On this next fishing trip, I again departed off from Redondo Beach (where they had a few Barracuda catch count) and went off Santa Monica to aim for some Barracudas. Due to the rain the day before, there were high waves and strong winds and the boat was shaking pretty badly! It’s been awhile since I got motion sickness, but I still managed to start casting with a FM130MR. For about an hour, as we saw a group of birds we would move to that area and finally an angler right next to me got a Barracuda bite! The rod was bent beyond normal and it was so big it was impossible to even bring it up to the deck. The lure he was using was a jig used very commonly in the West Coast. As for the color, it was very similar to the Lucky Craft “#703 Aurora Mackerel” color! I suppose Barracudas like blue and silver colors. Then I realized – will I be able to lift up a Barracuda with the rod I brought!? I started to worry…. Last year for my very first Daily Flash Minnow Report I caught a Barracuda here in Redondo Beach……….. But I didn’t know it can get this big~~~! Since the wind and water temperature is pretty low today, crowds of Barracuda migrated 50ft (around 15m) in water depth. So after I casted a jig, I let it sink first then retrieved!! I continued this pattern. I couldn’t go home like this! So I decided to do it “Sandy Style”! The “Anomalous Carolina”!! I attached a 1oz egg shaped weight to the leader area and then a FM 20cm apart from the weight. I started fishing again!! But can’t seem to get any bite… no one around me is catching any either! In result, today’s total catch was 30 and a pretty disappointing outcome. However, the Big Fish caught was enormously big! And it wasn’t like the person who was measuring it was small either! I was very surprised by its size. Next time I will change rods and definitely have thicker lure hooks set up and try again!

Sandy
The Daily Flash Minnow

P.S. No matter what, I want to catch a Barracuda that size with a lure!!