Surrounded by barracudas – it was like being in the Habs factory

[Fish_Eye]

Yesterday, while diving off Newport, I ran into every imaginable type of baitfish…including our very own variety of New England barracuda, Sphyraena guachancho – often referred to as sennets.

At one point I had so many cudas around me I felt I was in the middle of the Habs factory. Big stripers must love dinning on these little olive colored cigars and I’m sure that on the nights they’re focused on narrow baits, a needlefish plug is going to produce…especially one that sinks. While watching these tiny terrors of the shallows, I noticed that they spent most of their time hovering over the eelgrass and seldom ventured too close to the surface. Perhaps an olive needlefish lure that is allowed to sink for a few seconds and then worked up close to the surface looks like an out-of-place, wounded sennet…that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Sure there are a lot more needlefish in our waters than sennets (our variety of barracuda are so slow to reproduce that it takes 14 years for them to double their population), but needlefish are normally found in deep water while the little cudas can often be found in shallow coves, harbors and along the rocky coast.

What do you think a needlefish plug imitates?