Blue Heron Bridge Trolls III

[MrChen]

So they just went deeper?

You'll find them where people aren't hunting them. I see them at the bridge occasionally. I've seen them at shallower depths too. A few months ago, I speared a bunch of small ones at Breakers.

I've been diving a private boat lately and we hit spots less traveled. Any time I see some ledge, I find a few lionfish hiding. A few weeks ago, I speared 2 x 16 inchers and someone else got one too.

Are they deeper? Probably. I've seen videos of divers on some deep wrecks and LF were everywhere.

 

[Johnoly]

BTW, are Lionfish gone? We haven't spotted a single one in 6 dives in Florida

Yes & No
On the well known dive sites that everyone can name off the top of there head,,,YES they have all been harvested and every tiny one continues to be cleaned off the reef so that diver's won't see a single one on their dive. That's good!

Like @MrChen said, on our secret spots that are usually deeper in the 100-120 ft range, they are still plentiful and easy to find in groups of 3-5's. Without being harvested, these deeper LF's will creep up to the shallower 70-80ft depths and even into the 10ft depths near bridges where the tiny baby fry fish are born and easy to consume.

The best way to find lionfish is to ask the captain to take you to the least visited and most ugly bottom dive site that he never see's a diver on. Or ask to be dropped on the 'backside' of a reef and promise at the end you'll curve your drift line to meet up with the main dive group.

 

[PBcatfish]

BTW, are Lionfish gone? We haven't spotted a single one in 6 dives in Florida ...

I've been at it pretty hard for a few weeks now. I've almost gotten rid of them.
(kidding)

In all seriousness, I'm also seeing fewer of them where they were once plentiful, but I also don't as see many other fish in those areas either. The greedy lion-fish may have exhausted their food supply in some areas & moved on. As was already said, some of the more well-traveled reefs are kept clean by enthusiastic divers.

I'm not sure how BHB doesn't end up with more of them, since spears are not allowed there. Somebody must be taking care of them some how, but I don't know who or how. Since that area seems to be in pretty good balance across the board, I'm not going to look into it. It ain't broke & therefore I don't want to fix it.

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

As others have pointed out, they can be found in the lesser dived spots. I do still see them at the bridge, usually tucked away.
I do see them at a very popular dive spot off the beach. They are not there long. I think they come up from the depths or are finding new territories. Which reminds me.. wonder if those 3 decent sized ones are still there from a couple months ago....hmmmm..... might need to go back...

 

[calevans]

I've not seen a Lionfish on the Snorkle Trail in probably 6 months. I saw one over at Julie's about 2 months ago but that's the only one I've seen lately. now I don't dive the west side, so there may be some over there.

 

[tarponchik]

I've not seen a Lionfish on the Snorkle Trail in probably 6 months. I saw one over at Julie's about 2 months ago but that's the only one I've seen lately. now I don't dive the west side, so there may be some over there.

Nope. I did 2 dives there and haven't seen any. I even "broke on through to the other side" where most divers do not go, and had no luck with LF over there too.

 

[Catito]

This time of year, it seems that it is worst. Some years better than others, but overall I pretty much assume October is no diving at the bridge



On another note, years ago we used to meet up on the Saturday after Thanksgiving to dive and have a pot luck. This year high tide is 6:28 pm. I usually work on Saturdays, but would be game for a Sunday morning dive, high tide 7:10 am, and brekky/food stuffs/pot luck after. Any interest?

Hi. I would but I am out of town (Barbara—remember, met you with Elena).

 

[Six Feet Under]

Well, viz was about as expected at BHB last week (10 feet or less both times). We did the Friday night dive and did it again Sunday morning. Tide was strong on Friday when we got in, so we waited a while before going under the pilings for it to be more slack.

Reefs weren't too bad offshore (we did Juno, Double Ledges, Mid Reef, and the Corridor). The Corridor had some weird currents, one side of a wreck would be flowing north and the other side would be flowing south or completely stagnant. None of the stuff I captured came out too well photo-wise, but we saw a bunch of different species on the trip. Very few goliaths compared to last year, couple of nurse sharks, and I never saw a single lionfish either like others have said.

 

[calevans]

Barbara—remember, met you with Elena

2 of my favorite dive buddies regardless of whether we are at the bridge or not.
=C=

 

[tarponchik]

It should be OK this weekend, the forecast is 1-2 ft surf.