Lionfish injury in Florida 2016

[wgw04024]

I'd agree. All the lionfish we saw a couple weeks ago were either all out at night (until the light hit them), or at around 100' up towards the oil tanker offload. Very skiddish.

 

[oldschoolto]

I had one that took 2 of us 10 minutes to get a kill shot at... We really worked for him.. was 42cm... And feed 3 people at dinner that night...

Jim....

 

[Snoweman]

I'm a commercial harvester out of Jupiter Florida. For recreational diving I would recommend a 4 foot tri tip that is not a speargun, but has excellent control and distance from the speared lion so it keeps it's distance from you after spearing it to avoid contact.

Simba Slayer 4ft LIONFISH POLESPEAR with Protector

To collect them, I recommend the Lionfish "ZooKeeper". It's a hard body tube with a protective easy insert funnel design that is so easy to use with the above tri-tip. Just spear the lion and shove it the top. Your hand never gets close to the fish and getting stung.

Product Categories Hard Body Lionfish Containment Unit Archive | Zookeeper

Your captain and deck hand will most often offer to filet your catch with a bit of a tip or part of the harvest if you catch a bunch and have too many to eat.

The best part is lionfish is a completely white meat that is better tasting than 90% of the other fish in the ocean. It doesn't taste fishy which is most complaints. You can go diving, clean up the reefs, and bring the fish filets to the restaurant on vacation and savor the freshest fish you personally caught that day and they will cook it for you.

It's very easy to do and the benefits are you help clean up the ocean and get the most mouth watering meal, like you've never had before,,,, that same night!!

You can tell,,,,I catch ALOT every tank !!

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What does it take to get your commercial license?

 

[Johnoly]

What does it take to get your commercial license?

The sale of commercially harvested lionfish requires a saltwater products license(SPL).
Saltwater Fishing Regulations

There are several different types of SPL's (individual, crew, vessel)
Commercial Saltwater Fishing Licenses

 

[Snoweman]

It's too bad that FL doesn't sell an inexpensive "lionfish only" license.

 

[Rred]

I can sell you a Florida resident or non-resident Lionfish Permit for twenty bucks if it makes you happy. However...

Saltwater Fishing Regulations

"Licensing Requirements
A recreational fishing license is not required for recreational fishers targeting lionfish while using a pole spear, a Hawaiian Sling, a handheld net or any spearing device that is specifically designed and marketed exclusively for lionfish."

Even the FWC knows how to encourage lionfish hunting.(G)

There's a video on YouTube where some guy uses a modified Glock (looks like about a 9" muzzle extension added) to hunt lionfish. I'd call that a waste of good bullets since a Hawaiian spear does so well. But his point was mainly to prove the Glock can work underwater. (I'm not sure I'd want to explain that to the FWC though.(G)

 

[Snoweman]

I can sell you a Florida resident or non-resident Lionfish Permit for twenty bucks if it makes you happy. However...

Saltwater Fishing Regulations

"Licensing Requirements
A recreational fishing license is not required for recreational fishers targeting lionfish while using a pole spear, a Hawaiian Sling, a handheld net or any spearing device that is specifically designed and marketed exclusively for lionfish."

Even the FWC knows how to encourage lionfish hunting.(G)

There's a video on YouTube where some guy uses a modified Glock (looks like about a 9" muzzle extension added) to hunt lionfish. I'd call that a waste of good bullets since a Hawaiian spear does so well. But his point was mainly to prove the Glock can work underwater. (I'm not sure I'd want to explain that to the FWC though.(G)

I just want to be able to spear as many as the little devils I can find, get a local restaurant to clean and cook them, and give the rest to the restaurant free of charge.

 

[oldschoolto]

I just want to be able to spear as many as the little devils I can find, get a local restaurant to clean and cook them, and give the rest to the restaurant free of charge.

They don't know how to clean them... They want them filleted or all the spines cut off , Scale and gutted..

Jim...

 

[Rred]

I wouldn't eat at the closed restaurant that took in lionfish from strangers. It probably is illegal for them to take food (for money or other consideration) from unknown sources, probably would be considered "commerce" rather than recreation, making you need a license, and from their point of view? Who are you? You might be trying to poison the other customers. Uh-uh.

Maybe in a more casual place, but in the US, if you want to give the fish away, you may have to grill them on the beach and hand them out yourself. Too many issues for a restaurant to risk their license.

 

[oldschoolto]

Here's a big one I got at 80' or so...

And this is a large moray that thought my zoo was a restaurant...

Jim...