Last year, our very own Ken Ayers of Panama City won the FWC Lionfish Challenge by harvesting a whopping 1,250 lionfish from our local waters. With the runner up in this competition coming in with only 731 fish, Ken was no doubt, by long shot, the top predator of these poisonous yet tasty fish for the entire state of Florida.
This year Ken has big plans to defend his title, but he has his work cut out for him. He and other local divers did such a number on the fish around our reefs that he may have to work even harder for back-to-back victories. Nonetheless, his spears are sharp and he’s ready for the challenge.
On any one dive, Ken can spear up to 50 fish however, those numbers are typically lower. It requires a lot of dives and a lot of work to win this challenge and going into the 2018 event, prizes are bigger so naturally competition will be stiffer. Ken’s plan is to work just as hard and do more of the same as last year, but likely in different areas.
Ken’s weapon of choice is a 3’ to 4’ pole spear because it reloads quickly and it’s easy to handle when putting the fish in his container. He uses a 12”, 3-prong paralyzer tip with no barbs to protect the meat. He’ll be diving early and often with dive charters locally and as far as Pensacola. He’s always looking to dive with just about anyone wanting to hunt lionfish.
There are no known natural predators of lionfish and this is a great program to aid in the removal of this invasive species. In last year’s challenge, 8,901 lionfish were removed by recreational participants and over 17,420 fish were harvested commercially.
There’s a new element to this years challenge: find a tagged lionfish and you could receive up to $5,000. This is in addition to the other awards being offered to the Lionfish King/Queen and Commercial Champions. Several sponsors have come forward this year to make this program even better so if you think you’ve got what it takes to be the top predator and nab the crown from Ken, then sign up.
Go to www.myfwc.com/lionfish for more details.
~ Capt. Randy Cnota