Fishing guide repeats a memorable catch

Same bait, same place, same result nearly three years later.

Longboat guide Steven Herich of Beach Fishing Adventures experienced a case of waterfront déjà vu last week, landing and releasing a 50-inch, 35-pound barracuda  under nearly the same conditions he caught almost exactly the same-sized barracuda in August, 2014.

“You gotta be totally on your game,’’ he said of the sharp-toothed catch, hooked near the Islander Club groins. As he did in 2014, he used a live ladyfish as bait.

His clients, Bill and Debi Whitman from Sarasota, were thrilled. 

Herich said he saw the fish off the beach while fishing for snook and cast the ladyfish, which an angler had just caught nearby, in its direction for the strike. The fight to land the barracuda lasted about 30 minutes and included several jumps.