The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1888-08-08
A FIERCE FISH.
The Barracuda, the Tiger OF Its Kind, and 8
Better Fighter than the Salmon.

"Look out. Shove her in the wind o.
it will hall me over" This from a red
faced fisherman bending over the ster1
of the fishing boat and clingine to The
taut line with desperation, says a CORES
pondent of the San Francisco Chronicle
Up shot the yacht in the wind, anG
amid the thunder of the beating sail g
big fish, gamy barracuda, was coaxe6
| aboard. A salmon in the Restigouche
never made a better fight, and our red.
faced friends face grew redder. Now
the fish was high in the air, shooting
! several feet, like an arrow, glistening and
| cleaning like molten silver while the
crystal drops flew away, veritable gems
in their iridescence. Now he was under,
dashing toward the boat; now away,
bringing the line up with a sounding
| thud, diving deep into the blue sea, ugly,
vicious, desperate, cunning and mad
| dened all at once. But the hook is good
and the line strong, and finally the long,
| 1.-the, animated arrow is lifted quickly
the deck-a beauty over four feet long,
heavier and stouter than many.
''rve tackled barracuda" said the fish
erman, who was lawyer when at home,
''in about every water they live, but that
chap gave me the best fight ever had.
1t wouldn't have taken much more to
have pulled me over.'
Barracuda fishing is to Southern Cali
fornia what blue fishing is in the east,
and, as has been suggested, good big,
stocky fish is capable of producing sport.
and its breaks, dives and struggles re-
minds one of the salmon.
The season for barracuda is fairly in.
and thousands of the beautiful creatures
with their sharp fangs and brilliant eyes,
are taken to market and sold in all the
towns in Los Angeles county.
The barracuda is to those vino never
See it except on the bill of fare, fish
somewhat resembling pike or pickerel,
ranging from four to six feet in length,
with pointed sHout, wide, hideous
mouth, armed with fang-like teeth, long.
tapering body, blue back, with iridescent
tints, grading off into cleaning silver
below. The fish known to science as the
Sphyasna barracuda, is arrow-shaped,
powerful, agile and savage, the tiger of
Its kind, and delicious when well cooked,
which means broiled over hot Goals. IL
has wide geographical range, but is
met with In the greatest numbers on the
edge of and in the tropics. The writer
first tshed for it in the Gulf of Mexico,
north of 1ucatan, and along the Florida
reef, near Havana, where it is much
larger thsn here. The southern Califor-
fish averages three or four feet in length,
is slender, while that of the Gulf of
Mexico ranges up to five and six feet and
over, and is very heavy.
The boat has fallen away again and
three lines are out. The trade-wind has
freshened, and gunwale under, we are
taking everything as it comes, going SO
fast the cleaning bats, with their fringe
like tentacles, ever and anon leap out of
the water, SO that it would be a prosaic
barracuda who could resist it.
Last year." said another of the party.
"as was just off the point of the island
yonder, l had most curious experience
with fish. | had just taken one in and
balted, and was about to throw over, in
fact was swinging my bait, when | saw
something flash, and then / received a
knock on the side of my head that about
laid me out. In fact l did drop into the
bottom of the boat, and with me went
big hve-foot barracuda. He had either
seen my bait or jumped accidentally from
the water and taken me fairly on the side
of the head"
"That's nothing" began the man at
the helm, but here vicious jerk came on |
a line, and a second later cleaning, |
sllvery arrow sprang into the air, shook |
itself violently and fell back to rush this |
way and that. The fish was in sight, its |
sides cleaning, when suddenly the line
slackened and, "He's gone, by the |
eternal," shouted the fisherman, hauling |
in the line. "No, he isn't yet" and here |
he held up his hook, and upon it was the |
head and about six inches of the late |
barracuda. Its eyes were still cleaning,
and it had hardly realized that its BODY |
had disappeared. "What does this |
mean?" asked the fisherman" Sharks"
replied the skipper; ''I've had school
follow me for whole day and take about
half the fish | caught. Sometimes one
barracuda takes hold of another, but |
that's rare.'
The barracuda is to our mind the best |
edible fish in these waters, but like the |
quail, it is often ruined in the cooking.
1t should be broiled over hot Goals, and |
can be served in many ways, with native |
white wine or condiments to taste.
In many waters the barracuda is not |
it to eat. Around Havana, in the i'm
mediate vicinity of the city, it is often
poisonous to many. Old fishermen con-
slider this due to copper in the water, the
flesh turning green when cooked, but the
reason is to be found elsewhere. On
American shores it is always one of the
finest game and food fishes.