Snakehead

Type: Nontidal
Region: Southern
Location: Near Mattawoman Creek

My name is Greg, and I live in La Plata MD. I was on my way home from work, when I dropped by a shallow pond at the intersection of the Indian Head rail trail and Bumpy Oak Rd. I had heard there were snakeheads in there, and had missed a pretty big one last week on a plastic worm. Anyway, I caught this sucker at the interface of thick lilies and open water, on a cheap green topwater rubber frog from Sports Authority. I noticed after a few hits that they really like it when you pause your lure, because I missed a few that had gone for it and missed because they were going for a still target w/ a "side-swipe". Anyways, from the photo it doesn't look that big, but the foam part of the rod is at least a foot long, so this sucker is at least 2', and i'd say about 5-6 lbs. There are more big suckers in this lake, and in the Mattawoman right next to it, and DNR if you read this, you should REALLY go out and electroshock that lake and kill all those suckers off in there. From what i've heard, it's all snakehead, and they've killed off all the other fish and are getting fat on frogs and each other at this point. PLEASE shock the darn lake. Again, it's off Bumpy Oak Rd near Bryan's Rd, just off Rt 224, and at the intersection of the Indian Head rail trail. The one i missed last week was WAY bigger than this one. I hope everyone comes out here and gets 'em, they are everywhere from what I hear, and this one put up a HECK of a fight (almost broke my rod), and this is of modest size compared to others. The other kid fishing there hooked a couple and got bit off, so even though I was really lucky, I'm definitely gonna use a steel leader next time. Also heard of a ~4 footer caught in Nanjemoy, dozens caught in the Mattawoman, and a 40lb fish caught in Port Tobacco on live bait (I have no way of confirming those claims, but there are a few good fishermen out there that still don't lie!)

DNR Response via Mary Groves, Southern Region Manager - DNR is very familiar with the pond in question. The Fisheries Service has tried to shock the edges in the past (can�t launch our boat) and didn�t have much luck but we�re sure they are in there. The problem is the creek (Mattawoman) parallels the pond and frequently floods the area. Unfortunately if the pond was shocked now, the next big rain would probably just fill the pond with snakehead again. DNR wants to find another way to get the fish out of there, especially if they are spawning.