Invasive species

[Ariffy]

I'm just fascinated with invasive species (dont know why just am). Anyone have any stories or odd catches they would like to share 

[Bluebasser86]

Only kind we have that you can "catch" around here are the silver and bighead carp. I like to shoot the silvers out of the air. The bigheads are much more wary and don't jump, they also grow much larger, this is just a baby. 

Not considered invasive, since they don't survive here, but I found a dying blue tilapia on a gravel bar while fishing the Kansas River a few years ago. He made good cutbait, caught several nice channel cats on it. 

[soflabasser]

I am more of a multi species fisherman than a bass fisherman so I tend to fish for exotic fish often, which is easy to do in South Florida since we have so many species of exotic fish. Some of my favorite freshwater exotic fish to catch in South Florida are the following; peacock bass, jaguar guapote, clown knifefish, bullseye snakehead, midas cichlids, and grass carps. My favorite exotic saltwater fish that I catch in South Florida is the lionfish, which is very fun to spear and is very delicious!

[Ariffy]

1 hour ago, soflabasser said:

I am more of a multi species fisherman than a bass fisherman so I tend to fish for exotic fish often, which is easy to do in South Florida since we have so many species of exotic fish. Some of my favorite freshwater exotic fish to catch in South Florida are the following; peacock bass, jaguar guapote, clown knifefish, bullseye snakehead, midas cichlids, and grass carps. My favorite exotic saltwater fish that I catch in South Florida is the lionfish, which is very fun to spear and is very delicious!

You eat lionfish??? 

[Gundog]

4 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Only kind we have that you can "catch" around here are the silver and bighead carp. I like to shoot the silvers out of the air. The bigheads are much more wary and don't jump, they also grow much larger, this is just a baby. 

 

Ever since I saw people doing that I've wanted to try it. It just looks like more fun than anybody should legally have. 

[Bluebasser86]

38 minutes ago, Gundog said:

Ever since I saw people doing that I've wanted to try it. It just looks like more fun than anybody should legally have. 

It's a blast and kind of an advantage fish situation since they're so hard to hit and have a tendency to slam into the person trying to shoot them as well as anyone else onboard.

[soflabasser]

1 hour ago, Ariffy said:

You eat lionfish??? 

Yes I eat the lionfish that I catch while doing freedive spearfishing. They are one of my favorite fish to eat and taste better than grouper to give you a idea how delicious these fish are. You can eat lionfish fillets in some restaurants and even buy the fillets in some locations if you want. Definitely a fish worth eating if you never had it before. Here's 2 articles you can read more about lionfish being sold for food and how good they taste;

 

http://money.cnn.com/2016/05/27/news/companies/whole-foods-lionfish-invasive-species/index.html

 

https://lionfish.co/what-does-lionfish-taste-like/