INDIANANGLER

I chanced upon a picture from several years ago of a good sized barracuda that I caught off the coast of Goa, whilst trolling a Halco Scorpion lure in chrome, pink,blue colour.

The barracuda gave a disappointing fight and came in after one or two strong runs .... I was apprehensive that we had boated a "green" fish ( not fully tired and capable of damage) but it was exhausted.

The boat owner served it to a hungry group of Russians at a barbecue !

Apologies for the fuzzy photo.

Kingfish

Scorpion 150STD (3.5 meters running depth) - these were the exact lures on which the above barracuda
was caught. I would like to try and use their shallower versions for spinning where barracuda are present.

By the way, it is a simple matter to change the bib on this (and other Halco minnow style lures) to fish a
different depth. One just pushes out the cross piece at the rear of the bib, replace the bib from another Halco lure and put back the cross piece.

I have never caught a Barracuda that gave a satisfying fight, it was always a heavy hit, a short run and then not much:)

Hello Bobby,

Yes, they seem to have a reputation for poor fighting ability.

Anglers in Australia never target them and consider them to be a pest species ... if caught accidentally, barracuda are immediately thrown back.

I was surprised, therefore, to see anglers in Chennai actually targeting barracuda on poppers and darter lures. This was quite a unique experience for me!

Kingfish

I guess where there is not much around then you have to make do, over here in Hong Kong, I went to this spot where someone said you get Threadfin (Ravas), unfortunately the only thing I caught there was small Barracuda, but I still took the kids there, it was good fun, it was a sort of learning curve where I got them out of the fishing pond to this channel and then to better things. They did enjoy catching them but yes a pest is what I would think of them too.

That is a good sized barracuda. I am yet to catch one..

That is a nice barracuda!

I love fishing for them. It wasn't about the fight for me when it came to barracudas....

Maruthu

Nice barracuda. You are right about the fight of barracuda. While fishing in Chennai surf, we usually use a heavier gear. I have landed one cuda before, and that was with a 11 feet rod and 40lb line, and it wasn't much of a fair fight. I landed it in less than a minute. But I have seen videos of guys fishing in Florida for cudas with light tackle on a 7 feet rod with 20lb braid, and the runs are amazing.

With light tackle, the fight lasts much longer. 2 minutes, maybe lol
For some reason, I love fishing for barracudas.
Mostly has to do with the predatory nature of the fish I guess.
I haven't been fishing for them for a while now, but barracudas used to be my favourite fish to catch....

Maruthu

Binu and Maruthu,

Thanks.

I think I agree that the barracuda on light tackle would give a much better account of themselves.

Looking back, I realise that I did catch the above barracuda on 40 lb line on a 5 ft10" heavy action, three piece Ugly Stik travel rod, attached to a Shimano Tekota 600 overhead reel - which may explain why it was subdued so quickly.

Hopefully, I may get a chance somewhere to land a barracuda on lighter gear.

Kingfish

You know the spot for catching barracudas from the shore

Let me know you visit, I'll try to get one my self....

Maruthu

Maruthu,

Looking forward to the next visit ! Will let you know well in advance.

Kingfish

@Kingfish, i also charter out the same guys boat for fishing, last 4 years there have been barracudas coming inshore near the jetty and are biting on strikepro poppers

@RaMpEr

That is nice to know .... may try for them on my next visit to Goa.

What about some reports from your side on your recent catches?

Regards,
Kingfish

@Kingfish, that's a nice Cuda in indeed, kudos. Looks like a repeat of what I've been hearing much of them Cudas.

I did manage to watch a bunch of them jump up 6' into the air chasing foot long mullets at the Kovalam breakwater. Man that was crazy, never have I ever seen such a thing. The whole place was going nuts. I along with few other anglers were shoulder to shoulder casting into the action. No such luck like Kingfish here. But I have been watching a bunch of anglers from Chennai posting catches of Cuda's on social media.

Like Bobby said, you'd have to make do with what you got. I'd rather catch a fish than no fish at all! But Kovalam waters are infested with GT's, not sure if they have any Barramundi or not.

Best of luck on your future angling trips!

Yes, there are barramundi in Chennai including some big ones.
I caught my first barra in Kovalam, Chennai many years ago which I think weiged only about 3.5 KGs or so.

Maruthu

Barra's are the bomb man, they fight nasty, jump in the air and shake their head, love hooking them.

Cheers...