Snakeheads: Part One

It was only a matter of time until my attention was turned to snakeheads. Turned, it has. A few days ago I saw some news bulletins about a snakehead having been caught for the first time only a week prior at Mason Neck State Park, on the Potomac River.

I heard about the fish at about 1 am on Thursday morning. Less than 12 hours later I was packed, in the car, and on my way to the Potomac.

The first place I stopped was at another park a few miles away. Pohick Bay Park is also on the Potomac and it offers campsites (unlike Mason Neck, which closes at 9 pm). I pulled in, made camp, and started asking everyone in sight about snakeheads. The guy at the camp store, strangers at boat landings. It turns out that people have been pulling snakeheads out of this stretch of the Potomac river pretty regularly. They just either aren't reporting them to DGIF or the data isn't being posted.

Fishing from the shore at Pohick Bay was pointless and frustrating. Masses of weeds near the shore make every retrieve a chore and every structure that could get someone out into the water has a 'no fishing' sign.

After a rough night in my tent trying to sleep through 100 degree heat I woke to find that raccoons had stolen my crab traps. Wonderful. Crabbing was right out for the rest of the trip.

I moved on to Mason Neck, paid my $4 entry fee and parked. I flagged down the first person I saw to ask about snakeheads. That someone happened to be T.C. Smith, head ranger at the park.

It turned out that I had hit paydirt. Big time. T.C. directed me towards a pond only a few hundred yards away that he promised was loaded with snakeheads. He told me that at least six had been taken out of that one pond so far this year. I was amazed to hear that he'd informed DGIF of the situation and they declined to do anything about it.

Worse, they had put a juvenile snakehead caught from the pond into an aquarium in the park's nature center and had their permit for it declined by DGIF. The Department of Game and Inland Fisheries refused to send someone in to electroshock the invasive fish out of a small pond loaded with them, but when the park wanted to use a single fish to educate the public about the dangers of snakeheads then DGIF decided to stop them. I find this to be completely outrageous. I have long been a fan of DGIF in general but this is really a sad disappointment. Not only are they failing to stop a dangerous invasive species but they appear to be subverting the park's education efforts. If they really think that it is so dangerous to have a single snakehead in an aquarium at an educational facility, then perhaps they should try doing something about the large numbers sitting there in the wild in a pond less than 300 yards away.

T.C. advised me that a top water lure would be a smart idea, given the amount of weeds to deal with in the pond. Taking his advice, I tied on the only really good top water lure that I had with me.

On the very first cast with my regular bass rig (a cheap Water Eagle reel on a six foot Ugly Stik) a fish nailed the lure within a second of it hitting the water. It rose to the surface as I pulled it in and I saw that beyond a doubt this was a big snakehead. It fought harder than any freshwater fish that I have ever hooked in my life. As I hauled it in I began to have doubts about the ability of my straining reel to do the job. Suddenly, the fish turned on the ten pound test line, bit clean through it, and disappeared with the lure.

I stared at the sad broken end of line that waved in the slight breeze and realized that I was outgunned.

Right away I walked back to my car to see what else I had on hand. The only tougher other option was my surf rig, a Shimano 4000 on an eight foot two-piece Ugly Stik (I have to keep my rods short, on account of needing to drive all over the United States with my gear stuffed into a compact Ford ZX2 coupe) loaded up with 18 pound test line.

I had driven out there expecting to be fishing in the river, so I didn't have many weed-busting top water lures on hand. In fact, my only one was currently stuck in a very big fish's mouth somewhere in that pond.

Long story short, I didn't hook any more fish that day, although I did see a lot more snakeheads cruising near the surface.

As I drove home I pondered what might be the ideal rig for pond snakeheads. My thinking right now is that I need a relatively short, medium-action rod coupled with a mid-range reel, loaded with 10 pound test line or better; using steel leaders and top-water lures. Heavy emphasis on the steel leaders.

I spent a lot of time back home watching videos on Youtube of snakeheads feeding in aquariums. The speed with which they usually attack is incredible. After watching a lot of videos and after observing the fish in the wild, I have some observations that will hopefully make it easier to catch them.

1. Snakeheads will attack very large prey, including fish as large as themselves. This is not like a largemouth bass, which sizes up prey on the basis of whether it can swallow it. Largemouths don't have teeth, while snakeheads do. A snakehead will grab onto a target and twist chunks off, almost like an alligator. Usually it tends to start with the back end. Because of this, very large lures could be used. But those lures also need to be very tough in order to hold up to the kind of abuse that these fish are capable of dishing out.

2. These fish are very wary and pay close attention to what is happening above the surface. Cast nets are out of the question (T.C. told me that they had tried them). Stalking is important. Stay quiet and mind where your shadow falls. Your first cast is probably the most important one. Snakeheads get spooked pretty quickly. Fish in one area for ten or fifteen minutes and then hang back for a while before returning.

3. Snakeheads tend to decide instantly whether or not to strike, and then they lunge hard. Their bodies are built to accelerate very rapidly for a short distance. Then they get winded fast.

While most snakeheads in North America are probably caught as a matter of chance by bass fishermen, we must not approach this species as if they were largemouth bass on steroids. Rarely have I seen a pond containing no fish but largemouth bass. Largemouths get along well with other fish and form a sustainable ecosystem with them. This pond, only a few yards from the Potomac River, contained absolutely nothing in the water column that I could divine over a full day of observation but snakeheads and turtles.

I am returning to Mason Neck in a few days with a purpose built snakehead rig and a tackle box loaded with appropriate lures, including a few that I am constructing myself specifically with snakeheads in mind. Come hell or high water, I'm clearing that pond out of as many invaders as I can possibly find and eat.

[Photo copyright 2011 by Jackson Landers. Taken on the Potomac at dawn a few days ago.]