Snakehead caught in Marumscro Lake in Woodbridge, VA

[rondef]

My friend just called me to tell me that he caught a 5lb snakehead in this lake and immediately killed it by sticking a large knife through its head.  He is going to turn the fish over to VDGIF and let them know where it was caught as the creek from this lake leads right into the Potomac River.  He is going to get me a picture to post this week.

[LCpointerKILLA]

That is not good

[GobbleDog]

I've heard they (unfortunately) live in Florida too, but I've never seen one.

You'd think more people would catch them hook n line, considering how agressive they supposedly are.  

[Dan:]

there is a small group of anglers that target them for sportfishing in DC, VA, and MD. I believe they still kill what they catch, but they try to catch them for the fun of the fight.

[JCrzy4Bass]

Unreal... thats the lake I told you about behind Marumsco plaza dad.  It is twice the size of vets and has the same layout of spadderdock, but there are two beaverdams and a small dock you can cast from.  There is also an area you can put in canoes.  It's actually located in Marumsco Park.  Never caught a bass there but had some bites.  That tiny little 3 acre lake is screwed now.  If that snakehead reproduced in there or was that big god knows how many fish it killed.  I never thought there were bass in there anyway though.  A bunch of people of a certain ethnic group poach there ALL THE TIME.  And TONS of fish.  So that lake is now off my list for good.

[djmax22]

This is not new. I watched a documentry on the Snakehead on the History Channel a few weeks ago. They said that the snakehead has already been found in the Potomic. More alarmingly the Northern Snakehead (a bigger badass) has been found in other US water as well. Why cant people kill their unwanted fish rather than let them go. Ridiculous.

[rondef]

Here is the first picture of him, he is still alive after my friend stuck a knife in its head. VDGIF is sending him $10 for the fish. They told him to cut off the head to kill it and then he could throw it in the trash.

[A.Do?]

thats a fatty. looks preggers.

[rondef]

Here is the second picture.

[djmax22]

Bummer. Just makes me sick.

[Trevor in Burke]

I would have at least watched it walk around a little bit first and then posted it on youtube ;D, then killed it, probably would have shot skeet with it... PULL! and then posted that on youtube as well

[HokieDJ]

They are actually a delicacy in vietnam for sure.  I remember seeing it on Anthony Bourdain's show when he traveled there.  The dish looked pretty good

I'm sure it's someone's pet who was let go after it grew too big.

[TyTy]

I watched that show on the history channel the other day also.  What is the difference between a Snakefish and what we have in Florida, 'Bowfin' or 'Mudfish' (I have heard them called both)?

I call them Mudfish but I have caught a few and those things are NASTY.  They thrash around like crazy when you boat them and they have some NASTY teeth.  

The whole time I was watching the show I was thinking they were all over FL.

[slomoe]

there is a small group of anglers that target them for sportfishing in DC, VA, and MD. I believe they still kill what they catch, but they try to catch them for the fun of the fight.

Thats what Im talking about.

http://www.snakeheadpro.com/

[okrod]

I remember the VDGIF site saying something like "kill the fish", then went on to say "It is dead when the head is cut off." Dah!  I thought that very funny, but I guess they meant what they said.

[Dan:]

This is not new. I watched a documentry on the Snakehead on the History Channel a few weeks ago. They said that the snakehead has already been found in the Potomic. More alarmingly the Northern Snakehead (a bigger badass) has been found in other US water as well. Why cant people kill their unwanted fish rather than let them go. Ridiculous.

I think the Giant snakehead is the bigger, badder version. I don't think they've found them in VA waters though, only the northerns

[SimonSays]

mmmm I wanna see how good they are to eat!

...that means catching one first though

[Hung up Paul]

I like that snakehead pro fishing idea as long as the goal remains to catch to kill.  I can see a few years down the road that club switching over to promoting protection of the species for sport purposes...

[btcprince]

I watched that show on the history channel the other day also. What is the difference between a Snakefish and what we have in Florida, 'Bowfin' or 'Mudfish' (I have heard them called both)?

I call them Mudfish but I have caught a few and those things are NASTY. They thrash around like crazy when you boat them and they have some NASTY teeth.

The whole time I was watching the show I was thinking they were all over FL.

ahhh bowfins, mudfish, grindles, etc....nasty animals and they BLEED so much when hooked. they fight hard. i undestand they are native here, but snakeheads are from SE asia or somewhere that people have let go to breed for food, but have just destroyed the native fish here. save a basses life, kill a snakehead

[lknbassman]

That sucks.......

[TrickyVT1887]

The fish have been in the Potomac river system for several years now. The fish is exotic and it is unsure how it will affect the river system and that is the biggest problem with this. This is why each one caught needs to be killed until the effects of their introduction are known. The fish have created a population in the Potomac river and thats where it needs to stay the big worry about angler's keeping the fish live is that it will be transported to another fishery and decimate the fishery. In Japan it has been seen that Largemouth Bass have been introduce and decimated their native Snakehead population and they are trying to control the spread of the bass, lets just hope the bass decimates the population here. And for the record they taste fantastic especially on the grill.

[knownfactor]

they just look nasty...bet they do taste good though...my old manager used to have two and they used to knock cinder blocks off the top of the aquarium top and jump out and go all over his house

[cjbs2003]

Bassin1887 is right about the bass in Japan. Since the Japanese love their largemouth bass fishing, they stocked several of their lakes with largemouths a number of years ago... The largemouths destroyed the native snakehead population. The Japanese are now working on controlling the largemouths. I am no big fan of exotics being introduced into the United States. However, the largemouth and smallmouth bass aren't even native to the Potomac but were introduced to it from the Ohio River drainage at the turn of the century. If you look at the biology of the snakehead and the largemouth, I think in the long run there will be little if any competition between the two. ONLY TIME WILL TELL THOUGH... One thing is for sure, they are here to stay! All we need is a good hurricane to swing up the Chesapeake Bay and dump a lot of rain, those snakeheads will get flooded out of the Potomac and with all the freshwater will be spread to the Rappahannock, James, Susquehanna and other nearby river systems. Some idiot will catch a few when they become even more common and drive them to another river system and before long they'll be countrywide like the d**n common carp!

[lknbassman]

they just look nasty...bet they do taste good though...my old manager used to have two and they used to knock cinder blocks off the top of the aquarium top and jump out and go all over his house

Dang! :o

[TrickyVT1887]

VDGIF is sending him $10 for the fish. They told him to cut off the head to kill it and then he could throw it in the trash.

rondef are you sure that the fish was caught in Marumsco Lake and when exactly it was caught. DGIF has not been giving rewards for snakeheads which confuses me as well. I work in the Region 5 office which would cover that area and our fisheries biologist hadn't heard of any fish being caught from that lake or any reward for catching that fish.