How do you remove lionfish from your spear?

[stcroix]

This question was posted elsewhere and I responded there too...

A dive knife works just fine. Don't need a big one, just need to pay attention to where you're cutting the fish.
Right behind the head across the spine, in front of the barbs, is where I like to do my dirty work. Then I usually give the swimbladder a poke so it doesn't float in the catch bag (if I'm bagging, that is, most of the time I leave them for the fishies).

I have seem more divers who BAG them get stung by a dead fish through the bag, than by the live fish.

 

[Cave Diver]

I'm not trying to get stung by their spines, so I'd like a safe way to take them off so I can rack up the kill-count!

Take a look at this:

This has worked well for us. We have made a few minor changes to this device. We now have only one funnel inside and we removed the taper at the top to accommodate the larger fish. Enjoy!

YouTube - ‪Cayman Lionfish Culling‬‏

 

[Jersey]

Caver Diver - I saw that vid on Ambassador Divers site ~ very cool invention! I'll be there next month yeah! I'll second a couple things - make sure you kill them. They will flail and flap and wave those fins around to get off the spear or play possum and swim off when you let your guard down. I like the surgi snips to back of head, stops em dead...then you can snip off the fins with the shears, bag em or cut them up and leave them as food for whatever wanders by.

 

[rhwestfall]

If you wear split fins you can use the split to pull it off over the knob or both fins wedge together.

so, split fins actually have a usefulness!!!!!!

 

[Doubler]

How do you remove lionfish from your spear?

Simplest method, which assures you of not getting stung..................Hand it to your buddy.

 

[deerboy]

Go check out this thread i started a few days ago - lesson learned - be careful!!

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/cozumel/393415-lion-fish-story-ouch.html

 

[talonraid]

Let the snappers take it off the spear for you! I was just in Cozumel last week and the snapper have not only learned to take the lions off of the spear, but if you pay attention to them, they will "bird dog" the lionfish for you. We even managed to scare up a small lionfish from a hole and it made the fatal mistake of moving about a foot from the reef. Our friendly snapper guide clipped him by himself. They're learning and that's awesome. I will also mention that I saw a fraction of the number of lionfish this year than I did last year.

 

[swander]

[video=vimeo;28376855]http://vimeo.com/28376855[/video]

 

[stcroix]

Thanks for the video.

That's a serious speargun you have there.
Most of the guys here are using shorties with coil lanyards on the spear.

So would you say that those Reef Balls are definitely attracting the LF on a regular basis?
Is there any other natural structure nearby?

 

[FuzzyNutz]

So it's been a while since I last posted here, but I must say I did fairly well when I went on my trip. With the advice here and personally from some SB'ers in Cozumel (it was the Invasion, KevinHoward, FirstDive205, ScubaJenny, and TexasTorpedo helped me a bunch!!), I killed roughly about 25 lion fish. I didn't like the AcuSpear - at least not with the single tip - so I bought a brand new tri-tip sling type off of ScubaJenny, which was MUCH better! The fish kept falling off the single tip... I must have shot one fish 15 times times before he finally got nestled into his unreachable hiding spot. Never lost one with the tri-tip!

Anyway, I mostly just used my shears to cut off the spines - and if it was a real big one, I'd make some cuts into it's head first too. I'd leave them on the spear until I either A. found something to feed it to, or B. found another one to kill. I let an eel take one off the spear, cut a few up in front of a lobster or crab, gave some to anemone, and simply just discarded a few. Watching one of the guides feed a splendid toadfish was really neat - reminded me of the game hungry hungry hippos, haha! To get them off the spear, it was pretty easy to just push them off with the shears, rub them in the sand or against a rock, or give the spear a couple good 'swings'.

One kill was pretty cool, I drilled a knife through it's head at the top of the pyramid in front of Hotel Cozumel, while 'floating on one knee' like it was some sort of sacrifice, haha. That was the only time I used a knife (dive buddy handed it to me), and I thought it was much easier to kill the fish with the knife rather than shears. Towards the end of the trip, a few of us went out of the park and kept all our kills - the DM put all the catches on a stringer. We got some lobsters and crabs on that dive too, which was a TON of fun... and it was even better taking them to a cool little restaraunt by the beach and having them cooked up and made into fajitas!! 4 divers fed 9 people like kings that day!

I definitely got the itch now, I can't wait to kill some more!!

Oh, and without mentioning names but to share a funny story... let's just say it's not wise to go caveman style and club a lion fish in the head with a conch shell... hahahahahaha!!!! With some persistence, it will work, but be ready to deal with the pain for a while!