...only fish (other than baits) caught that day.

This is Carl, my neighbor, on the left.

COOL!

That's a nice sized Cuda . . .

Who caught it and how ?

last ditch effort...........trolled in shallow water for groupers.

I put my neighbor on the rod and he pulled it in; skirted ballyhoo.

Nice Pick-Up . . .

do you guys eat them ? over here we do, I think they are good eats.

Nice! I know they get a bad rap but I like em too. I like to grill em fresh within a couple days as they don't freeze well at all, they get mushy. I usually only keep one or two filleted up for myself and give the rest to the guys at work. Funny, I used to have them cleaned and filleted for them also but they all get pissed off because they want the whole fish for grilling or frying. Now I just gut em and they're all happy as hell...LOL

Had a close encounter with one about two feet longer while swimming at a reef a couple miles off of Key west my first time there. Damned near crapped my swim trunks. The charter guys thought that was hilarious, of course. Damned fish's head was bigger than my own.

I never ate one but I heard they were good.

Down there, they throw them back due to ciguatera.

Why did I think that said "CUBA"?

I figured you guys took the boat farther south.

The Cuda would be an FSOM. Fish South of Miami.

A Cuban Cuda.

Fake !

I give them to my workers, but only those that I catch in deep water. Deep water does not hold Ciguterra

Sorta like eating wild mushrooms ... Roll of the dice.

^not if you know what you're doing.

^right........wild shrooms CAN be identified visually.

I'd say it is risky to eat ones that look JUST like poisonous ones, but for the most part it is a matter of education.

However.......ciguatera laden fish flesh can ALSO be identified; but the kits to do so are expensive.

Heck ... I read in 'Wiki' that not only barracudas ... but snapper, moray eels, parrotfishes, groupers, triggerfishes and amberjacks, are most likely to cause ciguatera poisoning.

I guess it's the roll of the dice ...

the shadows are all wrong

I grabbed one of those suckers by the gills like that, and the tips of my fingers all ended up with razor cuts in them. They were superfine and I didn't even feel them.

Nasty ass fish. They sure love to hang off the back of the boats.