Dogtooth Tuna

Dogtooth Tuna in Ujung Kulon?
Dogtooth are a common capture on jigs in 200 to 300ft of water. Rarely encountered in daylight with conventional trolling techniques, and prior to experimenting with jigging, we used to get them either fishing livebaits on a downrigger, or trolling at night.


Dogtooth Tuna are something of a glamour species brought to popularity by the fantastic fishing in Papua New Guinea aboard Brett Middleton’s Talio out of Madang. Brett has perfected a technique for teasing them to the surface with live Rainbow Runners and the fishing for them with a fly! On Arimbi, we haven’t yet managed one on fly, but we have had good results using other methods.

Dogtooth Tuna can be found throughout Indonesia. They grow big, fight hard and they are good to eat. Anglers are traveling to far flung places in search of this great fish. Those anglers in Jakarta probably don’t realise what they are missing on their own doorstep in Ujung Kulon!

Ujung Kulon offers a fantastic variety of terrain and angling opportunity. Despite the fact that it has been fished by sportfishermen for years, I am constantly surprised with what can be achieved with a little thought, a different approach and, of course, a little help from modern electronics.

Here’s a few tips on where to try for Dogtooth Tuna, something about their habits and the techniques for catching them right here in Ujung Kulon.

Distribution

Dogtooth Tuna are present in the Indo-Pacific only in the Indian Ocean and the western part of the Pacific. They prefer tropical warm water and are found in temperatures from the high 70’s to the high 80’s Fahrenheit.

Apart from Papua New Guinea and the Great Barrier Reef, there are few places in the world where they are consistently caught. This limited distribution and the fact they are rarely caught unless targeted specifically makes them of great interest to anglers wanting something a little unusual.

Description

Dogtooth Tuna (Gymnosarda unicolor) are a thick set fish with a big head, large eyes and short pectoral fins. They grow to a large size reaching well over 100kg. Not actually a Tuna at all, the Dogtooth Tuna is a member of the Bonito family. They have very prominent peg teeth, like a dog, from which they get their name. A greenish coloured back gives way to silver or white flanks and belly and they have a powerful vee’d tail and the typical tuna finlets. Their lateral line is high on the flanks and dips sharply down below the second dorsal fin. Their flesh is white, firm and very good to eat. They have smooth, scaleless skin.

The only fish with which they might be confused would be the Narrow Barred Mackerel. It differs from the Tenggiri in that it is thicker in the body, lacks the Tenggiri’s stripes and has a very different tooth and jaw structure.

Location and habits

The Dogtooth Tuna is very strongly structure oriented and is rarely found in open water. Not just any structure will do. It likes steep to vertical walls where it patrols along the deeper edges in search of prey. Places of interest are the deep drop offs and canyons, rocky ridges and pinnacles which lie in water depths of 150ft or deeper.

The Dogtooth Tuna also likes strong tidal currents. Deep passes between reefs and where currents are channeled between deep rocky islands are ideal spots for the Dogtooth Tuna.

Ujung Kulon provides abundant structure of this type, although much of it needs a good fishfinder and a GPS to find. Because of this localised distribution, large Dogtooth Tuna are rarely encountered while blind trolling using conventional techniques. Smaller fish can be caught in shallower water and using diving lures such as Rapalas, but if you want the big ones, you’ll need a different approach.

Dogtooth Tuna feed on shoaling pelagic fishes of various types. In Ujung Kulon one of the commonest bait species is Rainbow Runner. These can usually be found over the same structures frequented by the Dogtooth Tuna. They feed on the surface early and late in the day, or in rough weather, but more often they are found in mid water. If you find suitable structure and bait fish are not showing on the surface, look for them with your fish finder uptide of the structure. Predators of various types will never be far away.

Techniques


The key to success in all forms of fishing is to present a suitable bait in the right place. Suitable baits include natural ones such as Rainbow Runners or small Tuna and Scad. Artificial baits include bibbed minnows such as Rapalas and bibless minnows such as the Halco Giant Trembler or the Cairns Runner. Surface lures rarely produce Dogtooth Tuna but in certain conditions, skirted metal headed lures such as hex heads will work.

The right place to present these baits is near deep vertical structure, where there are plenty of bait fish, either showing on the surface, or located with a fishfinder. The exact methods you use will depend on the structure and to some extent the sea conditions. Experimenting is lots of fun and you might surprise yourself with the results.

Be warned, big Dogtooth Tuna fight dirty! The first run is fast and usually towards the deep water snags. You’ll need heavy tackle and heavy drags to stop big ones. Try trolling on the deeper side of any structure. If the structure is close, and it usually is, they’ll cut you off on the bottom as they dive for cover. Unseen fish have often “done us in” and we’ve been comprehensively wiped out on 80lb gear with 25lbs of drag!

If you can’t work out how to get your share of fish from these places under normal conditions, I have had good surface action on a number of occasions. Again, being over the correct sort of bottom structure is critical to success. Activity over the structure usually coincides with low tide, the last hour of daylight and rough weather and rarely lasts for long. The activity can be very localized and, if you are more than a couple of hundred yards away, difficult to spot. Unless you are right on top of the action, you might miss out.

If you think you’re in the right place, stick around until dark. Rainbow Runners feeding on the surface will attract other fish to feed on them. Dogtooth Tuna will be feeding high in the water column and are therefore vulnerable to more conventional methods.

Under these conditions I like bibless minnow lures due to their robustness and the fact that subsurface lures usually get eaten by the predators rather than the Rainbow Runners themselves. I use medium sized ones and favour red/white, but have had success with dark red/black and blue/white. I also prefer the single hook rigs rather than trebles because they are so much stronger on big, tough fish.

In the midst of a feeding frenzy, it’s impossible to be selective and you’ll have to put up with lots of other fish to get your Dogtooth Tuna, but I can’t think of too many anglers who would consider this a major inconvenience! The only annoyance is that hooked fish also quickly get eaten by even bigger fish.

Other fish which are caught frequently in the same places using similar techniques and baits are Sharks, Giant Trevally and Tenggiri. Good luck and good fishing!

A note on conservation: I believe that Dogtooth Tuna take up residence in certain favoured locations and they are consequently vulnerable to overfishing by commercial and sportfishing activities. In the interests of conservation, if I’m targeting Dogtooth Tuna, I limit myself to one fish per trip with any extra fish being released. I also release all sharks caught accidentally.

As sportfishermen we all have a responsibility to exploit fish stocks sensibly to ensure sustainability for the future of our sport. Take only what you need and release the rest.

These fish are now regularly taken with deep jigs. The same terrain and features are what you are looking for, but jigging is consistently more effective for doggies than any other method.

SOURCE:http://www.fishing.net.my/default.asp?id=12&ACT=5&content=23&mnu=12