Dan Logcher wrote:

What's up Dan!

Hi! :-) I've been in hiding for a while.

I've seen Amazon footage of natives doing this. I would enjoy it more
with some salt, pepper, and garlic.

But from what I saw in the footage, the native hate them because they
are such a pain (literally) to deal with in their nets.

I went to the Amazon once, but not to an area that had piranhas. Which
is good, because that would've made bathing in the Orinoco... less fun.

My brother went on a trip to the Cojedes state in Venezuela[*], and they
fished out a piranha (called "coro-coro" in Vzla) as part of the trip.
The guide smashed the piranha's head with a rock, and explained that
that prevented the fish from biting, even though it was already dead.

They didn't cook it right there, though. They brought it back for the
cook at the lodge. My brother says that it was pretty good[**], a white
nongreasy fish.

As a side story (as if this wasn't OT enough), on the same trip, the
very superstitious guide hastened to return, because after dark the
"balls of fire" come out. No one was sure what exactly those could be,
but apparently he was terrified of them.
[*] Specifically, he http://www.branger.com/pinero.html - my brother
had a fantastic time there.
[**] Actually, he said "like a carite", but I don't know the English
name for that. If you know what it is, I'd like to know.

-Dan