Lunker fish screamed drag in 20-minute fight
The fishing forecast for April in South Carolina Sportsman magazine reported that some of the biggest wahoo could be caught in April just ahead of the blue water blitz that grips the entire month of May. On April 14, the crew of the T/T/ Charger left Charleston for the Georgetown Hole, and Paul Godbout was on the reel when an 82.4-pound monster wahoo screamed the drag and became their daymaker fish.“When we left that day it was flat calm, just mill-pond slick,” Godbout said. “We could have run a johnboat to the ledge it was so flat.”
So Capt. Dave Grafton’s 33-foot Yellowfin charged south to the Georgetown Hole to fish for early season pelagics. Other crew members on the trip included Malcolm Carn, Steve Cashwell and Shane Shards.
“I was fishing a Penn International 80 reel, and I had the drag set tight,” Godbout said. “We caught a 30-wahoo earlier in the day, and he surfed a bit because he couldn’t pull out any line.
“Well, when the big one hit the Z-man HSL lure in pink-and-white running on a No. 4 planer about 60 feet deep, he made that drag scream and we knew we had a good one.”
The fish came right to the surface and exploded, and at first the crew on the boat thought it was a mako shark. After a 20-minute fight with Godbout steady cranking on the Penn reel, they were able to get a gaff into the monster wahoo and bring it n the boat, where the anglers celebrated the start of another great bluewater season.
They finished the day with three wahoo, three blackfin tuna and one dolphin.
Visit the offshore fishing forum to see more photos of Godbout’s lunker ’hoo.
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