CHAPTER V 



THE BARRACUDA OF FLORIDA 



" Do but fish this stream like an artist and peradventure a 

 good fish may fall to your share." IZAAK WALTON. 



IN the various works on game fishes in this 

 country and Europe, I have never seen the 

 barracuda included among those fishes worthy 

 the angler's attention, and as the result of several 

 years' sport with this long, rakish craft in the 

 Gulf of Mexico, where it was taken with rod, 

 cast-line, and grains, from one to six feet in 

 length, I welcome the opportunity to do it tardy 

 justice. My attention was first attracted to the 

 fish by meeting a Conch on the reef, who an- 

 swered to the name of " Barracuda." I learned 

 later that he had earned the title as a result of a 

 sanguinary battle with a very large barracuda 

 which had attacked him when swimming, lacerat- 

 ing him so severely that he carried the marks for 

 life. 



At first glance the inland angler familiar with 



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