Found answer to where all (or most) of the bowfished Snakeheads end up...

[VuDism]

Why should I feel ashamed? I'm not keeping illegal fish? I went fishing for SH and get nothing but 10+ bass. Bass eat SH fry, taking out bass will help SH. I go fishing for fun too but catching no fish is no fun. Bass is more of a trash fish to me.

I kind of agree with this...
Snakehead is a huge challenge... they are bigger. and they fight harder when you do get one hooked...

if i wanted to catch bass all day... i just need a big dark senko and throw it into some cover and I'll land bass all day.

[Frogsauce]

thats pretty pathetic from both of you really..

bass arent doing anything to hurt people..
snakeheads arent doing anything to hurt people.. people are trying to bow them for a quick dollar.

its a damn fish.. isnt the whole reason we go out to fish to have fun?.. how can anyone have fun if all we are worried about is keeping these fish.. just doesnt make ay sense to me.

everyone eats fish.. i eat fish.. mainly just perch and rock.. i let all freshwater fish live.

its fun to catch fish.. if 100 people in maryland had your philosophy to keep the 5 biggest bass they catch.. in 1 day thats 500 fish... in one day... and we all fish more then 1 day

your taking away from the kids, or people who will or are getting into fishing..if your just keeping fish out of spite.

u know what gets people hooked... catching a big fish.. not just catching dinks... u keep all these fish.. snakehead of bass... your taking away from some one else...


a couple bow hunters are NEVER going to decimate the # of snake heads in the Potomac. netters have destroyed rock fish counts.. but u know what.. theres MILLLLIONNNNNNSSSS of babys... but they dont hang out in the bay that often anymore.. any idea why?.. bc some people.. and some corporations are effing slobs... and the bay is destroyed.. poluted.. fish dont want to stay in here.. they move to clearer water...

you dont have to go and get all deffense bc a couple people are trying to make a living on snakeheads.. u do not have to kill a snakehead if u release it in the same water..

just go out and have fun fishing, even if u catch a 4-5 lb bass.. or a 30 inch snakehead.. lets be honest most people dont eat fish 2-3 days a week.. so if arent going to eat it.. release it.. let some one else get a thrill ride of catching that big fish..

I can get behind the fishing for fun message, but I still believe the SH will unbalance the rivers for a long time. Sure, one day it will all level out. But no one will be able to say what the long term effect is. No one on here is qualified to say one way or the other; so I am just going to take the word of the DNR biologists who at least have some credibility on the topic. They recommend killing all of them you catch, so I say more power to the bowfishers to make money on the opportunity.

[buzz]

HUH ? ......... They were both illegally brought here .......... except back then there was no DNR ........ just like trout out west ........ they were introduced from the water supply's of trains by people that wanted to see them in the waters of the west ......

Well, I guess we're going to have to disagree on that.

The United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries was established in the late 1800's. And it was by their initiative that LMB were introduced into the Potomac watershed.

[Slobber Bob]

Do the bow hunters need a commercial license to sell the snake head meat to market? Any Joe Schmo can't just go around selling snakeheads they catch, can they?

I wish they would also go back to calling them Frankenfish too... much cooler name.

[Snakehead Hunter]

Bassmoore,

I'm not keeping bass out of spite. Many coworkers ask me for them. I'm still going by the same rule I have. If I'm gonna kill a fish, either I will eat it or someone else will. And its a fact that bass eat baby SH. So, keeping bass is helping SH.

If people don't kill SH out of spite and throw it back for me to catch them. I'm gladly do the same for bass but I read many forums and people just want to kill SH to make room for bass. So I'm doing my part to help the species I like to fish.

[Runnin]

Not where they used to be ?.. the # of 5 lbs in the Potomac has doubled from the last study they took since snake heads.. the amount of small bass is up as well.. and that's with more people keeping the fish

I'm a data junkie. Here's a report from the Md DNR that pretty much shows that Bass fishing in the Potomac is in real decline. I'm not saying that is because of Snakeheads. It could be a result of many factors and the DNR study cites a handful of reasons they think this is happening. They started getting complaints from anglers last year.

http://dnr2.maryland.gov/fisheries/D...Discussion.pdf

[mango]

I am a glass half empty on this one, believing that people left uncheck, will decimate, hunt, kill and overfish everything until there is nothing left to include the commercial folks. I for one, while the science is not exact appreciate the dnr's efforts in collecting data and managing all wildlife while at times wishing I could harvest another deer or turkey or fish all year for stripers. But I know if left unchecked, wildlife wouldn't last very long due to the nature of people ( I am thinking what we did the the bay oysters which folks thought would never run out) So for me, while not always happy, will abide by set regulations hoping to leave something behind for my kids to enjoy.

[VuDism]

I believe Snakeheads, if regulated, are probably a positive for this watershed.
Hopefully one day things change and Snakeheads are accepted and recognized as a gamefish. Perhaps have at least a size limit for keeping snakehead... 20+ inches or something.

Or make them unlimited but make bowfishing them illegal. Some of the sizes of the snakehead that is caught bowfished makes me drool. can't imagine what it would be like having one 35+ inches at the end of my line.

[Turtle135]

Interesting debate. After I caught my first few snakeheads (and got over that initial thrill) I started to dread hooking another one while largemouth bass fishing. I began to find the process of dispatching one becoming increasingly tedious. I've been a "catch and carefully release guy" for a long, long time and this "keeping to eat" thing with the snakeheads went against my grain.

Last year I just decided to start releasing them. Too many of them in the system for my fishing efforts to have an effect on the population one way or another. While I do not go targeting them specifically I no longer am annoyed when I hook one. I kept a couple of smaller ones that I caught earlier this season for the table. They tasted great. The others I caught were released.

I do suspect, if it was illegal to bow-hunt snakeheads, that the current world record would have been and would continue to be smashed repeatedly from the Tidal Potomac. Something about an invasive in a new environment is causing better than average growth here.

I have definitely noted a change in snakehead wariness in waters where they are regularly bow-hunted. Of course it has been legal to bow-hunt the common carp for as long as I can remember (and the numbers of common carp do not seem to be suffering at all). Perhaps it will be the same with the snakehead.

[VuDism]

Interesting debate. After I caught my first few snakeheads (and got over that initial thrill) I started to dread hooking another one while largemouth bass fishing. I began to find the process of dispatching one becoming increasingly tedious. I've been a "catch and carefully release guy" for a long, long time and this "keeping to eat" thing with the snakeheads went against my grain.

Last year I just decided to start releasing them. Too many of them in the system for my fishing efforts to have an effect on the population one way or another. While I do not go targeting them specifically I no longer am annoyed when I hook one. I kept a couple of smaller ones that I caught earlier this season for the table. They tasted great. The others I caught were released.

I do suspect, if it was illegal to bow-hunt snakeheads, that the current world record would have been and would continue to be smashed repeatedly from the Tidal Potomac. Something about an invasive in a new environment is causing better than average growth here.

I have definitely noted a change in snakehead wariness in waters where they are regularly bow-hunted. Of course it has been legal to bow-hunt the common carp for as long as I can remember (and the numbers of common carp do not seem to be suffering at all). Perhaps it will be the same with the snakehead.

I don't think there is a huge market for eating common carp... maybe people don't have the desire to bow fish them like Snakeheads because they aren't as good eating

[Turtle135]

I don't think there is a huge market for eating common carp... maybe people don't have the desire to bow fish them like Snakeheads because they aren't as good eating

As you have probably surmised, I suspect the majority of snakeheads shot by bow hunters are not being eaten, they are being killed then dumped. I think after a few seasons the novelty of bow hunting snakeheads will wear off. There will always be some avid hunters doing it but the numbers will drop.

[VuDism]

As you have probably surmised, I suspect the majority of snakeheads shot by bow hunters are not being eaten, they are being killed then dumped. I think after a few seasons the novelty of bow hunting snakeheads will wear off. There will always be some avid hunters doing it but the numbers will drop.

If they are really killing and dumping/wasting a fish just for leisure then that is truely disgusting. Whether invasive or not it is still an animal... It is not its fault it was introduced to the Potomac.

I should not be surprised especially will all the other BS that goes on in this world.

[Snakehead Hunter]

I don't people kill and dump SH anymore. I believe at the beginning some people did shoot them and leave dead SH at the ramp. I personally don't kill for sport, I don't agree with people who do either.

At $14 per pound I don't think people are killing them for a quick but and it does hurt. One example, I used to catch many SH at Pohick bay. After several trips with no result I move on to a different location. When I went to Pohick, I saw at least 5 bowfishing boats whenever I was leaving the park.

A year back I was reading one of the article from odirk guy, the marine biologist. He was electric shock fish to keep track. I believe the rate that he catch was 80+ bass, 15+ SH per hour. And he said bass fishing has been best ever seen.

I'm really glad people are changing their opinion about SH. Maybe one day it won't be so hard to catch couple SH per trip with rod & reel

BTW I talked to couple bowfisherman, SH are very vulnerable at night because they don't move when they see the light just like deer. Carp, and other fish shoot off as soon as they see light but SH just sit there near the surface because they have to breath. That's bowfishing is very effective way to catch SH.

[VuDism]

I don't people kill and dump SH anymore. I believe at the beginning some people did shoot them and leave dead SH at the ramp. I personally don't kill for sport, I don't agree with people who do either.

At $14 per pound I don't think people are killing them for a quick but and it does hurt. One example, I used to catch many SH at Pohick bay. After several trips with no result I move on to a different location. When I went to Pohick, I saw at least 5 bowfishing boats whenever I was leaving the park.

A year back I was reading one of the article from odirk guy, the marine biologist. He was electric shock fish to keep track. I believe the rate that he catch was 80+ bass, 15+ SH per hour. And he said bass fishing has been best ever seen.

I'm really glad people are changing their opinion about SH. Maybe one day it won't be so hard to catch couple SH per trip with rod & reel

BTW I talked to couple bowfisherman, SH are very vulnerable at night because they don't move when they see the light just like deer. Carp, and other fish shoot off as soon as they see light but SH just sit there near the surface because they have to breath. That's bowfishing is very effective way to catch SH.

My dad grew up in Vietnam and told me snakehead is overfished there. However... No matter how overfished they are... They never go away. The only thing that is effected is their size. He rarely saw a snakehead 20" +. Northern or red eye. I guess they never live long enough to get bigger before getting caught.

He also said their method was a rod and line... And a live frog on the hook. Sometimes left overnight and in the morning there is a snakehead on the hook

[Snakehead Hunter]

The smaller SH taste a lot better. I caught 14+ lbs last year, its meat was tougher. I personally don't keep one over 10 lbs anymore. I prefer them in the 20-30 in range