A lion fish spear

[1erCRU]

I just received an email offer from Leisure Pro, featuring a "Lion Fish" mini spear with tip. $19.95 sale price. Seems like a reasonable (and packable) deal for the part-time Lion Fish hunter. Maybe cheap enough for a Dive Op to offer on Hunting Dives (outside the park of course). Dave?

 

[Dave Dillehay]

looks like good deal but the ends are barbed which makes getting the lionfish off a little tough/dangerous. We use Trident slings that can be made longer than is needed for most lionfish but can be useful if you want to get something bigger and more filling. i think we pay about $25 for the Trident pole.


Dave Dillehay
Aldora Divers

 

[macado]

That should work pretty well (I have a similar one) but like Dave said the barbed ends can make getting the lionfish off the spear a little harder. (Not end of world just need to be more cautious)

I was actually thinking about buying a few for some friends in Cozumel since they're only 20 bucks and I've seen some pretty bad homemade ones. Cozumel Scuba Repair also sells spears if you didn't want to go through the hassle of checking it on the plane.

The tip can always be removed and replaced with a different one but it looks like it would actually cost more than the spear itself.

 

[1erCRU]

I was surprised that someone was actually marketed a "Lion Fish" spear! AND at a resonable price. Ain't capitalism great.

I agree barbed points would not be my first choice for Lions, but 30 seconds on a grinder will make those barbs disappear, way cheaper than buying replacement tips.

No barbs has an added benefit: it will be much easier and less painful to extract the spear points from a neophite hunter's buddy.

 

[gypsyjim]

On our recent DNY Bonaire I witnessed an awful lot of lionfish speared by unbarbed 3 prong mini spears, only to escape, often even after what looked to be a mortal wound. Some of the larger fellows were able to escape even when the diver seemed to have pinned it down hard.

There was no desire to add barbs, for the reasons mentioned above, but we were trying to figure out an effective technique of delivering a quick, accurate kill shot, just after the 3 prong spear nails them.

Normal "spear guns" are banned from Bonaire, so they are limited to that small bungied 3 prong, tubing handle "gun".

 

[PatW]

I saw our dive master in Roatan spear a pile of lionfish. Lionfish just pretty much sit there. They let a person stick the tip of the spear pretty close to them. I suppose if you have venemous spines, you can get complacent. Anyway, all it takes is a 6" or so jab to nail a lionfish. I would think that you would want a reasonably long handle to keep the lionfish at "arms length". Getting stabbed by the spines is by all accounts excruciating. One of the divemasters gave us a first hand account in gory detail of just what it feels like. I think barbless tridents would be better for getting the lionfish off of the spear head.

 

[talonraid]

So, I haven't been to Coz in over a year and haven't been keeping up on the forum much. Are tourists now allowed to spear lionfish in Cozumel?

 

[1erCRU]

So, I haven't been to Coz in over a year and haven't been keeping up on the forum much. Are tourists now allowed to spear lionfish in Cozumel?

No, only DMs in the park, but outside the park they are fair game.

 

[talonraid]

No, only DMs in the park, but outside the park they are fair game.

Ah, excellent, thanks for the reply. That's good to know. We are going down there later this month and my buddy and I have been spearing them in other places, but were always told no in Cozumel. It gets frustrating to drift past a group of 10-15 lionfish sunbathing on a coral head and not be able to exterminate a couple.

 

[macado]

Getting stabbed by the spines is by all accounts excruciating. One of the divemasters gave us a first hand account in gory detail of just what it feels like. I think barbless tridents would be better for getting the lionfish off of the spear head.

It's not as bad as some people make it out to be although I imagine it effects everyone differently. I got a pretty bad sting and it hurt for a couple hours and my hand swelled up. Hot water neutralizes the venom so immersing your hand in water as hot as you can stand will help with the pain.