Pacific Cubera Snapper
Biggest snapper in the world. Massive, powerful, intelligent, delicious and plentiful here around Coiba. I hate to kill this fish, but love to eat them. Also known as a Dog-tooth Snapper it’s body shape is classic, like a crappie or black bass only enormous.
I once saw a forty pound fish floating on it’s side up current of a massive wash rock off the westernmost point of Coiba. The snapper looked as if someone had release it with it’s swim bladder inflated. I was trolling around the rock fishing for roosterfish and watched this Cubera drifting for several minutes until a wave lifted him up and over the rock, where it went vertical and attacked a school of pompanette hiding on the other side. This Cubera had a plan and patience to see it through.
I like to swim out in front of the camp at sunrise every morning before we head out to fish. One morning I stuffed a frigate mackerel in my pocket and swam out to the rocky point at the west side of our cove. I have petted a Goliath Grouper here and have had a dozen of other interactions with creatures at this little spot.
This morning I swam to the point and drifted with the current till I saw the first Cubera, a twenty pounder. At the surface I threw the bait as far as I could in it’s direction. Then waited to watch him devour it. Instead the snapper just stared at it, then three other 20 - 30 pound snappers came to stare at the bait, none moving to take it. The bait was fresh, I could not understand why nobody moved for it. Then a white tip reef shark showed up and swam circles below the bait as the bait slowly descended toward the 30 foot bottom, the shark would not take it either.
Next along comes three 15 pound Bluefin Trevally swimming past my head, one of the trevally breaks from others and goes for the bait, takes it, and no sooner it drops the bait and hightails it back to its partners. That’s when I saw a wide set of eyeballs appear out of the blue. It was the big boy, a fifty pound Cubera, he then swam to the bait mouthed the bait lightly and dropped it. He did not break the flesh of the bait, just lightly mouthed it. He swam off a few feet then went back and bit the bait, mangling it and immediately dropped it again. He made a turn a few feet away from the bait stared at it a few seconds then went in and ate it.
None of the other fish on this little reef would touch that frigate mackerel, the tastiest bait there could be. They all except the Blue Trevally apparently knew the the king was there and would not risk life or serious injury as a consequence of eating out of turn. Since then I’d noticed on two occasions white tip reef sharks with scars from what looked like Dog Tooth Snapper attacks. There is a pecking order on the reef and the biggest Snapper is at the top. The big one was obviously thoughtful about feeding. This is an intelligent creature.
I’ll use 100 pound line on a Penn 50 International on a 80 pound Ugly Stick stand up rod. Tied to six feet of 80 pound fluorocarbon and a small circle hook, I stick the circle hook through the lip of a live bonito and send it down. The bonito will swim right down to