Lionfish... Folow instructions closely

[Deep C]

Some guys picked up on Deep Deckhand getting stuck by a lionfish and asked what happened. Hardly worth note but if his carelessness can keep somebody else from getting stuck I guess worth mention.
A couple years ago a video thread ran on her how to properly handle lionfish.... Stick em to the ground, stab em in the head, and put im in way cold ice brine to neutralize toxin. Not rocket science...
Last year he followed instructions and while doing a service for the environment pronging a pile of the invaders also discovered that they were pretty good eating. Discovered further the natives absolutely love em.
This year before Chub we docked at Berry Island Club and there was a mess of em behind the boat on the pilings. He figured he'd poke a pile of em for his native buddies and enjoy some of their frying skills in return. So in he went... and wasn't thinking... He was poking them, putting his shaft through the open tuna door and sliding em off without first dispatching them with a knife to the head... So in essence we had a pile of little cobras flopping around in the corner... I even warned him to tighten up his game and killem first but it fell on deaf ears...
Then he really lost focus... Had his hand in front of the sling as he reached up through the door with one. Gravity works... It slid down the shaft and the dorsal spine drilled his thumb...
"Told ya so" would have been a mute point so I had a little fun looking up the treatment on line... "Yep you'll quite likely die... got $600 for a flight to Nassau then do a week in ICU?" I did have fun playin the "part".
Though Ice brine kills the toxin while in the fish hot as you can stand soak is what is called for if poked by one... Had him drop a couple Benadryl and I'm thinking he "supplimented" with some "bahamian asprin" . Hand did swell up to the size of a small baseball glve but next day was back to normal...

[gottaflylee]

Cool, good to know Deep. I had figured that Ice would be the trick.

[Deep C]

Hot I guess breaks down the proteins of the toxin when it enters the system and becomes active when it has made contact with flesh or blood. I'm thinking its a different chemical make up while still in the fish and thats why the brine neutralizes it there...

Most important lesson here is that pokin lion fish for a few teensy filets ain't worth the hassle... and... If you are gonna take the risk, slow down and think about every step and follow the instructions... All of em!

[Captain Rich Adler]

Nice.

[marine4003]

I understand,that like puffers,the fillet is fantastic.nice meat.Good info to have.welcome back Deep.

[mozza]

Hot waters the ticket for sure. We smashed over 60 yesterday off Highborne cay and one of the guests got pricked. 10 mins of hot water and 2 rums and he was fine.