We had left conception island at three in the morning to put us into San Salvador in time to meet my buddy Mike’s plane, we pulled into the now familiar anchorage, dropping the hook down just as a large commercial jet passed overhead in the midday sun. Not bad timing for dodging storms and traveling over a 120 nm to get back to this point. By the time we had the dingy lowered, Mike was just getting to the dock after hitching a ride from the airport.
Mike is one of my oldest friends, having grown up together in Chicago and both having found our way to Florida after that. The one thing that bonded us above all (at least of the stories we can tell in good company) was our addiction to all things fishing, and then Spearfishing. Somehow, we now found ourselves on a remote island that jutted up out of the great depths of the ocean to create a sport fisherman’s dream. We’d come a long way from fishing the local ponds for bluegill and largemouth bass off our bicycles in Illinois.
The weather wasn’t perfect but we immediately hit the water to check out the reefs. Mike was borrowing one of my Gatku pole spears and he practiced by missing big grouper after big grouper. I think the Indian was having a tough time adjusting to this particular arrow but that would eventually change in a big way. We retired back to the boat early, caught up on old times and got ready for the next day ahead. It was supposed to be a beauty and we had big plans.
Chasing Wahoo in the wild waters north of San Salvador
The ocean was glass and we skipped across the surface at full throttle, the 10 ft dingy was packed with gear, gas, food and bait for the day. 
The day is warming after an hour of running, I slow down and turn on my recently installed depth finder. As we suit up, I watch the screen for the ledge. The depth drops from 200 ft to 500 ft in an instant,
“You ready?!”
“Yea buddy!”
Mike replies as he swings his legs and fins out of the dingy into the water. The brown missile darts out! Slapping against Mike’s fins and breaking the surface.
“Holy hell!” Mike shrieks
We’re not even in the water yet and we’ve nearly have our first shark attack. The 6 ft reef shark continues to circle with menace.
Mike brings his feet in, I lower the flashers, (a string of lures attached to a buoy) to a depth of 30 ft and the shark follows. That gives us enough space to hop in and access the situation.
Immediately greeted not by one but three reef sharks, darting back and forth, excited to have visitors in their water. The eager sharks need to be poked away multiple times with the tips of our pole spears, back to back, we drift through with the current till we hit the shallower water and the sharks leave us alone.
“Well that didn’t go as planned”
I state the obvious as we hop in the dingy. I motor us a little ways away and try again, while not as aggressive as the first batch, we’re still surrounded by sharks and no wahoo on the next try.
After a couple drifts with all sharks and no wahoo I was getting a bit weary of this spot. Once again, I motor away a short distance and we hop in. Finally with no sharks in sight, I settle into the third drift. I grab some chum and let it drift off into the deep blue surrounding the flashers. Minutes pass as I breath up for a dive, I’m just about to dive when I get that feeling.
I look up to see a pair of monster wahoo cruising on the surface right towards me, my heart skips a beat and its all I can do to look away and pretend I didn’t see them. The only way to get close to these fish is to use their natural curiosity, I steal a glance and see they are getting close. With a quick prayer, I close my eyes and move as smoothly as possible to dive below the water, leveling with the wahoo, I see that they have been disturbed enough to halt their approach 15 ft away, swimming parallel. With a speargun I’d have a shot at the 80 lb wahoo, but with a pole spear he’s just out of range. As hard as it is, I swim away back towards the flashers and chum. This counterintuitive move triggers their curiosity and they’re following me now, just what I hoped. If they start feeding on the chum, we’ll get a chance. As I’m swimming towards the chum, Mike finally spots the wahoo. Not one to pass on a shot, he swims past me and right towards the wahoo. It spots Mike late and it turns broadside, giving Mike a beautiful chance. He doesn’t waste it… the Gatku pole spear powers through the slender fish, the slip tip toggles into a place and it takes off like a rocket. As it disappears the float it’s connected to whips into action and gets towed towards the distance, Mike has the line in his hand though so I hop in to chase him in the dingy. To my surprise Mike joins me in the dingy,
“Didn’t think it’d be that strong, ripped it from my hands.” Mike explains
“Well let’s hurry and get it before the sharks do!!” I reply.
It takes painful seconds to get the dingy started and the flashers in, full throttle, I race after the buoy that’s 300 yards away now. Pulling up to it, Mike jumps in,
“get it in fast!” I yell as he goes.
I quickly follow with my polespear ready for a backup shot. As I enter the water, I see Mike hauling on the line and only one reef shark in sight, we stand a chance if Mike hurries! From the depths the wahoo appears, struggling against the line. You can see it is spent and the shot is good, only a race to beat the sharks. For thrilling seconds it looks like they haven’t found the scent and Mike pulls the wahoo closer, only 60 ft down… then a second reef shark appears, and a third, fourth, fifth…. oye, only one hope now. I take a full breath, heart pounding, I dive down. If I can reach the wahoo before the sharks bite, I can scare them away. I kick hard, my heart racing is taking away my oxygen, 20 ft, 30 ft down I go, wahoo is only 20 ft away but the sharks are swarming. One goes for it, its teeth hitting home as it rips into the great wahoo’s tail, that’s all it takes. The small bite starts the feeding frenzy, the reef sharks rip into the wahoo without inhibition now, tumbling over one another for the feast. I’ve got no business in the water anymore so I head for the surface. It’s all I can do to hop in the dingy and catch the rest of the frenzy with my GoPro. We’re disappointed as the sharks finish off the last bit of the once majestic fish but no one said this was going to be easy…
we reorganize, move to another spot and keep at it, we see plenty of wahoo all day and get a couple more chances but we never connect again. The sharks keep us constant companions throughout the day making things tough, even a fleeting visit from a nine ft tiger shark, too cool!! In the midst of all this madness, with sharks all around and danger at every turn, I had a sudden onset of worry for Alyssa. Whom I had left at home with just a paddleboard to get into town. This feeling never left me all day after that.
We go home empty handed. It’s likely our only chance at the wahoo of San Salvador with the weather coming up but it’s hard to feel sorry as we race the sunset on our twelve mile trip back to our boat.
It’s been an incredible day battling the monsters of the deep, one that won’t be forgotten soon. Alyssa is happy to see us home safely and greets us with sundowners to soothe our fish less arrival. I’m just as happy to see her with that nagging feeling I had… then I see the bandages! Apparently a coral wall she was walking on had given way and she’d had a good bit of a fall. With a nasty scratch on her shoulder and leg and a knock on her head to prove it. Oye, intuition had proved right but Alyssa was already nursing herself back to health in good spirits.
Read on next time to hear about adding a new crew member, a bloody departure, and a lovely sail to Rum Cay!!
