The $1,000 Wahoo
On May 27, 2011 at 8:00 am three native anglers, two from Marco Island and on from Isles of Capri gathered at the Pelican Bend Marina for a day of offshore reef fishing. They departed on a 36' Yellowfin boat named "Triple J" equipped with 3 Mercury 4-stroke 300 hp motors. The Yellowfin was topped off with gas, coolers loaded with ice, a dozen frozen chum blocks, lunch and drinks packed, and gear ready for catching some big fish. 
The first stop was at the CP-2 tower just outside of Capri Pass for bait. In no time they had their bait wells full of bait fish, so off they went offshore.
The anglers, as all I have met, would not reveal the reef location they fished, all I was allowed to know was that it was 110 miles from Isles of Capri.
Arriving at the reef, the anglers immediately started chumming heavily and after a short while they had "fish on". They caught African Pompano, Mutton Snapper and Grouper, the usual suspects on our offshore reefs.
The fishing was good, the men happy with the steady bites, then suddenly the Capri angler's 50 lb Power Pro line went wild, he had an 80 lb Wahoo hooked that was over 4 feet long! After a furious fight the Wahoo was landed and put on ice for the trip back.
As a prize game fish with excellent flesh, the Wahoo is one of the fastest fish in the sea with speeds exceeding 50 miles per hour. Wahoo are not that common in our waters, but the guys were pretty far out, so any fish known to be in the Gulf of Mexico can be caught. At 80 pounds, this was an enormous feat and not a common catch, most are caught at half that weight although the Wahoo can reach 8 feet in length and weigh up to 180 pounds.
Unfortunately I did not have my camera that day when I arrived at the Marina at 6:30 PM, so I did not get a picture of this beautiful fish. I did see it's majestic beauty before I went home for the camera and observed the pride of the angler who caught it.
After returning with my camera, I found the fish was buried in ice, packed away for the trip back to Marco Island for filleting. But I was able to get a quick shot of the boat before it departed and a picture of the gas pump?$952 for 200 gallons of fuel!
Wow, it cost them not only the $952 for fuel but $50 in chum. That is why we call this fish the $1,000 Wahoo.
High Cost of Fresh Bait
I ran into some tournament anglers a few weeks later as they were re-fueling their Yellowfin after a trip. They pumped in $605.47 worth of fuel. I asked them where they went and they said they went 95 mile offshore to catch Ballyhoo for a tournament the next day.
WOW, $605 worth of bait. Now the tournament was in Key West so they would burn another $1,000 worth of gas just to go to the tournament and back. I had no idea it was so expensive to go fishing!
The next time I hear a large Charter boat say it costs $2,500 for a trip I will understand most of the cost is for fuel if you are going way offshore.
