Largest Lionfish Contest

Report your lionfish on the lionfish tracking map with a photo of your largest one to enter the lionfish contest for a chance to win a $300 gift certificate from www.LionfishHunting.com , the complete online store for everything lionfish related. A big shout of thanks to Zookeeper Lionfish Containers for their generous contribution to help support the tournament.

From August 1st until August 31, 2016 we will be checking the uploaded photos with each lionfish pinned on the lionfish tracking map at http://lionfish.info/lionfish-tracking-map/ or right here on our website at https://lionfish.co/map/  and we will send a $300 gift certifcate for use at www.LionfishHunting.com to the person who reports the largest lionfish. This lionfish contest is open to anyone in the invaded range of the lionfish throughout the Western Atlantic. You can post your pin/photo from anywhere, Florida, Bermuda, Bonaire, Grand Cayman, Virgin Islands, Belize, or anywhere else that people are hunting lionfish. Photos must adhere to the following requirements to be considered a valid entry in the lionfish contest.

Update 9/6/2016

Nobody beat the 41cm (16 inch) lionfish that I submitted on August 15th, shot off of the Marquesas Keys west of Key West, FL. I didn’t expect to win the contest I put on (Andy Lowe) so I will not claim the prize and I will add it to the next contest in October. We will change the format around for October, because we have lots of people reporting their lionfish but not many submitting the official measurement pictures, so at the end of October we will use a random number generator to select one random lionfish report to the map during the month of October and that person will receive a $400 gift certificate to www.LionfishHunting.com courtesy of Zookeeper and LionfishHunting.com. A big thanks to everyone who entered the contest and good luck in October, we will be posting more on this later. The winning fish is pictured below.

41cm lionfish speared in Florida on August 15

41cm lionfish speared in Florida on August 15

Lionfish Contest Rules

The mouth of the lionfish must be CLOSED. The lips of the lionfish must be pushed against a solid edge/wall where the start of the tape measure is at zero. The tape measure must run along a flat surface below the lionfish and the photo must show the measurement at the end of the tail. You CANNOT run the tape measure over the fish, as this will sometimes change the measurement due to the curve and shape of the fish. Please see the following picture for an example of a proper measurement photo.

correct way to measure lionfish for lionfish contest

correct way to measure for lionfish contest, photo credit Team Frapper

We will award the prize via Email in the first week of September to the winning entry. In the event of a tie, the award will go to the first entry. This post will also be updated to reflect the winning entry when it is announced.

Basic instructions for use of the Lionfish Map:

Move the map, zooming in or out, to find the location where the lionfish was removed. Click on that spot on the map, and a small box will appear showing the Latitude and Longitude of the place where you selected on the map along with a pin. If this is the correct location, then click the ‘Add New Location’ box in the top left corner of the map area. A new dialogue box will open with the Latitude and Longitude already filled in. Complete the rest of the information in the box along with an upload of your largest fish image (see measurement photo instructions above) then select ‘Post location’ at the bottom of the dialogue box and you are done. When you refresh your map page your pin and information will appear on the map. When you select your pin you will also see a facebook and other social media share buttons where you can share your report with your friends.

Good luck, please share this event with your friends, and Happy Lionfish Hunting to everyone!