Don't mess with Roy Rose: The RP hammers the wahoo on the Ridge
SFR wanted to find out how the Royal Polaris managed the best wahoo score of the fall season so we went straight to Roy Rose, who skippered the big boat on the limited load trip to Southern Baja waters.

It's one of the most subjective topics in all of fishing, but I happen to agree with those who think that wahoo fishing long range style is the ultimate in angling excitement. Match fish that can move at 60 mph with mere humans who can get around at about 5 mph and you just start to get a glimpse of the picture. There's the excitement of that first bite on the troll that builds with each successive slam of a jig tossed out once the boat slides to a stop and just gets crazier as the troll fish hit the deck with a thunk and the gaps left at the rail are filled with the flushed faces of stoked fishermen still tight to 'hoo on the casting gear - or at least trying to stay hooked up. Seems like as many wahoo get away as get caught but that just means the next bite comes that much faster.

Capt. Rose said the fun didn't begin until the Royal Polaris left Alijos Rocks and headed inside to the Ridge.

"We saw lots of wahoo at Alijos, they just didn't want to bite," said Rose.

Once on the Ridge, the sonar lit up with big wahoo marks, Rose noted. "It was all on the sonar and at first they were biting the troll jigs full speed," he said. "It was the standard Marauders - Tony the Tiger, black and purple - in the full size.

"They wanted the jig at first, too, and we had stops for 19 fish, 20 fish. The best jig by far was the Raider 125 in gold. With the single hook, none of that 5X treble hook stuff," said Rose. "I tell guys when they come on with those to take them off. They finally do after they lose 5 fish in a row. They say, 'Well my buddy caught 12 fish on it,' but I tell them that's at some spot where there's a million fish, not the Ridge."

The wahoo finally backed off and Rose had to reach into his bag of tricks. "I would find the schools on the sonar and then set up the boat for a drift and have everyone fish bait," said Rose. "I had the guys fish with 30 and 40-pound test and a short piece of wire, say about 15 inches, and a 3/0 hook. Some used the old single strand wire, but most used titanium or 7Strand."

Rose said the wahoo were the fat ridge fish and most were around 40 pounds, with the jackpot a 70 pounder.

"We could have had limits for the 20 guys, but when I saw them giving fish away, I told John (Collins) 'They've had enough, let's go' and called in another boat," said Rose. "Then that guy gets 'em and puts it up on his website like he just rolled into them and makes it sound better than they had it. I hate that. Guess I should have just stayed there and hammered them flat."

But that's not Roy Rose's way. Oh he hammers them all right, but he likes to put people on fish. Especially if they are on the Royal Polaris.

PHOTO CAPTION: The wahoo fishing was a lot slower on the trip that got in Nov. 1 on the Royal Polaris but fishing was good overall and 7-year-old Shawn Trowbridge, Jr., pictured with his proud father who owns and operates the Legend, got his first wahoo, a 46 pounder that ate a gold Raider jig.PHOTO COURTESY OF BILL ROECKER