[Captain's John & Diana]

The other captain from Harker’s Island, NC that works with me for Giant Bluefin Tuna down in Morehead City, NC had a visitor the other day that has been living pretty much full time down in Panama trying to start up a new resort down there. I will have more information on this in the future but from what I was told to me by my crew member the fishing where they plan to fish from is nothing short of phenomenal. That is all I know at this time. He hails from the OXB area but now is trying to develop the new fishing resort down there and was home for a few days and stopped by to visit with his old friend that works with me. He told my other captain about deep dropping with jigs down to 300-600 feet for super large Dog Tooth Tuna plus monster Yellowfins using wide body jig reels that hold hundreds of yards of spectra. At least some of the anglers doing this type of fishing come from Australia and other parts of the world but not any US fisherman he knows down there have the equipment to fish this way.
Anyone familiar with this type of fishing down in Panama and what type of tackle they use or possible tried doing this in the past.

 

[TunaBully]

There is certaintly a hot yellowfin bite in Panama at times, often on jigs and poppers, although it can be very hit and miss. That said, he is almost certainly discussing dogtooth snappers rather than tuna as dogtooth tuna are not caught in the eastern pacific and I have never heard of one being caught in Panama

 

[Captain's John & Diana]

That just might be what was mentioned to me

Probably got them confused and Tog Tooth Snappers might be what they discussed being caught by deep dropping. I am almost certain it was mentioned some very large Yellowfins were caught deep dropping down way deeper than what is usually done. Only a few have tried jigging that deep is the message I got to date but again it was told to me by my other captain but sounded like something that might be explored in the future by some serious hardy anglers. They have been running charters down in Panama but the location is unknown to me as well as the name of the boat or really anything other than the fishing is really world class but that is pretty well known by those that have fished down.

 

[Capital Gain]

Neat stuff. I can honestly say I never heard of a dogtooth tuna.

 

[TunaBully]

Dogtooth snappers are plentiful in Panama, they get pretty big, boast a nasty set of choppers, and boy are they good to eat! Yum! They average 30-50lbs, but can grow to over 100lbs.

While I have never tangled with a dog tooth tuna they are apparently the largest memeber of the bonita family and can grow to over 200lbs. They have huge teeth! Apparently they aggressively attack jigs and put up a tremendous fight. I believe they are fairly common in the western pacific and indian ocean. I don't know if they are any good to eat

 

[Tunachunker]

Dogtooth Snapper is a Cubera Snapper correct?

 

[J FLORES]

Dogtooth Snapper is a Cubera Snapper correct?

Yes, its a Cubera Snapper.

 

[J FLORES]

Neat stuff. I can honestly say I never heard of a dogtooth tuna.

Captain Gain,


Matsutani-san holds the record Dogtooth on a jig over 100kg.

They are mostly caught in the Indian Ocean,South Pacific, and Coral Sea.

These Dogtooth were caught during Matsutani's Patriot Desing jig testing.

 

[Captain's John & Diana]

I once fished for them in La Paz, Mexico years ago

I believe they just might be called Pargos down there in Spanish and are similar or possibly in the same family. We blew up a Penn 6/0 on one using a live sardine around deep water rocks if my memory is correct but this was 30 years ago or more.

 

[J FLORES]

Hi Capt John,

Yes they are Pargo...thats there spanish name