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You are certainly doing your part, thanks
Thoughts about lionfish
- Thread starter MB
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You are certainly doing your part, thanks
HalcyonDaze
Contributor
I don't see many on keshena... Dixie arrow has them when the blue water pushes in..lost my zookeeper doing deco there end of last month
Pretty much anything south of proteus is loaded...especially the tarpon. Manuela has some monsters on it as well.
Yeah, we had a thermocline that day - I think the bottom temp may have actually been down in the low 70s. Viz on the Dixie Arrow was down to about 30-40 and the Keshena was a bit better but still not as good as up shallow. Both wrecks were absolutely coated in juvenile grunts (either French grunts or tomtates).
OP
Looks like we need to give out some bus tickets for our morays and groupers to head north for a collections trip! Maybe they could help train the local marine life there, and show the local reefers the fine art of lion capture and banquet prep!
BHB ScubaTroll
Contributor
OP
No man - I would never do anything like that! As I public servant I am committed to disseminating science for the public good. If we've discovered the efficacy of a training method that teaches our lobsters to hunt lions, we owe it to our northern brethren to share the love and knowledge!
Yoda-X
Contributor
We killed 3 today! I took them to the chef here (Turquoise Bay) and they made ceviche for me! Holy sweet nectar of the gods......I ate every bite. Had no idea they were that good!
tarponchik
Contributor
Here is #12: they follow their food, and there is no more food for them in shallow Florida waters. Whatever they eat, they ate it all.
Tropical reefs of ABC are more productive, thus I saw plenty of lionfish at Bonaire at all depths, including some at 3 ft of water. But none at Dania erojacks or BHB 2 weeks ago.
Tropical reefs of ABC are more productive, thus I saw plenty of lionfish at Bonaire at all depths, including some at 3 ft of water. But none at Dania erojacks or BHB 2 weeks ago.
My observations of lionfish in Grand Cayman, if accurate, may support an idea you have.
Here in Grand Cayman there is a hugely noticeable difference on how many lionfish you see on a dive based on whether you are north, east south or west. If you do a dive on the west coast up to the 120' mark you will see very few lionfish on a dive, go north south and (I gather) east you will see more than your fair share.
My take on it is that the west coast is the leeward side of the island so dived most of the year. Most of the operators on the island run trips on the west serving the hotels that are most densely congregated on 7 mile beach (west). In short the majority of the dives that happen on the island happen on the west and are up to the 100-130'mark.
Apart from a few isolated incidents, humans with spears are still the only real predator for the lionfish who are otherwise in a utopia. Simply put - more divers means less lionfish. Go where divers often go and you won't see so many as thats where they get shot so either don't exist anymore there or know that when they hear bubbles to hide out.
It was this thinking that helped my team on CULL #14 (Cayman United Lionfish League) where over 7 dives four of us bagged over 300 lionfish. We came first place in 2 categories - most caught & heaviest overall as well as third place in single biggest fish. We didn't rank in the smallest fish but the local Department of Environment (DoE) had that category nailed.
Here in Grand Cayman there is a hugely noticeable difference on how many lionfish you see on a dive based on whether you are north, east south or west. If you do a dive on the west coast up to the 120' mark you will see very few lionfish on a dive, go north south and (I gather) east you will see more than your fair share.
My take on it is that the west coast is the leeward side of the island so dived most of the year. Most of the operators on the island run trips on the west serving the hotels that are most densely congregated on 7 mile beach (west). In short the majority of the dives that happen on the island happen on the west and are up to the 100-130'mark.
Apart from a few isolated incidents, humans with spears are still the only real predator for the lionfish who are otherwise in a utopia. Simply put - more divers means less lionfish. Go where divers often go and you won't see so many as thats where they get shot so either don't exist anymore there or know that when they hear bubbles to hide out.
It was this thinking that helped my team on CULL #14 (Cayman United Lionfish League) where over 7 dives four of us bagged over 300 lionfish. We came first place in 2 categories - most caught & heaviest overall as well as third place in single biggest fish. We didn't rank in the smallest fish but the local Department of Environment (DoE) had that category nailed.
Chugwhump
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I went out of Hillsboro Inlet today and we went south on my regular "Six Pack".
We dropped on the outside of the "Third Reef" and I just could not even find a Lionfish for 45' minutes or so.
Then as I was making my way in to the western shallow side, I found a group of 6 decent sized Lions.
I whacked and bagged three Lions, and then 3 Reefies and a Nurse Shark showed up undoubtedly from hearing the commotion of my speargun cracking off.
The Reefies were keeping a respectful distance as usual, but the Nurse Shark as usual was just about head butting me.
So I finished whacking the Lions, just dropped them, and surfaced.
On the second dive, I killed 6 or so, but only 3 of them were large enough to bring up.
No sharks on the second dive.
Chug
Thinks we have them on the run down here.
We dropped on the outside of the "Third Reef" and I just could not even find a Lionfish for 45' minutes or so.
Then as I was making my way in to the western shallow side, I found a group of 6 decent sized Lions.
I whacked and bagged three Lions, and then 3 Reefies and a Nurse Shark showed up undoubtedly from hearing the commotion of my speargun cracking off.
The Reefies were keeping a respectful distance as usual, but the Nurse Shark as usual was just about head butting me.
So I finished whacking the Lions, just dropped them, and surfaced.
On the second dive, I killed 6 or so, but only 3 of them were large enough to bring up.
No sharks on the second dive.
Chug
Thinks we have them on the run down here.
HalcyonDaze
Contributor
I strafed a bunch on the Jupiter deep ledge Friday - decided to break off from the group and attack after I saw 4 or 5 right at the start of the drift. Wound up getting confirmed kills on 5, probably mortally wounded another, damaged three, and had about 5 escape unscathed. Would have kept at it, but between being at 130+ on a single tank and realizing after a bit that I was all alone down there I decided discretion was the better part of valor. Didn't try keeping them; that might have been a good thing seeing as I had two sandbars and a silky checking me out when I got shallower.
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