Lionfish spear.

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snowmaker

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Looking at picking up a lionfish spear for a trip to Mexico.

Looking at the Mako 3 piece travel spear.

MAKO 3 in 1 Traveler Pole Spear

or this one on amazon

Amazon.com: Scuba Choice 5' Travel Spearfishing Two-Piece Fiber Glass Pole Spear 3 Prong Barb Paralyzer and Bag: Toys & Games

This will be my first time using a spear and hunting fish so looking for what people are using and what works and what doesn't.

The Mako comes with a 5 prone tip with barbs. Is the 3 prone tip without bards better for lionfish.

What length spear works best. Last year in Mexico I saw some locals using a short spear. Basically just a piece of metal pole with a band
 
I just picked up a JBL D-36 but the Mako 3 in 1 looks like a good one for travel. I wanted aluminum shaft as opposed to Fiberglass due to the fear of splinters and wear over the long term but was also looking close at the Mako. I personally like a barbed paralyzer tip because Lions are hardy little ba&*%^#s and if you don’t get a solid shot they like to wriggle off. Another thing you may wish to do for safety is to take a 12” piece of PVC pipe for a tip guard which can also double as a kill stick for finishing them off. As for length anything over 4 ½’ will become very cumbersome in the tight holes and swim-through’s they like to hide in. The long ones probably work well in areas they are in the open but in Cozumel they are actively hunted and they know it, most are hiding in the nooks and crannies.
 
There's no need for a boat-length spear for Lionfish. They're utterly fearless, and you'll be shooting them from a distance of inches, not feet.
I use a 4' Foldspear because I already have one. But things like the ELF also work extremely well. My foldspear has a barbed 3-prong tip to keep the little bastards from slipping off.
When I'm hunting, I also carry a BFK, to stab them in the brain. Lots of people save them for the table, but personally I leave them on the bottom for the other fishes to snack on.
 
I like having barbs as some of the bigger ones will try sliding off spear. Some people will disagree it's a matter of personal opinion. I'll typically stab them in back of head with knife to kill or put them into some sort of lionfish container (Zookeeper). The tines with barbs do sometimes interfere and make it more difficult to get lionfish off the spear.

I'm also a fan of 3 prong paralyzer tip opposed 5 prong since it does less damage to fillets.
 
What length of spear to use for lionfish really depends on where you're hunting. Lionfish behave very differently depending on where you are and this will determine how close you can get to them before they spook.

In places like Florida and Belize, and some other places, lionfish are not wary of hunters at all. They just sit there and you can just swim right up to them and use any length/type spear to kill them. I call this lionfish "collecting". No skill required. I love it!!!

In other places, like Honduras, the lionfish are typically FAR more wary of divers and will move off when they see you, no matter how far away you are from them. In these places you want as long a spear as you can hunt with and maybe a second short spear for tight places. THIS is lionfish hunting at it's best.

Here in Roatan, I use a 4' spear with a 6 point spear tip and barbs because I got tired of watching fish swim off my 2' spear with a 3 point spear tip with barbs.

A lot of people don't like the 6 point tips or barbs because it tears the meat up. I only get away with using the 6 point tips because most of my shots are head shots. I don't mind the holes in the meat when I hit them there anyway. There's just too many ways to enjoy lionfish for me to worry too much about little details like that :D
 
6 prong with barbs and get or better yet, make, a zookeeper type container. I used to trim the spines and put them on my stringer with the other speared fish but it takes way too much time if you are actively hunting. If you aren't planning on personal consumption (huge mistake in my book as they are a rival to hogfish in my book), go barbless and just shake them off for the morays or groupers to dispatch
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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