Cheap Lionfish cage

[SC Spearo]

Lionfish are slowly becoming a problem in my area. I dont care to pay the $90+ for the offical Zookeeper so this is my solution. What do yall think? I should be able to get off shore and try it out in the next week or two.

https://youtu.be/2nVX430ZFmM

[SEATUX]

Yea...been there, tried that. The first time I back rolled off the boat that big ass "bobber" nearly tore my arm off!
OK…just get it full of water and to the bottom..it will be weightless, right? Not exactly, yes it is damn near neutral floatation, but the water inside is still resistance to moving it along the reef.
If all you are doing is hunting lion fish, and plan on leaving it near you, it will work, but ventilate it so you can drain the water out FAST before you try and hand it up to your buddy on the boat. And if your going to do this. Why not get the bottle with the molded in handle??

My goal was to be able to take large lion fish when I saw them , but still be loaded and ready to spear hog fish or grouper, etc when they showed up. I've tried several scenerios and settled on a lobster bag flopper, and replaced the mesh bag with a tighter stronger coated mesh ( knida like what soft weights come in, only smaller tougher mesh) there is no issue with water passing thru it, and the lion fish spines cant get thru to sting you. I roll it up with a snap so it is small and clip it to a D ring on the back of my BC..If I don’t need it, it's not in the way.

[Gary H]

This one is a little less than the Zookeeper: https://www.keystonediveproducts.com...s/lionfish-inn

You can buy the small version and it is just a matter of gluing on more PVC to make it as long as you like.

[jfjf]

Originally Posted by Gary H

This one is a little less than the Zookeeper: https://www.keystonediveproducts.com...s/lionfish-inn

You can buy the small version and it is just a matter of gluing on more PVC to make it as long as you like.

i got one of those as a Christmas present. I would NOT recommend it. The metal hardware is very poor quality - heavily rusted already and there is a major design flaw.

The bottom piece gets stuck on the tube. You unclip the fastex clip, but sand and grit gets in between the two concentric pipes and it jams up. You have to bang and twist and shake and if/when the bottom piece comes off, it flies apart - potentially dumping a load of lionfish onto your feet.

I tried sanding down the pieces so they are not so tight and it still gets jammed with silt - really badly. Sometimes two men can not get it apart, both pulling on each end and praying it doesn't pop apart and ruin your day.

[SC Spearo]

Great information! Thanks guys. That would be a hell of a bobber to fall in with lol. The area we have seen most of them is about 100' long and 20' wide so I should be able to drag it along or stash it somewhere in the middle.