Fishing barracudas

Question
I wish to know some facts about barracuda.i live in malta,where it forms part of the meditteranean sea.altough no one remebers thier sight before about eight years ago the harbours and other surrounding waters were devastated with barracudas.They are doing a wide great harm on other local species such as breams etc.Many  Maltese citizens were intrested in catching these fish,first for pleasure and second ,they are harming other fish we were catching with pleasure before.When i used to fish barracudas before ,at about four years ago they were easy to catch by a lure .I have no boat ,so i have to fish from land by a reel rod,spinning my choice lure from time to time.But as times go by the barracudas are showing up problems,perhaps they ve gained intelligence.One fact that i want to tell is that i fish barracudas most specially at night where there is some light "pollution"in the sea.Altough the catching of other species had decreased with light pollution,barracudas seem to enjoy this light where small fish like bogue (boops boops) gathers and barracudas hunts them.With reference to what is was telling you before ,barracudas show two signs which lead to problems in catching.Sometimes they show interest in the fishing lures and come after them but fail to attack so they won t get caught and at other times they ignore the fishing lures completely.While ignoring the fishing lures they will be lot of action and splashes in the water probably hunting food species.When i saw all this days after days and also months i tried to hook food species on the line,without carrying any lead ,so the fish can swim freely,but they continue to ignore my traps.Are these intelligent barracudas or am i doing something wrong?Can you lead me for a better success please?

Answer
Although the Mediterranean barracuda is a different species from the one we have here in the Western Atlantic, from what you say and from what I have read quite possibly their habits are very similar. A barracuda will strike a free-floating live bait or a lure, but I wonder if you are retrieving either rapidly enough when the barracuda is near.  This might be difficult with live bait as you may not know when the bait is in danger, but I think if you keep the bait moving it might work.  If you can tell when the barracuda is near, then reel in rapidly.  In fact, using an artificial lure you cannot reel in fast enough to outrun a barracuda. As for lures, the best one here is about a 6 to 8 inch piece of  colored surgical tubing (in color of red, green, orange,etc.)rigged on a piece of wire or very flexible bead-chain with the hook at the end.  And, as I said above, retrieve rapidly.  Good luck.