A lot of people don’t realize how good fluorocarbon leader can be. I tested it myself against a standard monofilament leader. The fluorocarbon caught consistently bigger fish and more fish – almost three to one – than the mono did, fished less than ten feet apart.
My bait had barely reached the bottom when my rod got slammed to the gunnel of the boat. I reared back and set the hook on a very nice fish. Several minutes later, we boated our first red snapper, one about twelve pounds, not anything really big, but well over the legal limit, and plenty big enough for a dinner for four.
The next bait down did the same thing, and we had two fish in the box. But, before I could get another bait down, I saw what we most fear when bottom fishing in the summer. A barracuda I estimated to be at least fifty pounds had made his appearance and began hanging in the shadow of the boat about ten feet below the surface.
The third bait produced another slammer for my son, and he began cranking. We both knew what was going on as he mumbled under his breath several times, “ just get to the surface”. Unfortunately this one didn’t make it to the surface, at least not all of him. What would have been our biggest snapper ended up being only three quarters of a fish. The ‘cuda had taken the back quarter of the fish in one swipe.
From that point on, we instituted what I call ‘cuda tactics. First choice is to attempt to catch the ‘cuda. Even if you release him, he leaves the area, and you have no more problem. This one would not take any bait we offered, including live cigar minnows. So, I took the Sabiki rig, and instead of pitching it into the cigar minnow schools still circling the boat, I dropped it straight to the bottom. Several thumps later and I brought up four or five small grunts. I put them into a bucket of water so we could have quick access to them.
The next bite was a good one on my son’s rod. As he grunted and began pulling the fish from the bottom, I located the big ‘cuda. I reached in the bucket, grabbed a small grunt, and tossed it in the water ahead of the ‘cuda and away from where my son was fighting his fish. It worked! The ‘cuda took off like a lightening streak for the grunt that was dashing for the bottom. His preoccupation with an easy meal allowed us to boat yet another good red snapper.
We probably could have caught quite a few more snapper – the Intruder wreck was covered with them that day. But the limit is two per person and we had ours, so we finished the day trolling up a couple of fifteen-pound kingfish. Not bad for a hot summer day with a pesky barracuda trying to get your fish!
Next time you are bothered by pesky barracudas like we were, try my trick for saving your fish. It has worked more than once for my son and I.
