Lionfish - Optimal Equipment

[Scuba Scott]

To barb or not to barb...

I see both barbed and unbarbed spear tips being used for lionfish. I watched video on a spear without barbs and a built in pusher to push the fish off the prongs into a bucket floating on the surface and they said barbs are bad because the fish is too hard to get off. OK, understand for that system.

What if I am using something like a Zookeeper or Lionfish Dungeon. Do the barbs make much difference in those systems? Is there a disadvantage to the barbs doing more damage to the fish?

What should I choose since I have the advantage of not currently having any hunting equipment to replace?

I don't think I would like to use time & air to cut spines off under water so a stringer or mesh bag is not going to be for me. I do like something without moving parts like a pole spear though.

What equipment would you buy if you started over?

 

[MAKO Spearguns]

We sell a variety of lionfish gear. We offer both a barbed and unbarbed, mutiprong tip for our pole spear. Lionfish are typically not that large - 12-14 inches would be a big one in most places, so these fish are not that strong. We recommend an unbarbed tip for lionfish, because it is much easier to strip the fish off the spear when placing in a dedicated container. Often, divers are finding lionfish in abundance and when collecting small fish for human consumption - speed is important.

If you should make a bad shot, often the lionfish will be stunned and you can reload the pole spear and make another shot. If you aim for the head and place the prongs in the bony head and or gill plates, the fish is generally not getting off on his own.

The barbed tips will hold a fish more securely and this is important for larger fish (species other than lionfish) and of course we do everything we can to avoid wounding a fish and losing it.
Hope that answers a few of your questions. Here's a link to all our lionfish gear.

Lion Fish Pole Spears and Accessories | MAKO Spearguns

 

[jonhall]

Have a video of the lion fish escaping this tube as the diver picked it up and swimming right at the guy who put it in there! Not sure this is the best system!

 

[mckinness]

I'm a noob to using a pole spear but I can tell you that I bought the travel 3 n 1 spear from mako and love it. Got a lionfish kill my first time out. Get the transport tube it will save you a headache

 

[Fishspearit]

I've found the Zookeper to be the best lionfish container. With a barbed tip it can sometimes be hard to pull the spear back out without damaging the funnel. I've found that on small lionfish ( <12 inches) it doesn't make much difference, but the bones in the head on the bigger ones are much harder. If using a long paralyzer tip on your polespear I feel barbs are unnecessary, if you're are using one of the 5-6 inch trident tips or the popular 6 prong tip, I usually fold the barbs flat with a pair of pliers on two (or 5 on the 6 prong) of the tines and leave just one small barb as a compromise.

 

[JohnnyC]

Long paralyzer tip. No barbs. Don't waste money on a zookeeper. A 5 gallon bucket with a small hole and radial cuts coming out of it is much much cheaper, and can hold many many more lionfish. A couple small drain holes in the bottom and it won't hold water on the surface since that's really the only negative to it.