Poppers in Pedasi Question

[Ken Ross]

Will be fishing with Cass and the group May 6-9. Bringing Yo-Zuri GT Bulls. Went to Day at the Docks last weekend and spoke to a fisherman who fished with Pesca Panama and recommended replacing the OEM treble hooks on the GT Bulls with Owner Treble Hooks and split rings. Said he had a cubera bite his Bull in half. Fish Story ? Ken

[Pedasí Jeff]

Hi Ken, First of all it all depends on what is OEM, that is what is the brand. For example a Yo Zuri treble is much stronger than a Rapala treble. Also many lures do get bit in half here in the case of of a Rapala Magnum it has a wire going the entire length of the lure so you usually end up with the front half of the lure with a wire rear half, many times with the hook still there but a twisted sister. While a Yo Zuri Hydro Magnum has no wire going the entire length so you truly get a lure that has been bit in half. I know those are trolling lures but it comes back to the point of brand. I myself have never had a problem per say because it was a Yo Zuri hook and live baitng Bonita on a bottom drift I've had Owners straightened.

I'm mainly a troller followed by jigging and only do poppers a few times a year. A better expert with popper selection and experience along this part of the Panamanian coast would be Manuel Zambrano. Look him up he's also a smokingtuna.com member and will gladly pass on his advice...Jeff

[Ken Ross]

Jeff, Thanks for the reply. OEM refers to Original Equipment Manufacturer; so I was told to replace the Yo-Zuri trebles with Owner trebles but today I inspected the treble hooks on the GT Bulls and feel they are fine. I understand that most of the panga fishing out of Pedasi is jigs, poppers, and trolling lures. Is it possible to make big baits and slow troll them? Thanks, Ken

[Pedasí Jeff]

Hi Ken, Almost all my live baiting here has been on private vessels that I have ran and had "tuna tubes" and live wells. You can live bait Bonita just fine if you are real close of the productive bottom spots when you hook a Bonita. Unfortunately none of the panga fleet has any kind of live wells etc so it's hold on to the fish and run full throttle over to the spot. Keep a wire leader with a strong circle hook handy so no time is lost rigging. Once there hook em and toss em, then drift and wait. Many times due to our strong currents the motors are working at the same time to keep you on top of it. Usually a back dorsal placement or a nose placement of the hook.

Sewing a bridal rig by the time you get to the spot in most cases is too much time lost trying to do it while the panga is running flat out so your live bait isn't alive or for very long. My best results have been hooking behind the dorsal.

Another popular bait is Green Jacks (Coinua) they are much smaller than Bonita but are in more abundance from say July on.

Interesting, if there are a lot of dolphin /porpoise fishing alongside of you they sometimes love to steal your football tunas. Playing a slight tug of war as the tuna gets close to the boat. When a double hook live bait rig is used they don't touch it. When a single hook rig is used the seem to know how far to bite and "skin" your tuna below the hook area. Days like this are the exception not the norm so don't plan on it or worry to much about it besides their smarter than we are!

[Manuel Zambrano]

Hi Jeff and Ken,

I will jump up on this issue, maybe 5 years ago OEM treble in Yozuri were stronger than Rapala but nowadays most of Rapalas have VMC trebles, CD14 and CD18 used for wahoo trolling are 8524 type hook which are rated 4X strong, I think the advice given to Ken to replace GT Bull trebles are good to implement, also make sure to replace split rings, my recommendation would be Spro rings, have been the best for me so far and don´t cost an arm and a leg like Owner, for treble the best are Owner ST66, for GT Bull 3/0 to 4/0 are just fine, you can get away with OEM Yozuri treble if the fish are deeply hooked but otherwise a 30 pound cubera will open them up in a heartbeat unless you let them reach his rocky lair and then you lose your beloved popper, hope it helps you decide, Manuel.

[Ken Ross]

Manuel, Thankyou for your insight. I'll be changing the treble hooks and use Spro split rings on the GT Bulls. Ken