THE OUTDOORS : JAGGED EDGE : Barracudas Pack a Big Bite That Makes Local Anglers Try With All Their Might
With no luck after a few minutes at the first stop, off Rocky Point on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, skipper Larry Petrie of the Redondo Special decided to try an area farther out and south.
A pipe-smoking fisherman complained of having traveled for more than an hour without being able to wet his line but a first-timer from Michigan was more enthralled at the scenic California coastline and the island off in the distance he guessed correctly to be Santa Catalina. A businessman, meanwhile, used the extra driving time to make calls on his portable phone.
A few others grumbled, but most of the 50 anglers aboard the party boat just waited patiently.
Petrie, skipper of the Redondo Special for the last eight years, finally slowed the boat near Point Vicente and deckhand Scott McKelvey began tossing live anchovies into the water. A large school of fish had been metered at about 30 feet, as Petrie told his passengers, who wasted no time in tossing their jigs, lures or bait into the water.
The chumming of anchovies stirred the target fish into a feeding frenzy and within moments, what had been a scenic boat ride erupted into a wide-open barracuda bite.
Fishermen from stern to bow held bent rods as the swift fish seemed to attack anything thrown over the rail. Those few anglers missing out on the action scurried about the deck, changing tackle or finding fresh anchovies.
McKelvey, obviously well-rehearsed, quickly yet seemingly effortlessly patrolled the deck, gaffing the torpedo-shaped fish and hauling them up and over the rail. Successful fishermen carefully stuffed their catches into gunny sacks and hurried back for more.
Obviously, schooling barracudas have arrived along the Southern California coast, signaling an end to the slow-paced bottom fishing so prevalent in winter months.
“When the barracuda start biting the boats really fill up,” Petrie said. “Mostly because (anglers) can come out and fill their bags.”
More than 60 legal-sized barracudas--those 28 inches or longer--were landed on the Redondo Special in less than an hour, and at least that many “shorts” were caught and released. An equal number of fish had been hooked and lost before the bite suddenly stopped.
“The fish are always moving,” Petrie said, explaining the sudden drop in activity as he started the boat for another move south, between the shipping lanes and the peninsula.
There was no grumbling this time, however, as the anglers eyed the filled-out gunny sacks, ate burgers and talked about how many fish they had caught and how they would cook them. Most figured they would smoke the fish, given the oily nature of their flesh.
Casting small iron lures in various colors--dangerous as it can be aboard a crowded half-day boat--had been working best and Petrie and McKelvey advised the fishermen to make the appropriate change of tackle if they had not yet done so.
Petrie found another school of fish on the meter and McKelvey was already tossing chum over the rail. Another chaotic bite erupted immediately. Cisco White, a 12-year-old from Los Angeles, caught four fish in the five-pound class on this stop, out-fishing his father, Sidney, 37, who claims to have fished the area since he was 6.
“I once caught an 11-pounder,” he boasted in his defense. “I fought it for a while and when it finally came over and hit the deck it sounded like a tuna.”
The pipe-smoking gentleman had stopped grumbling and the first-timer from Michigan had found something of interest other than the Pacific Ocean. The businessman had put all calls on hold.
More than 100 barracuda, all in the three- to six-pound class, were boated before noon, when the boat returned to King Harbor to pick up the afternoon anglers.
The overnight fishing fleet from San Diego to Santa Barbara offers island fishing for such game fish as yellowtail and sea bass, and occasionally tuna and albacore. But the more restricted half-day fishing boats must rely on whatever is available a short distance off the coast.
When barracuda arrive, the restricted range actually becomes an advantage to the fleet, because the close proximity of the fish offers exciting fishing without the long journey and at a reasonable cost.
“It’s excellent for business,” Mark Larson of L.A. Harbor Sportfishing said. “Everybody gets tired of bottom fishing all the time and everybody likes to fish for the barracuda.”
Apparently, lots of people like to find other names for the barracuda, too, because the fish is commonly referred to as barrie, snake, cuda, scoots, scooter, log and pencil, to name a few.
They are not as powerful as yellowtail nor as tasty as sea bass, most agree. But they do possess the qualities that make them attractive to fishermen: They attack almost anything thrown over the rail, they are one of the swiftest fish in the ocean and they provide a sporting battle on light to medium tackle. Most aboard the Redondo Special used 15- to 25-pound-test line, though many private boaters prefer lighter tackle.
“You never catch a lot of yellowtail, but when the barracuda are biting, you know you’re going to get some . . . and they put up a heck of a fight,” Greg Mobley of Long Beach said.
Todd McConnell of Manhattan Beach agreed: “If you go out, they’re going to bite and you can get a fish every cast. Usually, during a good bite, you can catch them all morning in one spot. I’ve seen boats head in early because everybody had their limits (10 fish).”
Based on a National Marine Recreational Fishery Statistical Survey, a continuing study by the National Marine Fisheries Service, recreational fishermen from Morro Bay to San Diego caught an estimated 1,028,000 barracuda in 1986, 132,000 of legal size.
As for business, McKelvey, with four years’ experience on the Redondo Special, said: “When the barries show up, all of a sudden we’re running with full loads. A lot of people like to fish for barracuda because they like to catch fish with jigs. A lot of them don’t like going into the bait tanks . . . and you do get a better quality fish on jigs.”
Larson said that 99% of the barracuda taken on his boats had been caught with casting irons and agreed that the aggressiveness of the species is the primary reason people fish for them.
Others look upon barracuda as the closest thing Southern California fishermen have to an exotic species. Barracudas have razor-sharp teeth, which the Department of Fish and Game describes as “canine-like” and warns that “caution should be taken when you land a barracuda to avoid their needle-sharp teeth.”
One look at those teeth is warning enough in most cases, though McKelvey said that a few customers over the years have learned the hard way.
As if to illustrate the point, a private boater was observed leaning over the rail of his boat to reach a large barracuda dangling from his line just above water. With needle-nosed pliers in one hand and the other holding the line just above the fish, the fisherman, apparently not wanting to handle the fish, slowly reached down to grab the treble-hooked lure with the pliers.
The barracuda snapped at his fingers and he retreated. Another try, another retreat. This went on for about 10 minutes before the frustrated fisherman finally chose to use a towel to pin the fish to the side of the boat. He then freed the lure from the jaws of the fish and set it free.
Though the barracuda’s range is from the tip of the Baja Peninsula to Kodiak Island, Alaska, the species is rare above Point Conception. Commercial catches in 1987, the most recent year for which figures are available, totaled 113,258 pounds for a value of $104,774 statewide. The San Francisco area yielded 28 pounds worth $21, whereas the Los Angeles area yielded 96,872 pounds worth $89,739.
Recreationally, the fish are generally caught at or near the surface, but are found to 60 feet. They feed primarily on anchovies and other small fish, but as many fishermen will attest, they will strike at everything from a brightly-colored piece of iron to a shiny bare hook.
The largest barracuda ever recorded in California waters, according to DFG records, weighed 18.1 pounds, but Petrie says they average from 28 inches to about six or seven pounds, adding, “Once in a while we get one at nine or 10 pounds.”
One of this year’s largest concentrations of spawning barracudas--they spawn from May through July--has been off the Palos Verdes coast. Larson claims that the L.A. Harbor sportfishing fleet was the first to locate the large concentration of barracudas this spring off the Palos Verdes Peninsula, acting on a tip from a tugboat captain who had metered the fish.
Whatever the case, the bite is still on and there appears to be plenty of fish to go around.