How to Hunt Dogtooth Tuna | Spearfishing Guide

Dogtooth Tuna

What:

Dogtooth tuna are pound per pound one of the hardest fighting fish in the sea. They can weigh well over 200 pounds and reach length over 7' long. Their name comes from their sharp needle like teeth.

Where:

Found in Tropical and subtropical waters throughout the world. Hot spots include Indo-Pacific, South Pacific, Coral Sea and along East Coast of Africa up into the Red Sea. They can be found at the edges of deep reefs where there is current and bait fish. Cooler water and strong current are key points to finding big doggies.

When:

Year round but the best months tend to be cooler water months when the bigger fish come up from deeper waters to feed. Also, moon phase tends to be fairly important because these fish love high current areas.

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Dan Cooper putting the finishing touches on this doggie.

Tips:

Gear is everything when going after these fish. Dogtooth have a habit of sounding straight to the reef where they will cut your line. Coated cable shooting line is a must! Another issue is how strong these fish are. They can pull multiple Bluewater floats underwater never to be seen again. I like to have a shorter floatline that will stop the fish from reaching the bottom. Patience is necessary in order to get a good penetrating holding shot to withstand the pressure from the initial run. My experience has been that the initial run or sounding is very intense, the fish can tire out fairly quickly. Dogtooth tunas also have an extremely large air bladder which makes nice once you start to bring the fish up. And good shot and speed can be key to landing these incredible fish because sharks usually accompany doggies. When hunting these fish, we usually jump into the bluewater just off the reef or shelf, then drift up to the shelf edge. Usually, a good indicator that dogtooth are near by just deeper are when rainbow runners are spotted. We will continue to do a few drifts up on to the shelf until either there are too many sharks or no doggies have been spotted.