Snakehead Fishing in Maryland

[Anantha Patel]

I live in Howard County, Maryland. Is there a very good snakehead fishing spot (swarming with snakeheads) within an hour or so of Howard Country? I have thinking of Anacostia Park or C and O Canal Park.

[Jtrout]

My buddy has caught some in laurel off main street behind the meat market in the patuxent river. 

[Anantha Patel]

I heard that the McKeldin Area of Patapsco State Park is good. Anyone fish for snakeheads there?

[MDBowHunter]

Tuckahoe, Blackwater, Potomac all the way to great falls, Depot Pond. They're all over now, I have a buddy who caught 4 from the Choptank bridge on Rt 50 on the cambridge side of the fishing bridge. They are very tasty, but honestly if I'm not taking it home to eat it I release it.

[Hog Basser]

18 hours ago, MDBowHunter said:

Tuckahoe, Blackwater, Potomac all the way to great falls, Depot Pond. They're all over now, I have a buddy who caught 4 from the Choptank bridge on Rt 50 on the cambridge side of the fishing bridge. They are very tasty, but honestly if I'm not taking it home to eat it I release it.

I was under the impression that snakehead are an invasive species and should be removed and disposed of if caught?

[Anantha Patel]

22 hours ago, MDBowHunter said:

Tuckahoe, Blackwater, Potomac all the way to great falls, Depot Pond. They're all over now, I have a buddy who caught 4 from the Choptank bridge on Rt 50 on the cambridge side of the fishing bridge. They are very tasty, but honestly if I'm not taking it home to eat it I release it.

You should kill them. I fished some ponds for them, but unless you are in southern Asia, getting a snakehead filled pond is a hit and miss. 

[MDBowHunter]

5 hours ago, Hog Basser said:

I was under the impression that snakehead are an invasive species and should be removed and disposed of if caught?

They are invasive and Maryland DNR would prefer that you kill them, but there is no law stating that your required to do so. It is against the law to transport or transfer live snakeheads and carries a $25,000 fine if your caught doing so. I only catch a handfull a year and keep most of them to eat because they're awesome on the grill or fried. If I catch them in waters that I wouldn't eat fish out of it's getting released, I'm not killing just for the sake of doing so.

[Hog Basser]

14 minutes ago, MDBowHunter said:

They are invasive and Maryland DNR would prefer that you kill them, but there is no law stating that your required to do so. It is against the law to transport or transfer live snakeheads and carries a $25,000 fine if your caught doing so. I only catch a handfull a year and keep most of them to eat because they're awesome on the grill or fried. If I catch them in waters that I wouldn't eat fish out of it's getting released, I'm not killing just for the sake of doing so.

Straight from the MD DNR website: 

http://dnr2.maryland.gov/fisheries/Pages/snakehead.aspx

What can you do? If you catch a northern snakehead, kill it and DO NOT put it back in the water. If the snakehead has a tag, measure the length, make note of the exact location of capture, and call the toll free number printed on the tag. Information that you provide is important in determining control and management strategies.

We had a minor problem with snakeheads down here in Arkansas and it was quickly quarantined and eradicated before getting into the river system.  There is no guarantee they were all eradicated, but there haven't been any reported sightings since.  They are detrimental to sportfish populations such as the LMB and must be eradicated whenever possible.  It is not about killing for the sake of killing, it is about removing an invasive species that doesn't belong in our ecosystem and will have long-term negative effects on it.  

[MDBowHunter]

What your quoting isn't a law, it's what they'd prefer for you to do if you catch one. The same thing applies to the blue catfish in the potomac, but you have guides that are taking groups of people out and encouraging them to put them back. I'm not trying to say I think it's right by no means, but it's happening. 

[Logan S]

There is literally nothing anyone can do about the snakeheads in the Potomac now...The habitat suits them perfectly and they exploded once introduced.  The tidal Potomac bass fishery is 60+ miles long with dozens of tributaries, most of which are large fisheries themselves...It's way too large and the snakeheads are too well established for anything to be done.  You also need to essentially chop their head completely off to kill them, they are tough SOB's...and I'm not chopping up fish in my bass boat for a lost cause, sorry.  Unfortunately, by the time there were enough in the river to notice it was already too late.  

If you want to catch some, any area of the tidal Potomac or it's tributaries will have plenty.  In the warmer months they like very shallow and grassy areas, you can often sight fish for them if you get in the right spots.  I don't target them, but I catch them while bass fishing...Most often on frogs.  

[Hog Basser]

I know it isn't the law that you have to kill them, but I believe everyone should do their part.  While you may never eradicate them completely, it still helps keep the population in check and possibly limits them from spreading even farther out.  They are not meant to be there and change the whole dynamic of the fishery.  If everyone does their part to help eliminate them, it will at least limit the numbers and impact they have.  If it is suggested that you kill them, there is a reason.  I hope they never get a foothold here.  

[dave]

My partner and I guide on the Mattawomen for snakehead and bass.  It went from booming bonanza to very tough fishing.   We still catch them but,  man do you have to work hard.   Bowfishermen not only decimate the fish but,  the grasses too.  That affects the largemouth.  They use the outboard to run right at the edge of the hydrilla and spadderdock fields,  a lot of the times leaving it quite a mess.

Snakehead have their nitch in the ecosystem.   85% of their diet in the Potomac River system is banded killifish. There is zero proof the snakehead are affecting the forage base, bass or other native (relative term) fish in the water system.  Snakehead breed many times per year.  Their young have become a major food source for fish and birds.

 

[MDBowHunter]

6 hours ago, dave said:

My partner and I guide on the Mattawomen for snakehead and bass.  It went from booming bonanza to very tough fishing.   We still catch them but,  man do you have to work hard.   Bowfishermen not only decimate the fish but,  the grasses too.  That affects the largemouth.  They use the outboard to run right at the edge of the hydrilla and spadderdock fields,  a lot of the times leaving it quite a mess.

Snakehead have their nitch in the ecosystem.   85% of their diet in the Potomac River system is banded killifish. There is zero proof the snakehead are affecting the forage base, bass or other native (relative term) fish in the water system.  Snakehead breed many times per year.  Their young have become a major food source for fish and birds.

 

I've fished Mallows bay on a couple different occasions and I've seen LM bass floating dead with arrow holes in them. IMHO they need to do something about the bow fishers. I was doing work for homeowner that lives right on the Potomac and they would like to see it outlawed because of the noisy generators the guys are running, and the bright lights shining in their windows in the middle of the night.

[Anantha Patel]

1 hour ago, MDBowHunter said:

I've fished Mallows bay on a couple different occasions and I've seen LM bass floating dead with arrow holes in them. IMHO they need to do something about the bow fishers. I was doing work for homeowner that lives right on the Potomac and they would like to see it outlawed because of the noisy generators the guys are running, and the bright lights shining in their windows in the middle of the night.

I fished Mattawoman before for snakehead (everyone, including the guys at MD DNR, tells you to go there) and got nothing. But my buddy often goes down to DC, and hits the Anacostia River. He rarely gets skunked there (partially because he is a finness fan). The water there is disgusting, and it's not too much of a tidal river, but there are fish.

 

I'm thinking of finding a honey hole place near Howard County and fishing there, instead of driving to the tidal region. Problem is, snakeheads seem to like the tidal region and it's weedy, stagnant waters with lilies. 

[MDBowHunter]

This pic is from a guy I know that bowfishes, and he does this 4 nights a week. He's been doing it for the past five years. As said earlier the bow guys are tearing them up.

And some more:

 

 

[dave]

5 hours ago, MDBowHunter said:

I've fished Mallows bay on a couple different occasions and I've seen LM bass floating dead with arrow holes in them. IMHO they need to do something about the bow fishers. I was doing work for homeowner that lives right on the Potomac and they would like to see it outlawed because of the noisy generators the guys are running, and the bright lights shining in their windows in the middle of the night.

When some of those guys go out to shoot snakehead,  some (not all) shoot whatever.  Carp,  gar,  bass,  beaver. (yep beaver)  

[Jtrout]

Went fishing today in the patuxent river in bowie /crofton and caught my first snakehead ever it was 24 inches long and 4 lbs fought really hard. It took a sexy shad square bill. My brother chopped it's head off.

[dave]

I hope you ate it.  They taste great.

[HookdUP]

I'm from Florida .. Been dealing with them for a while ... And with that said I will always kill them..: they do change a fishery .. I promise you that ..: 

But bass eat them too .... Have seen that as well 

[CaptMikeStarrett]

I am going to predict that snakehead will have a have 5 per person limit in the next two years..

I have two years before I am wrong.

Capt Mike

 

 

[MDBowHunter]

1 hour ago, CaptMikeStarrett said:

I am going to predict that snakehead will have a have 5 per person limit in the next two years..

I have two years before I am wrong.

Capt Mike

 

 

I agree kind the same thing they did with the Sika deer, it's all about the Benjimins. Once they realize the money to be made it will become a sport fish.

[Jtrout]

On Friday, March 25, 2016 at 7:32 AM, dave said:

I hope you ate it.  They taste great.

I was going to until i noticed sores on it!

[everythingthatswims]

If I catch one carp I don't kill it because it's pointless, if I went bow fishing and killed 50 of them I may have a very small impact on a body of water, but killing a couple snakeheads and tossing them up on the bank won't solve anything.

[fishwizzard]

I have wanted to catch one for a while now, but have never managed it.  I didn't know they were in the Pax river, I fish the Bowie/Crofton stretch pretty often but between the muddy water and current, I loose about 5-8 lures for every fish I catch.   

[Jtrout]

20 hours ago, Bunnielab said:

I have wanted to catch one for a while now, but have never managed it.  I didn't know they were in the Pax river, I fish the Bowie/Crofton stretch pretty often but between the muddy water and current, I loose about 5-8 lures for every fish I catch.   

Yeah there in the pax i also loose a lot of lures in that stretch of river alot of fallen trees under there. Thats y i dont throw the really expesive ones usually just spinners and grubs on jig heads i caught that snake head down there and that was the first time i took my baitcaster and a squarebill and lost the lure 2 casts after the snakehead.