Bullen (1904) gives numerous instances of catching barracudas by trolling in various seas, and also tells of catching them by still fishing. He gives an interesting account of how the Maoris of New Zealand catch their barracudas by a kind of fishing which might be called trolling. This method, which is only possible because the fish go in great schools, is so absolutely novel that it seems worthy of incor poration here: "Take a stout rod, say 8 to 10 feet in length, or rather a pole, fairly rigid and tough, but not too heavy. To the end of it secure a piece of strong fishing line 5 or 6 feet in length. To the free end of this line attach a lure made as follows: A piece of red pine (rimu) 4 inches long, an inch wide, and half an inch thick, is scraped smooth and bright so that it will glow crimson when wet. Through one end of it is driven a 2-inch nail, which is carefully bent upward and filed sharp. Then this lure is fastened to the line in such a manner that, in case of the splitting of the wood, the fish shall not be lost. Now the boat, in which two fishermen sit to windward facing forward, is sailed briskly to and fro, the fishermen meanwhile whipping the water occa sionally until a barracouta snaps at the bait and with a dexterous swing is flung into the boat, where, as there is no barb on the hook, he immediately falls off. At the same time the peak halyards are let go, so that the boat's way is deadened and the fishermen ply their poles energetically. If they have struck a school, the fish rise and fall into the boat with rythmical regularity, every sweep of the bait into the water securing its fish."
The method, of attracting the fish by means of a lure and catching it by means of a spoon or a white rag on a hook, undoubtedly owes its success to the large inquisitiveness and utter fearlessness of the fish. To this desire to strike at anything flashing through the water, Bullen accredits the frequent loss of patent-log screw propellers, which are trailed behind vessels to give the rate of speed and register the tance traveled. This has been confirmed by Dr. A. G. Mayer in conversation with the present writer.
On rare occasions one of our laboratory men, all of whom were more or less expert with the grains, would "strike" a specimen. Thompson (1905) says this may be easily done; but we found the fish too wary for much success along this line unless its attention was distracted, as was the case of specimen No. 11 previously described.
Holder in another book (1908) gives an interesting account of how a boatman of his named "Barracuda" used to take the fish of the same name with the grains. Trolling a white rag behind his rowboat as a lure, he would scull the boat into the sun. In this way the fish would face the sun and be dazzled by it, while the striker would have his back to the luminary with everything behind the boat clearly mined. When the fish was thus brought within range of the grains, the boat would be suddenly stopped, and as the fish, still watching the lure, would forge slightly ahead on one side, the grains would be thrown.