5/16/09

22 Lionfish Caught in Current Area



Dave from Current took us out on his adopted reefs to clean them of lionfish. We got 22! Other groups of boaters joined us on the hunt. Among them was a 10 year old young man, Joseph, who speared 4! You can view the video here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWVq0eCLn94 .
An interesting note: I speared one lionfish and introduced him to a spotted moray eel. The eel devoured him in seconds! The eel was around 3ft and the lionfish was around 8". Proof that the moray eel is a natural predator of the lionfish! Recently a friend of mine, who is a lobster fisherman, did an experiment while gathering lobster. He injured a lionfish and noticed within seconds a trigger fish devouring the lionfish. Proof that the trigger fish is a natural predator of the lionfish. I also tried to find juvenile lionfish on the reefs and only found one during the whole day of fishing. Either they are hiding well or being eaten by something. This needs to be looked into further. Please help in our efforts to clean the reefs of these fish and document your findings by submitting lionfish stories here.

5/12/09

Columbus Ohio Man LOSES Crown :(


That's right Tom! Your lionfish record has been SHATTERED! Check out these two beauties! One was 14 7/8" BUT THE OTHER ONE WAS 15", SHATTERING YOUR RECORD! I know this is a hard pill to swallow but I am The Lionfish Hunter and I refuse to be beaten by some landlocked back cracker (inside joke- Tom is a chiropractor). Keep trying people. I will remain on top as long as there are challengers. These lionfish were caught off the cays right behind Governors Harbor airport along with 15 others. I took them to the docks at James Cystern and educated a dozen or more locals on how clean and eat them. Then I gave away all but these two. Great dinner that night!