Snakehead

Type: Nontidal
Region: Central
Location: Potomac River

Spring is here....that means the weather and water is warming up as is the Potomac River fishing. I am a civil servant in D.C. and keep a two-piece rod in my truck to keep my occupied (and sane) until traffic dies down. On this day I was doing some maintenance to my boat and decided to break out my rod and make a few casts near some rip-rap at Bolling Air Force Base. After catching several small sunfish, largemouth bass, and yellow perch on a weightless 4" green worm, I decided it was time to head home. One last cast and low and behold I ended up catching this elusive, hated Snakehead. It put up a great fight...wrapped me around a dock piling, screamed out line from my drag, and drew a lot of attention from on-lookers. Landing it wasn't an easy task either. It seemed subdued after our fight, but every time I would reach down to try to grab it by the gills it would lunge at me and thrash violently. I finally got it up on the dock and it began to crawl around like a snake (hence the name I guess). Wanting to assist the Maryland DNR with the eradication of this invasive species into the Potomac River ecosystem I removed the fishes head. While doing so I came to the realization that it was a female and was full of eggs. Being a "Catch and Release" fisherman I hated the idea of killing a fish and letting it go to waste so it became my dinner. Fileting the fish was no easy task but to my surprise the meat was white, flakey and some of the mildest tasting I have ever enjoyed.

DNR RESPONSE: Thanks for helping us to lower the population size of this invasive species in Maryland. Drop us info on the catch with a picture that clearly shows the fish is dead every time you kill one, and you�ll get entered again. Thanks for helping out the bass population and the Potomac River ecosystem!