Fear of spearfishing Barracuda

    I've never shot at a Great Barracuda because Tahiti is the only place I've seen them.
    The biggest I've been next to was in the 5 foot range at Hotel Bora Bora, it was barking at the reflection of my Nikinos lens after materializing right aside of my wife's shoulder. We were only in about 15 feet of water. The fish moved like something out of the Matrix.:@


    Here in Cali we only have the Pacific Cuda (slime stick) my old cat loved them, and I smoked a few that I shot when target shooting/testing . I dig diving down into balls of them in Baja...Cuda tunnels.


    Cheers, Don

    "Great mother ocean brought forth all life, it is my eternal home'' Don Berry from Blue Water Hunters.


    Spearfishing Store the freediving and spearfishing equipment specialists.

    I had a school of bait fish try to escape some pursuing barracuda by schooling underneath me just as the barracuda attacked. Pretty scary and happened very fast. I didn't get as much as a scratch. They knew exactly what was fish and what wasn't, even in a frenzy. This was down off the point of the Fish Camp in Bahia de Los Angeles Baja.

    Quote from hank

    :laughing3::laughing3::laughing: Everytime I look at this and Dan's post, "BIG"...and "deep".....I bust out laughing. Perfect.....haha


    Cold water joke about 2 guys and a bridge?;):laughing:..... dat water DEEP TOO....


    Cheers, Don

    "Great mother ocean brought forth all life, it is my eternal home'' Don Berry from Blue Water Hunters.


    Spearfishing Store the freediving and spearfishing equipment specialists.

    I shot this one back in spring with a pneumatic with no floatline or reel. I was shooting sheephead and other small stuff in 60ft of water with maybe 10 or so feet of visibility. He swam out from behind a pipe and I was pretty confident of the shot. If it had not worked out, I would have lost a gun. I have shot a lot of Cuda, and the only injury that I have had was wile putting one on the boat.

    One of my favorite fish to shoot and EAT! But I only will eat them raw...the most mellow and buttery meat evah. I make Hawaiian poke with it and you cannot tell the difference between ahi and kaku (cuda) once it is in the bowl with shoyu, sesamee oil, maui onion, and limu. It is the coolest translucent blue-gray meat. I've never had a cuda make a run at me, or threaten me in 30+ years of spearing...only take my fish, especially the Spanish Mack's. Never had a "hot" cuda with ciguatera in central fla, or Hawaii. That includes the big ones 65-70 poundahs! But the smaller cudas do make better eating. I know that in more tropical waters the big cudas tend to have cig...but so do the groupers, jacks and all other fish that predate on reef fish.


    It was the Latinos in Fla that convinced me to try the meat as I could never get past the strong ammonia smell the cudas give off. Once on ice, the smell goes away. When you fillet the meat you realize how fat and awesome these fish are. I also enjoy the fight with the big ones, which is why I always shoot the gill plates so I can control their run by turning them. Grabbing the shaft (if you're not using a slip tip) helps you control the cuda from getting close. Then you can move in over top and behind and then straddle them while sliding your hand underneath and into the gills...now you own his toothy head! Burry the knife and boat the beast.


    Any way, I know this thread is old, but I had to give my ten cents worth. I know that while in fla if the day's harvest is thin, I can always bring a cuda or two home and make some of the best ceviche, Hawaiian poke, and Tahitian Poison Crüe (ceviche with coconut milk and cucumbers) that anyone has tasted! In Hawaii and South Pacific, the heller's barracuda is smaller. But the great barracuda also are there. Fla, Gulf of Mexico, though by far have the most cuda
    Of any where I've hunted.


    Aloha,


    Makoa

    HUI KOA KAI O HAMAKUA
    MAHALO KE AKUA
    E MALAMA I KE KAI

    I'm not sure in this post if Diesel is afraid of them or wants to shoot them....or both
    In either case, we encounter Sharks and Cudas every other time we spearfish over here....I've learned the best defense is a good offense with these guys...so if your worried abut Cudas attacking...show aggressiveness and swim steadily towards them with eye contact ...every time this happened, they will make a run for it and disappear.....if you want to shoot it....better have a sure shot or sometimes they get nasty and turn around to bite.
    My problem is when they're lurking just beneath the surface while your looking down at some fish...they can scare the S***t out of you.


    Ihab

    That's a nice Cuda Ihab - what kind of sharks to you encounter? We had lots of Bull's Tigers, and both black & white tip reef sharks as well as Dusky's, and other's I never knew the species. Bull's were bad and I had lots of encounters.


    Interesting thread - old but glad it was revived. We had lots of barracudas in Panama, the small schooling pacific barracudas that were a treat when I saw them and of course the big Cudas in the Atlantic side. I've dived both oceans on same day only being 50 miles apart.


    I have speared a few (Atlantic) but never ate them - we had tooooo many good fish to fool with barracudas but I remember being scared shitless one time by a REALLY BIG Cuda and not from any threats but just by his size.


    I was free diving the Chagres River up stream from Ft. San Larenzo on the Atlantic coast of Panama looking for snappers, snook and occasional groupers. Depending on close to the coast we were - determined how deep the fresh water layer was that we dove through to find the salt water and good fish below. I dived through about 15 feet of fresh water, popped through the wavy layer into clear salt water and saw this LOG hovering below me. It was the largest biggest Barracuda by a long ways of any I had ever seen, even to this date. I surfaced and moved down current a long ways before diving again :laughing:

    Quote from Oscar

    That's a nice Cuda Ihab - what kind of sharks to you encounter? We had lots of Bull's Tigers, and both black & white tip reef sharks as well as Dusky's, and other's I never knew the species. Bull's were bad and I had lots of encounters.


    The list above just about says it all...add to this Hammerheads but they're not a real threat...I was once caught in a current trying to get out of it and these guys just ignored me totally.....must have smelled bad or something to them :)


    Ihab

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