Yahoo! Wahoo!

We sailed smoothly along at five knots, enjoying lunch under the sun tarp Daddy had rigged earlier. Lunch was nearly done as we finished the heavenly carrots from Ascension. I glanced at the fishing line, and, trying to keep casual, I pointed the stretching line out to everyone else. I think I failed terribly, as hurried to the line immediately.

When I stepped up to the line, I could pull in the fish easily. The fish, seeming to realize it was in trouble, dove, making hauling in considerably harder. That was the first time one of our fish had truly sounded, or dived quickly. I got a glance of a colorful shape and was sure it was a mahi-mahi, except that normally they don't go to the deep for safety. Then I caught a flash of the tale and saw the length of the fish. It was a very tuna like tail but our line wasn't strong enough to hold a tuna that long. Sighing, I hauled it in and got my first proper look at it. A long cylindrical body, razor sharp teeth, a beaked mouth, and zebra stripes. There was no doubt what it was, a wahoo.

Daddy performed a perfect gaffing, hooking the fish in the gills and destroying the brain in his first stroke. The 1.1 meter(1.2 yards) long fish was dead before it was aboard the boat, an incredible feat considering the imperfect fish landing conditions. After a few pictures and one of Daddy's best filleting jobs, we were eating sashimi only twenty minutes out of the water. That night we enjoyed the treat of pan-fried wahoo on rice. -Porter

Writer's Note: We caught the wahoo at noon on the twenty-third of March at 3°39' S and 15°19' W. Wahoo are found in all temperate to tropical oceans. They are very fast fish, oftentimes found racing along floating weed lines looking for squid and flying fish eggs. Our thirty-five pound fish was a relatively small one, as they grow up to 150 lbs.