn and can spawn multiple times during the spawning season. 

They are primarily found in warm tropical and subtropical waters but will migrate to temperate waters in the summer season.

The 184 lb wahoo that holds the IGFA all tackle world record was caught in July 2005 by Sara Hayward in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. An average fish in Belize is about 20-40 lbs but they do break 100 lb, every so often.