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 
