Wind, wind, go away! Folks just want to fish
Ol’ Mother Spring sure has been playing tricks on us this year, huh? One day it’s 80 degrees, and the next day it’s in the mid 30s.
Add to that strong winds that affect me way more than the temperature outside ever could. Why? I can’t get offshore to fish, and on most days lately, even inshore fishing is off limits. Yesterday a friend told me that he had been keeping count of how many “fishable” days we have had since January, and by his count it was less than a dozen. No es bueno.
Bet y’all didn’t know I knew any Spanish but at one point I was almost fluent. All through high school and college I loved Spanish. I even lived in Puerto Rico for quite a while working for Sea Pines at their Palmas del Mar resort. I guess I got a bit off track there, but that’s how my mind works so let’s talk “gran pez.”
You are probably Googling “gran pez” right now, so stop because the English translation is “big fish.” March is the beginning of our offshore fishing season here and after a long winter, everyone I know is more than ready to get out there.
The only thing stopping most of us is that darn wind. Sadly, you spend days preparing to head to the Gulf Stream and as the day to go gets closer, no two weather forecasters seem to agree on anything. It’s all about the wave heights and the seconds. Seconds refer to the seconds between one wave and the next – that can make a huge difference when you are running 60 or more miles out there.
Say the forecast says, “Friday the seas will be 3 feet at four seconds,” while “Saturday will be 3 feet at eleven seconds.” Putting in bluntly, if you went Friday you would come home missing teeth and maybe even your mind.
It would be like driving a car at 50 mph over big speed bumps that were at most 10 feet apart. But on Saturday, the ride would be soft. Get it?
March through June is also tournament time. Right now the SC Wahoo Series is in progress, where boats can fish any two days of their choosing until the tournament ends in mid-April. This year over 120 boats entered, but days to chase a big wahoo have been few and far between.
I am part of the Hilton Head Boathouse team, and we have yet to find a fishable day. I have spent hours on end rigging lures and making sure tackle is fine tuned enough to handle a 100-pound wahoo slamming a bait at 60 mph, but no go due to “vientos fuertes.”
Thought I was done with Spanish, huh? Told you my mind is like that, so the translation is “strong winds.”
Education is everything.
Then as soon as the SC Wahoo Series is over, the Hilton Head Harbor Wahoo Shootout is scheduled for April 18-22 . Now in its 14th year, you can fish one day between April 18 and April 22.
To enter, the Captain’s Meeting is scheduled from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Monday, April 16, at Hilton Head Harbor Marina. One of my all-time favorite fish species to catch, wahoo are not just fast and strong, but in my opinion, better eating than any tuna that swims. I usually take some light soy sauce and wasabi along on wahoo trips because there isn’t a sashimi around that is better than a thin slice of wahoo just minutes after it has been caught. Fantástico!
The big tournament news this year is Wexford Plantation’s Lucky 30 Run For The Bulls dolphin tournament on June 9. Check this out, the format is so cool because it will be limited to only 30 boats. The first 30 boats that enter are in, with a first place “largest dolphin” payout of $20,000. Even cooler is that this Wexford tournament is also being sponsored by Bass Pro Shops, its first here, along with the Hilton Head Boathouse.
The hope is that it will be a truly local tournament that is fun, since so many tournaments these days have become so big and impersonal that anglers don’t know each other. Wexford plans on pulling out all the stops with food, drink and entertainment. There will be lots of other awards given, and a portion of the proceeds to will go toward the purchase of a breeding tank for our very own Waddell Mariculture Center.
Registration for the Wexford Run The Bulls starts Monday, March 26. Entry forms and tournament information will be available online on Monday, March 26 at: www.runforthebulls.com. So how’s that for a ton of information plus a Spanish lesson to boot? Hasta la proxima vez!
This story was originally published March 22, 2018 at 4:04 PM with the headline "Wind, wind, go away! Folks just want to fish."