Favorite Fish To Spear
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MikeSSS
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Barracuda. We shoot em in the Texas gulf on rig trips. We eat the Texas Barracuda.
You have a chance of getting a Barracuda and the Barracuda has a chance of getting you.
I am in awe of the grace, power and majesty of the Barracuda.
Then I kill him and eat him.
Occasionally, after you spear one, the others, gather around you facing toward you like spokes in a wheel and you are the hub. They have their mouths open showing their teeth and are only a tenth of a second from you. I pretend I didn't do it, avoid eye contact and after a while they go back to doing their Barracuda thing. Barracuda have short attention spans and they don't hold a grudge for long.
Other times one will come back at you with your spear sticking through it. One came back on me a couple summers ago, mouth open and all. I batted him on the face with my empty Biller. He swam away but immediately came back in a more determined way. I batted him hard on the eye (they don't like to be hit on the eye) he truned and swam away fast, finally wrapping himself and the shooting line around the rig.
A shot barracuda will wrap the line over the rig tubing and can then lever himself against the rig and tear the point right through his body. So, you have to wait a while before approaching him. They can seem dead but are only playing possum. We use slip tips to deny them leverage. If you shoot em in the gills they just pull off and swim away 'smoking' like a wounded messershmidt.
You can't knife a barracuda down through the top of the skull, the knife won't penetrate.
Barracuda watch your eyes, so approach from behind a rig tube or with averted vision. They don't mind a spear pointed them as much as being eyeballed.
A friend cut out the jaws, bleached them, spread them open and baked them into the top of loaves of homemade bread. Barracuda bread...the bread that bites you back.
Barracuda and garlic butter are made for each other.
You have a chance of getting a Barracuda and the Barracuda has a chance of getting you.
I am in awe of the grace, power and majesty of the Barracuda.
Then I kill him and eat him.
Occasionally, after you spear one, the others, gather around you facing toward you like spokes in a wheel and you are the hub. They have their mouths open showing their teeth and are only a tenth of a second from you. I pretend I didn't do it, avoid eye contact and after a while they go back to doing their Barracuda thing. Barracuda have short attention spans and they don't hold a grudge for long.
Other times one will come back at you with your spear sticking through it. One came back on me a couple summers ago, mouth open and all. I batted him on the face with my empty Biller. He swam away but immediately came back in a more determined way. I batted him hard on the eye (they don't like to be hit on the eye) he truned and swam away fast, finally wrapping himself and the shooting line around the rig.
A shot barracuda will wrap the line over the rig tubing and can then lever himself against the rig and tear the point right through his body. So, you have to wait a while before approaching him. They can seem dead but are only playing possum. We use slip tips to deny them leverage. If you shoot em in the gills they just pull off and swim away 'smoking' like a wounded messershmidt.
You can't knife a barracuda down through the top of the skull, the knife won't penetrate.
Barracuda watch your eyes, so approach from behind a rig tube or with averted vision. They don't mind a spear pointed them as much as being eyeballed.
A friend cut out the jaws, bleached them, spread them open and baked them into the top of loaves of homemade bread. Barracuda bread...the bread that bites you back.
Barracuda and garlic butter are made for each other.
Wayward Son
Contributor
I like cuda, too. No luck stoning one yet, all the ones I shoot have to be subdued. It gets a little sporty at times. Just have to make sure the teeth don't get a crack at anything. They easily become nice, big fillets for dinner.
Greater amberjack are real sporty. Possibly the dumbest fish in the ocean, exceedingly easy to shoot. But they call them "reef donkeys" for a reason, even when the shot seems to stone them they have a way of coming back to life & just beating the snot out of you. They appear fond of knocking off masks & beating regulators out of mouths. I run about 50% for stone shots on them.
Greater amberjack are real sporty. Possibly the dumbest fish in the ocean, exceedingly easy to shoot. But they call them "reef donkeys" for a reason, even when the shot seems to stone them they have a way of coming back to life & just beating the snot out of you. They appear fond of knocking off masks & beating regulators out of mouths. I run about 50% for stone shots on them.
Humuhumunukunukuapua'a
Contributor
Doesn't barracuda tend to give people ciguatera poisoning?
Don't we have an "Underwater Hunting" forum? Because it just almost seems like this thread just maybe would be more appropriate there.
I'm an environmental whacko, but that's not why I wouldn't spear fish. I just can't imagine combining something as peaceful and relaxing as diving with death, blood and violence. YMMV.
The Underwater Hunting forum is a more appropriate area for this thread, mods. Please move it.
Don't we have an "Underwater Hunting" forum? Because it just almost seems like this thread just maybe would be more appropriate there.
I'm an environmental whacko, but that's not why I wouldn't spear fish. I just can't imagine combining something as peaceful and relaxing as diving with death, blood and violence. YMMV.
The Underwater Hunting forum is a more appropriate area for this thread, mods. Please move it.
Hank49
Contributor
I've stoned three cudas free shafting. Two of them were just laying on the bottom....unusual behavior for cudas. After I shot them dead, I noticed they had distended stomachs and cut them open. Both the ones shot on the bottom had whole grunts in their stomachs. I guess they like to rest easy after a big meal.Wayward Son:
Fish_Whisperer
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Rotten dive buddies.
Hey, anyone wanna' go diving?
Hey, anyone wanna' go diving?
Wayward Son
Contributor
Humuhumunukunukuapua'a:
Safe to eat them up here, no coral. Ciguatera is a toxin that works its way up the food chain on coral reefs. Any of the top predators may be at risk where there is coral.
Even in south FL, cuda may be eaten safely but it's prolly a good idea to stick with the smaller ones that haven't had enough time to become toxic. I know guys down there that only shoot & eat them if they're under 3 feet long.
Barracuda last fall, long ago eaten:
Wayward Son
Contributor
While I do like to shoot & eat both AJ & cuda, for eating I prefer grouper & red or mangrove snapper. But, when you head out, you never know what the sea will offer up. Sheepshead are great eating as are trigger fish.
Cobia, grouper, hogs.
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