| Show j f Adventurers' Adventurers v V Club ClubA CI U Uz UCC b vS ij CC z Id A Eating Man Barracuda By FLOYD GIBBONS Famous Headline Headline Hunter N NEXT EXT time youre you're out to Jones on s Beach State park and see a abig abig abig big husky blond Ad Adonis Ollis in a life guards guard's suit give him the high sign He is Capt William Johns of Jones Beach State park I Long Island and he hc has had more adventures than you can shake a stick at Cap makes the thc club with a story of a fight he had with a giant barracuda The barracuda which is known as the tiger of the seas Is Just about the toughest and most dangerous fish In American waters Those babies make a full grown shark look like a gold fish when It comes to downright ferocity Did you ever see a barracuda They've got mouths on them like alligators with a double row of sharp needle-sharp teeth that can cut a mans man's leg like a hot knife cuts butter They dont don't come as big as sharks but are much more feared by fishermen who know Why by golly gon when when you hook a n small barracuda youve you've got to kill him bim before you pull pul him In the boat or Its It's just too bad They can put up an awful fight even en out of water and you'd better be sure hes he's dead before you try removing the hook or youre you're apt to lose a finger or a hand band depending depending de de- de- de pending on the size of the fish Cap Was No Munchausen About His Adventures Cap has been a seal hunter In the Baltic a lumberjack In Canada a soldier of ot fortune In Mexico a sailor under many flags a boxer and wrestler a swimming Instructor life Ute guard n a big game hunter and shark and a lot of other adventurous things but he says he never had bad hadn hadR n R closer call than be he had with that barracuda Cap by the way wh Is the fellow who caught a seagull on the on-the the wing down in Florida a few years ago That trick was an accident accident accident acci acci- dent but Its It's worth telling Cap was fishing for sailfish and using live bait He threw his line baited with a small fish Into the air and nd the seagull swooped down and snatched the hook and bait before It touched the water I call catching a bird good fishing Dont Don't you Cap let the seagull go of course and Ill I'll bet that gull guU flew away a wiser but sadder bird Sea Tiger c Picks on Life Guard The barracuda was something else again a Cap was acting as a lifeguard lifeguard life Ute guard at the Roman noman Pools Pools Pools-a a swimming club In Miami when Miami when he be decided to spear himself some breakfast He Be waded Into the water up to his bis neck y 1 i UJ U- U J Cap Drove the Second Spear pear With All His Might and looked around for some nice luscious mullet He didn't see any mullet that morning but he did see a big sand shark and drove his spear Into Its tough hide Now a sand shark Isn't dangerous like his man eating cousin but the blood from the wounded s sand nd shark attracted a passing sea bandit who was plenty dangerous That sea b bandit was a hungry barracuda and he came straight for Cap Cap knew knew what he was up against at a glance He w was s glad he had his feet on the b bottom Expert swimmer as he Is Cap knew he wouldn't h have ve a chance In deep water against the tiger of the seas He knew too that he couldn't run away without taking takIng tak take Ing a chance on losing a limb or two two perhaps perhaps his life The fish was nearly six sl feet long the long the Largest Cap had ever seen seen and and Liz eix Ix foot of hungry barracuda a Is Just about one hundred undred pounds of ot dyna dyna- mite Cap had two small spears with him and as he saw the flash of those terrible teeth he be drove one hom home Cap Just Missed Being a Fish Dinner The spear broke off In the tough hide hille of the fish but didn't seem to phase phaze him He leaped several f feet et out of the water and turning In the air opened that big alligator mouth of his and Cap says be he thought It was the end That foot long foot long mouth lined with dagger like t teeth eth snapped shut in Caps Cap's face with a sound like a steel trap Cap says hed he'd sooner hear Mauser shells singing around his head any day He knew that on whatever part of his anatomy those teeth closed that part would come away The streak of silver er shot at him again and Cap grabbed his second spear and stepping aside drove It with all his bis force Into his enemy's body A thrust like that would kill a man-eating man shark or cause him to give up the battle but not a barracuda Those babies Just dont don't know the meaning of ot the word quit They quit when they are arc dead and no sooner A Harpoon Finished Old Man Barracuda Well Wen sir the second spear broke off oft the way the first one had and Cap found himself with only the wooden handle for tor a weapon He started yelling for tor assistance hoping that someone would have the nerve to bring him out a harpoon But h he says he be wouldn't blame anyone for hesitating The barracuda enjoys such a bad reputation along the Florida coast that most of the natives stay far tar away away from his dental array And I dont don't blame them But Cap Johns got a break One of his life saving crew saved their cap captain ln He saw Cap fighting for his life and grabbing a harpoon ran out In the water The battle had been bee going on for over ten minutes when he got there And he arrived just In time Cap was just about exhausted and teeth were coming comIng coming com com- ing cl closer ser and closer Cap figured he couldn't hold out until the lifeguard got to him and he yelled for the other man to throw him the harpoon The lifeguard threw the sharp weapon The harpoon flashed In the sun and Cap grabbed It like a juggler and In one quick movement mo drove knife point Into the jaws that were wide open to grab him I And that was the end of Caps Cap's barracuda as well as the end of Caps Cap's adventure And if you dont don't think It was a 1 close call just take a peep at a barracudas barracuda's upper and lower plates the next time you get a chance But dont don't get too close to him C 1 Service |
