I've got to hand it to you Kingfisha, you have a fantastic desire to broaden your fishing horizons.

barracuda!

not sure on bait , maybe a credit card! and as to spots , oh try the local park.

hi Kingfisha , you don't get Barracuda in perth mate they live North of Carnarvon generally , the closest thing down here are snook and pike and you get them usually at night landbased while fishing for tailor with ganged hooks and mulies and in the boat you get em around hillarys trolling around the weed beds with small minnow lures.

 heard you get heaps of snook at the north mole when fishing for tailor

 thanks, i have caught heaps of snook

We should make a new rule, your not allowed to ask about a new species untill you have at least

attempted to catch the previous species you have asked about...

Give him a break paul, hes just trying to learn about fishing...

 thanks mjohns

Barracouta, and in some areas this is snook.

BARRACOUTA
Sci: Leionura atun

Common Names: The barracouta is frequently referred to as 'couta. It also has several other colloquial titles, including "pick-handle", ","axe-handle" and "hammer-handle", all of which refer to its shape. In some areas its South African name of "snoek" or "snook" is also used.

Description: This slim, needle-toothed fish is usually dark, steely-blue or green along the top of the back and bright, metallic silver on the flanks and belly. There is a distinct black patch near the leading edge of the long, relatively high first dorsal fin. The forked tail is dark, often black. Barracouta are sometimes confused with the tropical barracuda. However, beyond vague similarities in body shape and teeth, the two have little in common and are unrelated.

Size: Although often caught at lengths between 50 and 140 cm, barracouta are very lightly built. Even exceptional specimens in excess of 150 cm rarely weigh more than 4 or 5 kg. A more typical barracouta measures under a metre in length and weighs between 0.8 and 1.5 kg.

Distribution: A cold-water fish, the barracouta is most numerous in the seas around Tasmania, Victoria, parts of South Australia and southern Western Australia . It is reasonably common in New Zealand and South Africa.

Fishing Techniques: Barracouta are specifically fished for in southern states, but are generally regarded as a pest in New South Wales. They respond to a range of techniques, but are best caught by casting or trolling with lures such as a flashy, chromed spoons and silver or white jigs. The addition of a diving paravane to the rig ahead of the lure can often improve trolling results. Strips of fish flesh or whole pilchards and garfish on ganged hook rigs make excellent baits. Live baits attract plenty of interest, but many strikes are missed. A wire trace or ganged hooks are practically essential when fishing for barracouta.

Eating Qualities: Although generally despised in New South Wales, barracouta actually have tasty, pinkish-coloured flesh which is firm and white when cooked, and is also ideally suited to smoking. After cooking, the many long, flexible bones are easily removed. The flesh of barracouta can occasionally be infested with parasitic worms. Cooking destroys these worms and they appear to have no effect on the eating quality of the fish. However, barracouta should never be eaten raw.

I caught one.in.exxy when trollin for macks, undesirable, stinkn, toothy bloody things. Dont hear of them in Perth

Hey mate, i'm assuming you're talking about BarracouTa, not BarracuDa.  Barracuda (Sphyraena barracuda) are the northern species we get; seldom seen in southern waters.  Barracouta (Thyrsites atun) are relatively common in deeper water off the south coast, but again, are fairly rare off Perth.  I'd stick to knocking off your other target species rather than attempting to get one of these landbased off Perth.

As for bait and rigs, I've caught a 1.2m barracouta off Esperance on a squid jig... not even pulling the p1ss.

Cheers

Alex

As the guys above said mate not something you want to target in Perth waters, Barracouta frequent the colder waters and are considered a pest in may places. Most tend to catch them when targeting others species. Pros used to troll for them in SA and VIC and send to processing factories to be made into fish fingers. Full of bones and messy slimy things. Even the other type Barracuda u[p north in warm waters are considered a shit fish, poor to eat and dont fight much.... but you catch them sometimes when targeting Mackeral

Barracouta and snook are different fish (at least in South Oz). 

Snook (sometimes called pike) - gold brown colour and taste good but don't freeze well (generally) great fish for smoking. 

Barracouta silver chrome flanks with dark upper bodies, horrible things to eat and very slimy (occasionally get snipped of by them when jigging in SA, jigging away and then suddenly no weight and snipped leader = barracouta - generally requires a move as they often school in large schools offshore and you'll just lose more jigs).Can catch them landbased in certain locations in SA (such as around Victor Harbour) but not many want to.....

Would post some pics of both but photobucket won't let me log on

trymyluck - just put me off fishfingers....

holy crap!!