Monday, February 27, 2012

In search of Doggies (Dogtooth Tuna)

We have decided to try something new.
A new style of fishing.
A new kind of fish in a new depth of water.
Deep water jigging with knife jigs and flutter jigs.
With short jigging rods and big reels.

And a bunch of research.

We head out on a gorgeous morning. Armed and excited.
From In search of doggies, take 1

From In search of doggies, take 1
We start the day out warming up on some smaller fish in about 30 meters of water.
Please note that some of the fish are sporting sunglasses and hats, that is for our fishing club photo contest.
First up is Wayne, aka, Fisher X.
Next on the board is yours truly. Note the two in the boat behind me. The guy standing up is Donno, and he don't know how to fish. They are trying to steal our spots. Not to worry, they did not catch a thing.
From In search of doggies, take 1
Wayne with another grouper.
From In search of doggies, take 1
Now it is Brendan's turn.
From In search of doggies, take 1
The day was a cracker. Blue sky and clear water. Here is a shot of Bird Island. there are great reefs around this little beauty.
From In search of doggies, take 1
Once we headed out to deeper water the fish started to change. Here is a double lined mackerel sporting some new piecing and preparing to go back to the deep.
From In search of doggies, take 1
Down she goes. Do us proud.
From In search of doggies, take 1
While our little mackerel was down in the deep, Brendan managed to get connected to something rather large. After a good fight from 100 meters deep. We catch our first glimpse of an Almaco Jack. Here is the video and image.

Sorry the image is a little foggy. That was inside the camera housing.
From In search of doggies, take 1
Needless to say Brendan was over the top with his catch.
We try and do a bit of popping but the wind has kicked up and it is a lot of work just standing up in the boat. This does not deter Wayne and he continues to pop long after everyone else stopped.
His perseverance paid off. He lands a nice GT and Brendan lands a Bluefin at the same time.
From In search of doggies, take 1
Here is another shot of that GT, I just love these fish.
From In search of doggies, take 1
We go back and do a little more jigging. Brendan is on today and hooks and Boats a Rusty Jobfish, again from about 100 meters.
From In search of doggies, take 1
Well we did not catch our target fish, Dogtooth Tuna, today, but we learned a lot about jigging in deep water. As a side benefit I am learning a lot about how to use my sounder to see fish at 100+ meters.
We are preparing to head out again and focus only on catching a Doggie.
Until then I leave you with a parting shot of happy and tired anglers.
Tight Lines

3 comments:

Mark Kautz said...

Wow, fish ready for Hollywood. Looking good in those aviator sun glasses. A fun day for all.

Mark

Rambling Expat said...

Hi there,

Some quality fishes there.
You continue to make us dreaming with these.
Some of them (like the Rusty Jobfish), I had never seen before.
Thanks for showing these.

(I can't see the video?)

Have a good day.

Anonymous said...

This is a nice series, good photos and wonderful weather with fish to give it all that shining Fiji look.Hey, I like those slick lures too. Mark