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Has anyone caught Snakeheads in the upper bay, Susquehanna River or the flats. I have heard a few reports of them being caught off Elk Neck State Park, the North East Creek and by Port Deposit, but I don't trust the sources. I have also seen the USGS reports map, but that's not entirely accurate because not all fish caught are recorded. I'm interested in any first hand accounts.

Edited by Trainman327

"The gods do not subtract from the allotted span of men's lives the hours spent in fishing"
Assyrian proverb

"Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after"
Henry David Thoreau

Fishing is only an addiction if you're trying to quit

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  • 2 weeks later...

Lord I hope not....

 

The USGS has reported a few in their surveys. It's only a matter of time.

"The gods do not subtract from the allotted span of men's lives the hours spent in fishing"
Assyrian proverb

"Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after"
Henry David Thoreau

Fishing is only an addiction if you're trying to quit

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Why not? Beats the pants off catching any other medium sized gamefish you could catch; smashes topwaters, fights like a beast, aggressive, toothy, etc...

While I agree for the most part.... they are an extremely invasive species with voracious appetites. Something we definitely do not need on the most important spawning ground of rockfish in the country. They have enough problems there already.

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^^ they are already thriving in one of the most important spawning grounds in the country....Potomac is full of them. I agree, it'd be nice to NOT have them there, but is what it is and only a matter of time....like everything else, it will balance out.

 

BTW....for those that dont know, snakehead is VERY, VERY tasty....

The problem with common sense is that it's not that common

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While I agree for the most part.... they are an extremely invasive species with voracious appetites. Something we definitely do not need on the most important spawning ground of rockfish in the country. They have enough problems there already.

More voracious appetites then a smb? LOL! You have never watched a school of smallies feed then. From the research I have seen, they are no different then lmb either. A predator can only eat so much.

 

BTW, lmb, smb, all trout except brook trout, musky, pike, and walleye are not native to the Cheaspeake watersheds either. I guarantee you that these fish eat plenty of rock fish fry on up to 10in plus rock fish. If anyone really cared about the state of rock fish, why don't we start killing off these other fish too?

 

The arguement is that these fish are naturalized, but so are snakeheads or any other invasive. The diffence is that snakeheads and other invasive species haven't found favor amongst the masses.

 

Could you imagine the backlash if the MD DNR proposed killing off lmb because they eat a lot of native species? Would you be in favor of killing off lmb for the sake of stripers?

Edited by Pylodictis
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More voracious appetites then a smb? LOL! You have never watched a school of smallies feed then. From the research I have seen, they are no different then lmb either. A predator can only eat so much.

 

BTW, lmb, smb, all trout except brook trout, musky, pike, and walleye are not native to the Cheaspeake watersheds either. I guarantee you that these fish eat plenty of rock fish fry on up to 10in plus rock fish. If anyone really cared about the state of rock fish, why don't we start killing off these other fish too?

 

The arguement is that these fish are naturalized, but so are snakeheads or anyother invasive that hasn't found favor amongst the masses.

So lets add another straw to the camels back? I love catching smallies. . Wallies. .. etc... non natives all.... but heck even the smallies are having issues in the river. Maybe we should plant some silver carp to please the bow fishermen.

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So lets add another straw to the camels back? I love catching smallies. . Wallies. .. etc... non natives all.... but heck even the smallies are having issues in the river. Maybe we should plant some silver carp to please the bow fishermen.

The last thing you want is bowfisherman on any of your rivers. They might claim to be shooting only carp and such, but they, in fact, shoot everything they see. The DNRs do a very poor job of watching them.

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Theoretically if it was found that LMB were eating lots of baby stripers and negatively impacting the striped bass population, yes, I 100% would be in favor of killing any LMB caught in the Chesapeake watershed.

No one would ever be in favor of killing off America's number one gamefish; I doubt you would truly be in favor of it. LMB are aggressive and highly opportunistic predators. To imply that LMB do not eat their share of baby rock fish would show a lack of understanding about how aggressive LMB actually are when it comes to feeding on smaller fish. From my understanding, based on the reports from the MD DNR and the way numbers of anglers talk, any predation of a true native species by an invasive species causes a negative impact on that native species, isn't that why people hate snakeheads, bluecats, and flatheads in the Potomac so much? That doesn't even cover how young rock fish, lmb, and smb compete directly for the same food sources. What is one more invasive to the Potomac at this point? At least snakeheads are a much better game fish the lmb and smb could ever hope to be.

 

Due to the backlash a negative report about LMB would bring from lmb fishing community in defense of lmb and due to the popularity of lmb as a game fish, you and I will never hear that research showing predation of YOY rockfish by lmb; it is for the same reason the DNR will always cover for the commercial fisherman when it comes to protecting a preceived monetary interests.

 

Ultimatly, I just don't see the rational in persecuting one invasive in favor of other invasives. If you read most of the reports, the DNR DOES NOT care about the effect of snakeheads on young rockfish or their food sources, the concern is not even that snakeheads will eat lmb and smb. The primary concern is that snakeheads (as an invasive species) will out compete lmb and smb (which are also invasive species) for the same food sources, true native species (like rock fish and shad) be damned!

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No one would ever be in favor of killing off America's number one gamefish; I doubt you would truly be in favor of it. LMB are aggressive and highly opportunistic predators. To imply that LMB do not eat their share of baby rock fish would show a lack of understanding about how aggressive LMB actually are when it comes to feeding on smaller fish. From my understanding, based on the reports from the MD DNR and the way numbers of anglers talk, any predation of a true native species by an invasive species causes a negative impact on that native species, isn't that why people hate snakeheads, bluecats, and flatheads in the Potomac so much? That doesn't even cover how young rock fish, lmb, and smb compete directly for the same food sources. What is one more invasive to the Potomac at this point? At least snakeheads are a much better game fish the lmb and smb could ever hope to be.

 

Due to the backlash a negative report about LMB would bring from lmb fishing community in defense of lmb and due to the popularity of lmb as a game fish, you and I will never hear that research showing predation of YOY rockfish by lmb; it is for the same reason the DNR will always cover for the commercial fisherman when it comes to protecting a preceived monetary interests.

 

Ultimatly, I just don't see the rational in persecuting one invasive in favor of other invasives. If you read most of the reports, the DNR DOES NOT care about the effect of snakeheads on young rockfish or their food sources, the concern is not even that snakeheads will eat lmb and smb. The primary concern is that snakeheads (as an invasive species) will out compete lmb and smb (which are also invasive species) for the same food sources, true native species (like rock fish and shad) be damned!

 

Very good point you brought up there... There was so much media hype over snakeheads and a lot of people were freaking out. Whats interesting is that I think more people wanted the snakeheads gone to conserve the LM and SM species rather than stripers 

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Very good point you brought up there... There was so much media hype over snakeheads and a lot of people were freaking out. Whats interesting is that I think more people wanted the snakeheads gone to conserve the LM and SM species rather than stripers 

In the upper bay there is fierce competition amongst native species. I'm not so sure the snakehead would have a detrimental impact. between the adult stripers, LM bass, SM bass, walleye, chain pickerel, musky and large catfish I think the snakehead will have to fight it's way into the food chain. The only advantage the snakehead has is it's nature to guard it's young. This will reduce the numbers eaten by predators. However, the schools of large stripers in the upper bay will not be intimidated when feeding. Sure a snakehead will frighten the solitary predators away, but schools of stripers eat whatever they want and once the young are no longer under the care of the adults they are fair game for everything that can eat them.

 

I don't want to see the current populations of native species reduced, but I'll admit that when the inevitable happens I will be plenty happy to fish for snakeheads.

Edited by Trainman327

"The gods do not subtract from the allotted span of men's lives the hours spent in fishing"
Assyrian proverb

"Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after"
Henry David Thoreau

Fishing is only an addiction if you're trying to quit

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Share on other sites

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