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Viper, I am corrected.

Straight from the Md DNR website as follows:

"

Snakehead

Please Catch and Keep Northern Snakeheads

It is against Maryland, Virginia, and federal laws to possess, import, or transport live northern snakehead.Snakehead.jpg

If you catch a snakehead and want to keep it, you must immediately kill the fish by removing its head, gutting it or removing its gill arches. Anglers are encouraged to catch and keep northern snakeheads year round. There is no minimum size or creel limit for snakeheads.

DNR asks anglers to report snakeheads caught outside of the Potomac River and its tributaries or upstream of Great Falls. Send catch information to or call 410-260-8300 to help DNR track the range of the species.

If you catch a northern snakehead with a blue or red tag, please report the tag number and the location, date and time of day when the fish was caught to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service at 800-448-8322.

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On 7/17/2017 at 0:52 PM, Capt Brady said:

Viper, I am corrected.

Straight from the Md DNR website as follows:

"

Snakehead

Please Catch and Keep Northern Snakeheads

It is against Maryland, Virginia, and federal laws to possess, import, or transport live northern snakehead.Snakehead.jpg

If you catch a snakehead and want to keep it, you must immediately kill the fish by removing its head, gutting it or removing its gill arches. Anglers are encouraged to catch and keep northern snakeheads year round. There is no minimum size or creel limit for snakeheads.

DNR asks anglers to report snakeheads caught outside of the Potomac River and its tributaries or upstream of Great Falls. Send catch information to or call 410-260-8300 to help DNR track the range of the species.

If you catch a northern snakehead with a blue or red tag, please report the tag number and the location, date and time of day when the fish was caught to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service at 800-448-8322.

In other words, you do not have to keep or kill snakeheads, MD just suggests it; they just don't want you transporting them live, importing them, or possessing live snakeheads.

 

I say let all the snakeheads go and practice strict C&R with them unless you plan on eating them. They are no more invasive then any of the other gamefish in those tidal waters.

You can either keep catching oversized members of the bluegill or catch something fun and exotic. Hell, isn't that why guys fish for peacocks that were implanted in Florida? Because they are a blast to catch in FW? Why the hell do people talk about traveling to exotic places to catch fish that they can't catch here in the US? Because those exotic fish are so much more fun.

Heck, that was the whole point MD dumped bass in the Potomac to began with, because there were no true year round game fish that were native to the river.

 

Tell me, is there any good/sensible reason why snakeheads should be treated differently then all the other invasive fish in the Potomac? 

Edited by Pylodictis
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On 7/21/2017 at 10:44 PM, Pylodictis said:

 

Correct, Capt. Brady does not know what he is talking about. I would take northern snakeheads over all these trophy walleye and 14in smb I catch any day.

My top two favorite freshwater species to target are both invasive... blue cats and snakeheads. Otherwise I wouldnt even waste my time on freshwater

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On 7/23/2017 at 11:38 AM, viper2788 said:

My top two favorite freshwater species to target are both invasive... blue cats and snakeheads. Otherwise I wouldnt even waste my time on freshwater

 

When I lived in MD, wouldn't have bothered fishing the Potomac for the same reasons. BTW, did you read the biologist's page and report regarding blue catfish that I posted in another thread? 

Catfish are rarely protected which is unfortunate. In Western PA, flatheads are native, very long lived (35yrs is typical age for flathead in the mid 30in range), slow growing, and pressure on the continues to rise, yet the DNR refuses to protect them beyond a 50 fish limit; yet species that are not native recieve very strict protections.

Media and ignorant public biases lead to certain fish being labeled " trash fish" and "non game fish" verse other fish that get put into a positive public spot light as "great game fish". Funny, I have yet to catch a smb that can fight harded then an equal to slightly smaller flathead or channel cat. Yet, smb get this label as "hardest fighting fish lb for lb"? 

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As a side note, the term "invasive" is a label given to fish species that the media, the ignorant public, and DNR thinks people don't like while they stock non native/introduced fish and claim they are native. Lmb and smb in the Potomac are a perfect example ofhow this double standard actually works; it was not uncommon for the MD DNR to refer to them as native, when they were called out on it, they started using the term "naturalized" in referance to smb and lmb among others in order to play down there own hypocrisy. They will never admit though that lmb and smb are voracious predators that school up and consume tons of native bait fish that schoolie striper depend on for food.

Heck, at least blue cats breed in numbers (those baby cats consume primarily plant based matter so they would not have the same impact as bass) that provide an abundant bait fish food source for stripers.

In many cases, the label "invasive" is given without considering any true scientific data.

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I agree about the double standard labeling predatory game as fish introduced or invasive depending on  bias  but the DNR is more concerned about the large consumption of shad being eaten by blue cats and flat heads .Their claim on this one is the big cats out competing with natural food for striped bass, a true native.

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4 hours ago, Nick 1 said:

I agree about the double standard labeling predatory game as fish introduced or invasive depending on  bias  but the DNR is more concerned about the large consumption of shad being eaten by blue cats and flat heads .Their claim on this one is the big cats out competing with natural food for striped bass, a true native.

Have you seen the size of baitfish a 5lb lmb can eat? The DNR's origanal stance was that big cats would eat all the native species; at the time they were referancing lmb and smb, they didn't care about rockfish or other true natives as they never mentioned them. Like I said, it wasn't until the DNR started to be called out on this that they changed their tune about which species they wanted to protect.

You should also read the thread I posted that links you to a biologist's research page regarding the factual impact blue cats have on the tidal rivers. His research has shown that blues are over rated as a threat to the tidal rivers, at the same time he does feel flathead's are a potential threat as flatheads are true predators straight from birth. 

 

In the end, if the DNR truly cares about any of the native species, don't people think they would spend the money used to kill cats and snakeheads on something more productive like maybe stopping and persecuting poachers? If they want even more money they could increase the fines for poaching to include putting leans on a person's home if their poaching offenses are overly aggregious. Maybe if the DNR actually cared about native fish they would cut back on commercial fishing for strippers and the fish strippers eat as this and poaching are what is really killing off the native fish!

Edited by Pylodictis
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On ‎7‎/‎21‎/‎2017 at 10:34 PM, Pylodictis said:

In other words, you do not have to keep or kill snakeheads, MD just suggests it; they just don't want you transporting them live, importing them, or possessing live snakeheads.

 

I say let all the snakeheads go and practice strict C&R with them unless you plan on eating them. They are no more invasive then any of the other gamefish in those tidal waters.

You can either keep catching oversized members of the bluegill or catch something fun and exotic. Hell, isn't that why guys fish for peacocks that were implanted in Florida? Because they are a blast to catch in FW? Why the hell do people talk about traveling to exotic places to catch fish that they can't catch here in the US? Because those exotic fish are so much more fun.

Heck, that was the whole point MD dumped bass in the Potomac to began with, because there were no true year round game fish that were native to the river.

 

Tell me, is there any good/sensible reason why snakeheads should be treated differently then all the other invasive fish in the Potomac? 

That is a very good point... and I have to say, Snakeheads are great fighters and will destroy topwater frogs and buzzbaits. If you are not going to harvest them... release them!   In addition, I concur to the Floridian Peacock bass... they are definitely a gamefish and extremely fun fish to catch.

lr Big Snakehead.jpg

AbuGarcia Double Peacock Bass Alberto.jpg

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2 hours ago, Crazy Alberto said:

That is a very good point... and I have to say, Snakeheads are great fighters and will destroy topwater frogs and buzzbaits. If you are not going to harvest them... release them!   In addition, I concur to the Floridian Peacock bass... they are definitely a gamefish and extremely fun fish to catch.

lr Big Snakehead.jpg

AbuGarcia Double Peacock Bass Alberto.jpg

Nice snakehead and peacocks! 

Some of these fish are absolutely beautiful.

Edited by Pylodictis
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  • 3 weeks later...

Been reading a lot from the forum but this is my first post.  I thought I would share my experience with snakeheads.

 

Back in college (1990), my brother had an aquarium (45 gallon).  In there he had a 6" alligator gar, a 6" snakehead, and a 7" oscar.  He would drop in a dozen feeder gold fish at a time.  Most of the time, the snakehead would get to all of them first!  It was truly a sight to see how aggressive the snakehead was.  It was like watching the Yaka Arrow that Youdu had in Gardians of the Galaxy.  Not kidding one bit.  The snakehead would go from one gold fish to the next and kill them all in a matter of seconds.  Even if it was full, it would kill the goldfish and spit them out.  The gar and oscar would eat the injured goldfish if it was half alive - they would not eat them if they were dead.  Sometimes he would have to quarantine the snakehead with a net so that the other two could eat.

 

The snakehead has jumped out of the aquarium a few times and when he returns home, he just drops it back in.  The aquarium had a lid with a flap that opens to add food.  It was smart enough to jump and push it open.  Not sure how long it can live outside water, but probably a few hours.

 

He thought about getting rid of the snakehead because he said it was too costly to feed (you don't have much money in college).  Eventually he killed the snakehead after it ate the gar.  2" of the gar's tail was sticking out of the snakehead's mouth.  Yes, the two fish were the length but somehow the snakehead fit the gar into it's mouth.  Guess the gar was too skinny.

 

Other fish will have no chance.  They are smarter and faster and can even live out of water for hours.

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On 7/21/2017 at 10:34 PM, Pylodictis said:

In other words, you do not have to keep or kill snakeheads, MD just suggests it; they just don't want you transporting them live, importing them, or possessing live snakeheads.

 

I say let all the snakeheads go and practice strict C&R with them unless you plan on eating them. They are no more invasive then any of the other gamefish in those tidal waters.

 

Tell me, is there any good/sensible reason why snakeheads should be treated differently then all the other invasive fish in the Potomac? 

 

They are the apex hunter and will dominate the fishery.  Much more invasive than other gamefish.

 

The Virginia DGIF asks that all be killed.  They can't force people to kill them, but they want you to.  "Anglers are required to report snakeheads kept but are not required to kill them if caught and immediately released.  Snakeheads must be dead if in possession (contained in live well, cooler, etc.)  However, the Department asks that all snakeheads be killed if possible."

 

 

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5 hours ago, reflection said:

 

They are the apex hunter and will dominate the fishery.  Much more invasive than other gamefish.

 

The Virginia DGIF asks that all be killed.  They can't force people to kill them, but they want you to.  "Anglers are required to report snakeheads kept but are not required to kill them if caught and immediately released.  Snakeheads must be dead if in possession (contained in live well, cooler, etc.)  However, the Department asks that all snakeheads be killed if possible."

 

 

If snakeheads are so dominate, how come Florida still has an awesome LMB fishery?

 

The fears regarding the aggression and dominance that snakeheads can unleash on a fishery already filled to the brim with invasive species like lmb and smb has not been proven by science, but it has been over hyped by media.

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23 hours ago, Pylodictis said:

If snakeheads are so dominate, how come Florida still has an awesome LMB fishery?

 

The fears regarding the aggression and dominance that snakeheads can unleash on a fishery already filled to the brim with invasive species like lmb and smb has not been proven by science, but it has been over hyped by media.

Florida has the bullseye snakehead and maryland has the northern snakehead.  I don't know the difference and I'll leave that to the experts for recommendations.

 

I'm not an expert and I will leave the scientific recommendations to the experts.  Those experts are the researchers and scientists from the US Fish and Wildlife, Maryland DNR, Virnginia DGIF, and others.  Just google it and there are many hits.  It's illegal to transport snakeheads across state lines for a reason.  I'm not making this stuff up.  Most of what I'm reading is coming from state and federal government organizations (not the media).  There is a real threat according to those experts.  Back in 2004, someone caught a snakehead in a pond in MD and the experts drained the pond to find more.  They wouldn't have drain the pond if they thought there was no threat.

 

I'm not sure what scientific proof you are looking for more than what is urged by the all expert ecologists at many of the fish and wildlife conservation organizations in the US and affected states.  I'm sure many of them are avid fishermen as well.  These experts are unanimous when they say the Northern Snakehead poses a real threat.  I don't think they are making that up for fun or to scare us.

Edited by reflection
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