352 Big Game Fishes 



weight of twenty-five pounds, though represented 

 about the wharves by very much smaller individ- 

 uals. My first introduction to them was more by 

 accident than anything else. I was fishing for 

 yellowtails (Fig. 9), the gamy gold-tinted fish so 

 common on the reef, when a huge barracuda came 

 drifting in from the outer Gulf Stream, and hovered 

 about, looking us over with its black staring eyes, 

 which gave a suggestion of how the plesiosaurus 

 might have looked. I had no bait, so dropped a 

 " fly " hook over, hoping to catch a small grunt or 

 yellowtail which could be used as a lure for the 

 barracuda. Instead, I hooked a spadefish of 

 three or four pounds, which gave me so spirited 

 a contest that I determined to fish for them with 

 intent to kill. An eight-foot bamboo rod was at 

 hand and a delicate line comparing to a number 

 twelve cuttyhunk; to this was added a gut- 

 snelled hook equivalent to a number eleven steel 

 sproat hook, a very small affair for so powerful a 

 fish, but necessary on account of the small mouth 

 of this game ; briefly, the hook should be very 

 small but stout. This I baited with the red meat 

 of the crayfish, or spiny lobster, and cast a few 

 feet out. Some manipulation was necessary to 

 keep it from the smaller fry, but after a number 



