Barracuds/Slime Logs.
 

Has anyone ever caught legal size Cudas on their kayak? Wheres a good area to find em with good paddle distance?

I want to play with some local topwater species! Tired of bass & rockfishing already :'(

That would be fun. Could never grow tired of bass fishing though!

...i totes agree....i hear down here in la jolla in the summer we get some some times

Last summer i caught some legal size cudas within 1 mile around DP harbor, trolling hard bait...

In a skiff tho...:p but still good paddle distance for kayak.

Yeah, bassin will always be year round. Just itchin for some topwater action in the ocean now.

Is that right? Hmm... haha. We usually do 2 mile paddles too.

Yea, but if you ask me where or how to find them, really have no idea, we were just randomly troll some area, and found some of them...

And rental skiff only allow within a mile around the harbor...thats why

Mdr has them when the water warms I have been there when you can catch a half dozen on the way out, but I only fight them and turn em loose but I have seen keeper size there...

I've found em off PV and LJ on the yak. Don't really target them but they're a lot of fun on the light tackle. Warm water with bait and you've got a good shot at them. Drop a greenie under them while you're chuckin iron and you might get a surprise.

They are abundant inside King Harbor. Keepers were the norm back in 1982.

There were a lot of keepers back then...:(

True dat. I love feeling the initial bite, trolling and baiting doesn't appeal much to me unless it was for yt or wsb or thresher. It would be fun to come up on a school of cuda and kill em on crank baits .

I'm pretty sure NOBODY inshore was catching the grade of fish in 1982 that we r enjoying inshore today....40-50lb hali's, 60-80lb cbass, 40-50lb YT? maybe but i dont thinks so....also im pretty sure 82 was a warm water season(elnino). When that comes back you'll get you keeper slim sticks in the harbor....maybe even this season.

already seen a few large schools when diving in lj last week

I've caught a few out of DP last summer using live bait. Followed the party boats out off the point in about 100-120 ft. Schools were spread out but I still managed to get a few.

When we were out Sunday, I mentioned the party boys coming in. I forgot to say what I was going to say but it had something to do with this;

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/dNmI4gU7G2c" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

If you bleed them right after catching them they are pretty good to eat also. Bleed them and keep them as cold as you can and they are great on the BBQ.

Smoke 'em if you got 'em.

x2

bleed em and gut em first thing... and try not to let that infamous slime come into contact with the meat, as it will really mess up the flavor, but if it does happen, a good few hours of soaking in milk in the fridge takes care of it pretty well... then just dredge some strips in flour, egg wash, and panko crumbs seasoned to taste, deep fry in hot oil and its TACO TIME (dont forget the cerveza :cheers1: )

Enjoyed the feedback, video, & recipe.

I wouldnt mind taking a couple home, & fighting these guys on light tackle all day. Hopefully I can find em.

Dude now I want to go catch some cudas.

CUDAS
 

Barracuda are in the SM bay...I got 3 yesterday in about 100' off the Venice Pier. 5 sport boats and only 3 private boats on the fish yesterday. All fish were on the single hook B/W Tady C :jig:.
All the fish were 30" or bigger...no need to measure.
BBQ'd some last night for dinner with some Trader Joe's Soyaki, and marinated a bunch overnight for the smoker today.
The wind picked up pretty good in the late morning. Damn Wind!!!
Jim / Saba Slayer
Here's a post I did on another site...
I know it's not a kayak report, but I thought you might like this info
Launched about 7:30am baited up 5 Ambush nets for some Crabs...dropped em in about 85' on a reef then headed towards the MDR / Venice area to try and find some Cudas. The local sportboats were already on some fish when I got there. The fish were in about 100' of water straight off the Venice Pier.
Threw out a Tady C single hook and got my first fish on the first cast on the jig.
http://www.bdoutdoors.com/gallery/fi...0966_thumb.jpg
They were nice fish, well over legal with no need to measure.
http://www.bdoutdoors.com/gallery/fi...0977_thumb.jpg
The fish were down and never really went WFO, but there were a lot of nice meter marks and I picked up 3 before I had to get back to pull up my nets before someone else did!
The Crabs crawled pretty good...I averaged 3 nice ones in each net and went home with about 15...and one really big Red Crab.
http://www.bdoutdoors.com/gallery/fi...0970_thumb.jpg
I cooked em up as soon as I got home and we're having Crab Cakes tonight with some smoked Cuda on a salad.

If you were a Cuda...would you bite the bright shinny new jig or the old one with no paint...they bit the old jig only!!!
http://www.bdoutdoors.com/gallery/fi...0979_thumb.jpg

I saw this big beauty caught yesterday morning...about 40 pounds of Fat Butt for the proud fishermen.
http://www.bdoutdoors.com/gallery/fi...0969_thumb.jpg

it's about that time Jimmy....:reel:

X3

If you bleed em, gut em and keep em cool they make some of the best tacos you will ever have.

15 red crabs to go. Nice.

didnt you see my post arvil :)

cudas swim in/out of newport and lb alot. but they are all pencils. i'm launching out of the santa ana river jetties in the summer to fish the hb flats

long paddle ahead of you there vince :) just launch dog beach on a smaller day....

I never caught a little cuda tell three years ago, I got several over 10 lbs out of LJ. I gaffed the first big one I hooked. I thought it could of been a wahoo. It went 12lbs. Over those next few months I pick up a few over or close to 10. That same time I also got a 12 pound bonita and a few others over 8lbs. I got the 12 pounder on the sabiki. Their a lot of fun on light tackle.

Its getting close to that time...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74xPm6Q1Y4k

How far are the reefs/structure from the dog beach launch area? Heard about launching there before but never got around to it. Sounds promising on a calm day.

The cuda have been pretty rare in So Cal the last few years but it sounds like they're making a real show this year. I have caught loads of big cuda on the yak and they can be a PITA. They usually not too picky and will take a slash at about any thing. I stay away from the cracks and trolling plugs because cuda all ways seam to never quite stop thrashing and multiple trebles+thrashing fish are bad news. The plugs rip the cuda up too. I'll second the Tady C with the single fixed hook. I don't think color is too important because after an hour or so the jigs don't have any paint left on them. Mike

Damn...Now I have the bug!

Heed that good advice. Getting three treble hooks out of a cuda is a pain. The single fixed hook is good advice.
I was trying to unhook a large cuda from a repala with it hanging off the side of my kayak, and had a big Knot head rip it right out of my hand. He almost flipped me. I thought it was a shark for a milla -secend. I keep thinking what would of happened had one of those hooks gone in my hand.

My PITA statement stems partialy from this incident. I caught a just short bari on a small crocodile with treble. Most of the jig was in the fishes mouth and I was trying to be a nice proper CnR guy. The bari would lay still for a few seconds and then give a big shake. I tried to time the shakes to get near the mouth and remove the hook. My thumb holding the end of the croc was close to that big set of teeth that point down off the roof of thier mouth. Bad idea. One sorta twisting head shake later and I'm bleeding all over. Got the fish off, not so nicely this time and with always wet kayak hands bled until I got back to my car. Long pliers are your friend. Mike