92 Big Game Fishes 



easy fish to take with the rod ; quite the reverse 

 in my experience, and I have frequently spent 

 hours in attempts to beguile a barracuda. In 

 fishing for large specimens I found the borders 

 of the channels, where the coral had broken 

 away, forming an opening into a lagoon, a favorite 

 resort, and by sculling the boat along the edge, 

 either with the rag out, or slowly manipulating 

 the oar, a barracuda could almost always be 

 " flushed." Then a hook, baited with live fish, 

 shad 1 preferred, was slowly dropped over. In 

 many instances the fish would dart away, but 

 if it so happened that it was hungry, it would 

 poise, its tail vibrating, its hypnotic eyes glaring 

 upon the victim, its muzzle slowly sinking and 

 following as though to charm it; then it would 

 move on, never rushing or darting, but in meas- 

 ured movement, the personification of dignity, 

 until its nose touched the bait, when it would 

 snap it up so rapidly that the eye could not 

 follow the motion. The bait was generally seized 

 by the tail, and the great fish would rise very 

 slowly, holding the struggling shad for a moment, 



1 This is not the shad of the North, but a small, very silvery 

 fish known on the reef as " shad," and in Porto Rico as Mojarra 

 (Xystcema) . 



