Eating Snakehead

[fstr385]

The past few days Ive been hitting a lake where 50% of the fish are bass, the other 50 snakeheads. They are a pain and broke several lines and I wish I had a picture of the 5/0 gamakatsu hook one bent open and kinked. I had to switch from 12lb flouro and tungsten to 20+ braid and still broke a few fish off. Today at the end of the day I finally got  fed up with them and dragged one to the truck on my way to leave, cut its head off and threw it in the truck. It wasn't to big, nor small... maybe 4-5lbs. Cut it up as soon at I got home, and my girlfriend fried it with breading. Not bad at all. I liked it, she thought it was ok, and I gave some to my daughter before telling her what it was and she liked it. Ive heard from so many people they heard they were good, but never knew anyone who actually tried it, so I did. Ill be keeping these evil a-hole demon fish from now on when I can.

[Teal]

Love it dude. Get loaded with heavy gear and go on a snake head hunt!!!

[mrmacwvu1]

Had one at Wendy's today.

[Snakehead Whisperer]

Next time you keep one try grilling it. This is by far my favorite way to prepare snakehead. The meat is dense and doesn't flake up and fall through when grilling, much like Salmon. 

[fstr385]

Thanks, Ill give that a try. I need to get another grill though first haha.

[Fishes in trees]

What about planking them, they was you see Salmon cooked sometimes?

[quanjig]

From what I understand from those that have cooked them, not really a bad way to cook them!!

[Snakehead Whisperer]

What about planking them, they was you see Salmon cooked sometimes?

I'm sure that would work fine. It takes seasoning well, so you could probably come up with all kinds of winning combos.

 

Snakehead makes incredible kebabs and fish tacos, btw. The meat is really dense and almost reminiscent of a chicken breast with a very light flavor (not fishy tasting.) 

[Quillback]

I didn't realize that snakeheads were getting numerous, sounds like they are. 

[Snakehead Whisperer]

I didn't realize that snakeheads were getting numerous, sounds like they are. 

 

They are established, reproducing and thriving in at least 2 places here in the US. We've got northern snakehead here in the tidal Potomac River, and they are now spreading to drainages on the Eastern side of the Chesapeake such as the Wicomico River. I've also read of recent catches in the Delaware river near Philly. Supposedly there is also a pond in Central Park, NYC where they are also established and possibly a reproducing population in Arkansas (perhaps somebody from  NY or Arkansas can shed light on those.)

 

The other established population is Southern Florida. The snakeheads in florida  are a different species, the bullseye snakehead. They were first discovered in C-14 in the Ft. Lauderdale area if I'm not mistaken, and have since spread to other waters. 

 

I know them best here in the Potomac where they are becoming pretty common. If you know the correct habitat and can figure out the patterns, these fish are pretty easy to come by out here. They put up a great fight, are very aggressive, and weigh upward of 15lbs. A pretty respectable game fish IMHO. As of right now the law still requires dispatching the fish in Maryland (this is a grey area in the District of Columbia and Virginia where it is frowned upon by most to release a snakehead, but completely legal to do so.) It is illegal to transport a live one over state lines no matter where you live, however (federal law.)

 

As for bass fishing here on the Potomac, it keeps getting better every year. The snakeheads have had little affect on the fishing out here, and if anything they have aided in controlling an overpopulated bass fishery (e.g. average size of bass seems to be increasing with the proliferation of the snakehead.) The largemouth bass and the snakeheads both feed on each others young, and both have a varied diet. Notably snakeheads seem to avoid spiny rayed fish for the most part where as LMB to eat them pretty regularly, but snakeheads will eat just about anything they can fit in their mouth (just like LMB.) Eradicating snakeheads from the Potomac is impossible at this point and management has been the strategy employed by the authorities as of late.

 

Bottom line is that there is a lot of hype surrounding the snakehead. While it is always a gamble to introduce non-native species into a watershed, the snakeheads seem to have found a niche and play nicely with our other beloved species (2 of the more popular being SMB and LMB, neither of which is native to the Potomac River.) Only time will tell whether they will wreak havoc on our ecosystem. As of now most of the experts are in agreement that the threat was initially blown out of proportion (perhaps rightfully so,) and that these fish pose little threat to the long term survival of native species. Blue catfish and flathead catfish probably pose a greater threat here than snakeheads do.

 

**edit** @Quillback

 

Just noticed that you're in Arkansas. Any new developments with the snakeheads in Big Piney Creek? Most of what I've read are articles written by people who are critical of the government for treating the river with rotenone and that the fish are still there. It seems that this was an extremely controversial measure to take. Can anybody update us as to the status of snakeheads in AR?

 

These fish were all caught on rod and reel in one afternoon. 

[Quillback]

Yes I do live in Arkansas, and you're right there were snakeheads in Big Piney, just a few from what I understand, and they did rotenone Big Piney and it's tributaries.  Something like 50 miles of stream they treated.  My understanding was that they got them all, but maybe not according to your sources?  I haven't seen or heard anything in a while concerning this outbreak.  Hopefully they got them all, if they get into the big river systems then they'll be here to stay and they'll probably spread throughout the south.

[Snakehead Whisperer]

Yes I do live in Arkansas, and you're right there were snakeheads in Big Piney, just a few from what I understand, and they did rotenone Big Piney and it's tributaries.  Something like 50 miles of stream they treated.  My understanding was that they got them all, but maybe not according to your sources?  I haven't seen or heard anything in a while concerning this outbreak.  Hopefully they got them all, if they get into the big river systems then they'll be here to stay and they'll probably spread throughout the south.

I haven't heard anything credible about it since it happened. Maybe I'll try to read up on it today. I'll post here if I find anything.

[tallydude]

Andrew Zimmern did an episode of Bizarre Foods America that focused on the snakehead in Maryland. He swears by them. Check your listings and you can probably find a rerun and DVR it.