Is Snakehead Good to Eat?

[SneakyPete]

Yes it is Delicious, here is one of so many options to prepare it.  Coconut battered Snakehad with Mango purée sauce. Side of roast Brussel sprouts.

[Bluebasser86]

Looks like wiper fillets with that red meat. Have to cut that out of wiper and catfish or they're not edible. Not a big fish eater, but that mango puree sauce sounds good, I'd try it. 

[Spankey]

I've been hoping to land one my last few time in the Potomac but no such luck. I was not targeting them. Was told that you might hook into one bass fishing. 

[YUT18]

You will definitely hook into one on the Potomac, especially in Aquia Creek.

[Turtle135]

2 hours ago, Spankey said:

I've been hoping to land one my last few time in the Potomac but no such luck. I was not targeting them. Was told that you might hook into one bass fishing. 

 

Yes, I catch them while bass fishing. My personal experience is that you find them shallower than the bass once the water warms up. Black&blue swim jigs with some thump in the trailer work best for me.

[JustJames]

In Thailand you can find these snake head in very shallow water less than a feet deep, they can even survive in mud. They normally will stay under cover structure to ambush pray.

[J._Bricker]

Pete, those deep fried fillets look like they'd make dynamite fish tacos!

[JustJames]

I guess, you guys don't know, snake head fillet is very poison. The best way to handle this fish is to freeze them and FedEx to me in dry ice. I'm Asian I know how to dispose them properly.?

[Choporoz]

On 4/27/2017 at 0:52 PM, Spankey said:

I've been hoping to land one my last few time in the Potomac but no such luck. I was not targeting them. Was told that you might hook into one bass fishing. 

After catching exactly one in the last 2-3 years, I have caught four in the past week.  I wouldn't have called it 'lucky' however, they take a bit of time away from bass fishing to land and handle, and they absolutely tear up my plastics.

[Spankey]

7 hours ago, Choporoz said:

After catching exactly one in the last 2-3 years, I have caught four in the past week.  I wouldn't have called it 'lucky' however, they take a bit of time away from bass fishing to land and handle, and they absolutely tear up my plastics.

No plan on letting it take away from my bass fishing but might make for an interesting day. I'm from a bit more north. Not hearing of their existence up here. I understand you guys want to have them destroyed. I'll be glad to give a hand at this is it comes about for me.

[soflabasser]

Have caught lots of bullseye snakehead but I would not eat them since they have high levels of mercury and other contaminants in their meat,especially in the canals I fish for them.

[JustJames]

On 5/6/2017 at 9:39 PM, soflabasser said:

Have caught lots of bullseye snakehead but I would not eat them since they have high levels of mercury and other contaminants in their meat,especially in the canals I fish for them.

I think it is the same as other predators fish in your canals. To me compare to bass snakehead will eat even more variety with or without mercury, they eat every d**n thing that fit in it mounts, bugs, Lizard, rats anything.

[soflabasser]

On 5/23/2017 at 5:15 PM, JustJames said:

I think it is the same as other predators fish in your canals. To me compare to bass snakehead will eat even more variety with or without mercury, they eat every thing that fit in it mounts, bugs, Lizard, rats anything.

 

Not all fish have the same mercury levels in South Florida canals and the amount of mercury in a fish depends on a lot of factors, such as size of fish,age of fish,if the fish is a predator or herbivore, location of where the fish was caught, etc.California has a huge problem with mercury and other chemicals in fish, especially in Southern California(last time I went to California there where lots of do not eat fish signs by the ocean,Florida does not have these signs by the ocean). A person could still eat certain portions of bass, peacock bass, snakehead, other freshwater fish if they wanted to and be ok, but I rather not take that risk with freshwater fish.I rather release freshwater fish and eat the saltwater fish, lobster, shrimp, etc that I catch instead.

 

Snakehead are very similar to bass since they will eat almost anything that will fit in their mouths and that's one of the reasons why I enjoy snakehead fishing so much.My favorite way of catching snakeheads is with frogs and spinnerbaits.As far as fighting ability a snakehead fights much better pound for pound than any largemouth or smallmouth bass can ever fight, especially when it comes to the initial hit and first couple runs.These fish are a blast to catch and I am glad we have snakeheads in South Florida!

[Megastink]

They're native Ron Southeast Asia, and are revered for having 'medicinal' qualities. In fact, I've heard that's how they got to America: someone bought love snakeheads to make a soup for an ailing family member. However, they recovered before the soup was made, so they released them into the Potomac. 

[Wurming67]

Here in Florida the local canals they are infested with them and bigggg

[soflabasser]

Caught a couple big snakeheads and big peacock bass this past weekend, way more fun than catching largemouth bass.

[earthworm77]

On 4/27/2017 at 1:13 PM, YUT18 said:

You will definitely hook into one on the Potomac, especially in Aquia Creek.

It is pretty crazy that you guys catch the regularly on the Potomac but we don't have any in Central Fl.

[YUT18]

21 hours ago, earthworm77 said:

It is pretty crazy that you guys catch the regularly on the Potomac but we don't have any in Central Fl.

They were illegally introduced to a small pond (Ruffin's Pond ) located in Fredericksburg VA and slowly started infiltrating the tidal waters of the Potomac and Rappahannock River.  Game and Fish tried to say that they used freshets to ride less dense fresh water over saltwater during storms as a dispersal mechanism.  However, if that were true then there is a high possibility that would see snakeheads up and down the eastern seaboard instead of being isolated to VA. 

[fishwizzard]

On 6/14/2017 at 11:23 AM, YUT18 said:

They were illegally introduced to a small pond (Ruffin's Pond ) located in Fredericksburg VA and slowly started infiltrating the tidal waters of the Potomac and Rappahannock River.  Game and Fish tried to say that they used freshets to ride less dense fresh water over saltwater during storms as a dispersal mechanism.  However, if that were true then there is a high possibility that would see snakeheads up and down the eastern seaboard instead of being isolated to VA. 

 

Huh, I though the ones around here came from the now named "Walking Fish Pond" in Crofton, MD.  It is like maybe 50-60y from the Litte Pax river and floods into it when it rains for a few days.