~ Big Cudas on Fly ~
As air and water temperatures drop we move toward a new season here in Key West and the Lower Keys. The winds generally pick up a little and direction works from south east toward the north, bringing cool air from the the central part of the country. With this shift in weather conditions we have a shift in our fishery. Pilchards, ballyhoo, mullet along with all other types of bait fish fill in the surrounding flats and backcountry. And you might be able to guess, as the bait moves inshore so do all of the predators we like to target. I don’t know anyone or anything that doesn’t want an easy meal!
The Great Barracuda is my personal favorite wintertime species. I would put my nose up at these Cudas for my first couple of years down here. I was a stubborn young guide always trying to grind out another permit or bonefish shot in the cooler weather. While poling past 50 big barracudas in two feet of water I began to ask myself why I didn’t want to throw at these? To be fair I still am happy to hunt down anything. But when the wind and water are cool, and there won’t be much happening in terms of finding bonefish or permit on the flats: let’s go throw flies or lures at giant Cudas!
When I get someone that doesn’t want to target barracudas I make them a deal. We pole over to a white spot and I show them a 30-50” barracuda laying motionless in a white spot on the flat. I say if you catch that fish we don’t have to barracuda fish for the rest of the day. Not once have I even had someone get a bite on their first try. These big fish are hard!
There isn’t another fish I have ever met where the bigger they are the smarter they are. Sure all fish can get aggressive at any size but I have found it to be so much harder to LAND a big barracuda on a fly fishing gear. When you are throwing tubes or top waters ect on spinning rods you can cover a ton of distance and really make that lure move fast across the water. If you don’t already know that isn’t necessarily the case when it comes to fly fishing. Long casts with big flies can be a hard to ask for beginner fly anglers. And that’s not even mentioning the double handed strip to keep the fly moving as fast as possible to try and encourage a bite.
Now let’s say we have all of this down. Your fishing guide was able to find and present opportunities to sight fish 40-50” (up to 20+lb) barracudas on a shallow flat. We make great presentations with long and accurate casts (hopefully the wind is at your back!). We got the fly moving at Mach 10 and boom we get our bite! As I’m sure you can imagine when a barracuda eats a fly or a lure he doesn’t usually “sip” it. The eats are epic!! But we’re just getting started.
These dam things come off more than tarpon I promise you. I have put thousands of tarpon in the air and the general odds are 1 in 4 you jump you catch. When it comes to hooking barracudas we miss so many bites and loose so many fish for a variety of reasons it is wild. Generally the hook will drop out or they will jump off. But they also will chew through the wire bite and get the leader in their teeth during a jump or run the list goes on. I never realized how hard it was to land a big barracuda until I start fishing tournaments where you had to measure big ones.
Next time you are in town during the cooler months (November-March) ask your guide about looking for some barracudas on the flats! I promise you won’t regret it.
