Mini Snakehead Hunt

[jffoley]

Met up with Jack (kanvery), his GF, Jasmine and Joe (comeonfish) last night at Pohick Bay for a snakehead hunt. Success! Well, for Jack anyway. He got 2 of the slimy things. And they are SLIMY! Many more sighted, many follows and several blowups but only the 2 landed.

Jasmine, Joe and I had to settle for LM bass bycatch! Joe took lots of video so look forward to that.

[ictalurus]

Well done. The look on Jack's face is hilarious, and that's a rare photo of Joe. What were the snakeheads and bass hitting?

[jffoley]

Well done. The look on Jack's face is hilarious, and that's a rare photo of Joe. What were the snakeheads and bass hitting?

Rubber frogs (rage toads) and swim baits. Most just ripped along the surface. I retrieve the swimbait just fast enough so it is making a wake and the tail wobbles a bit. I picked a couple bass slowing the retrieve so it was below the surface as well.

[Grilled]

awesome...nice job! have yet to catch one but will soon enough!!!!

[DOGFISH]

I posted this on another thread about some guys on TV catching Bowfin. Looked similar to snakeheads.

http://www.snaggedline.com/boatyard/...5746#post15746

[kanvery]

Dogfish, it's funny you mention those guys catching bowfins. Apparently that's a native fish on the Potomac and was often confused with the Snakehead when the whole scare happened some years ago. Actually, at Pohick near the snack bar there is still an old poster there that tells anglers how to distinguish between the two. Interesting I don't think I've ever even seen one. I wonder how prominent they are.

[jffoley]

I posted this on another thread about some guys on TV catching Bowfin. Looked similar to snakeheads.

http://www.snaggedline.com/boatyard/...5746#post15746

Good tips, Don. I'll bet that would work well. I think this would work well standing, using a long rod and reaching into gaps in the spatterdock. I can't stand up in my Cobra so can only work the edges and open water nearby. But the weeds are thick and there's plenty of "Potomac Pike" around!

And yes, Slavins is a free ramp. Head upstream from the launch site. The Mattawoman is thick with 'em. I'll be there Saturday evening with Capt Mike!

BTW, I've never seen, caught or have seen anyone else catch... a bowfin!

[DOGFISH]

The bowfin are up north in some of those lakes and rivers. I think that is the correct spelling, or at least as it sounds. The guys I was watching were in Canada. So the bowfin must have quite a range. They look alot like the mudfish that are caught in Florida. They kinda remind a person of a snakehead. All three have a good set of teeth.

Thanks for the info.

[ComeOnFish]

The Video

Jack looks good on the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXMP8HhIHF0

Thanks,
Joe

[ictalurus]

Cool video, and those were some nice bass. I think I'm going to have to visit my folks soon and make a trip there with my father.

[ronaultmtd]

Cool video, and those were some nice bass. I think I'm going to have to visit my folks soon and make a trip there with my father.

Bill- The snakes are thick in Mattawoman Creek, too- I think Mattawoman Creek has some of the biggest LM bass in Maryland- Pohick is across the Potomac in Virginia and it looks a lot like Mattawoman Creek habitat minus the miles of lilly pad flats- If you go down to Smallwood State Park on the lower Mattawoman Creek it would appear to be about the same as Pohick- launching from Indian Head has you in the upper creek with a different type of habitat- Pohick (in the video) looks like the weeds don't come all the way to the surface like the upper creek does-

[jffoley]

Bill- The snakes are thick in Mattawoman Creek, too- I think Mattawoman Creek has some of the biggest LM bass in Maryland- Pohick is across the Potomac in Virginia and it looks a lot like Mattawoman Creek habitat minus the miles of lilly pad flats- If you go down to Smallwood State Park on the lower Mattawoman Creek it would appear to be about the same as Pohick- launching from Indian Head has you in the upper creek with a different type of habitat- Pohick (in the video) looks like the weeds don't come all the way to the surface like the upper creek does-

We found fish in more open water this time. Hydrilla weeds were subsurface. When we started the tide was low and we found snakeheads along the edges where the hydrilla was real thick and "floating" due to the low water. Farther back there's plenty of spatterdock weeds exactly like Mattawoman. Pohick Creek is not as wide as Mattawoman but it goes a long way. Lots of prime LM bass and "Potomac Pike" habitat!

It is a surprising challenge to get them to strike. When they want it there's no mistake as the strike is violent. But more often it seems they will just follow and turn away at the last minute or nip at the tail of the lure. I caught one on a small Rapala that, of course has a tail treble hook. The fish was just lip hooked in the corner of its mouth on one point of the treble!

[kanvery]

There are some really nice areas with spatterdock, weeds, and tight channels. Here's a candid picture of John in some of the back areas.

[DOGFISH]

That looks very nice and fishy.

[ronaultmtd]

It is very surprising that these so called "Top Predators" frankenfish are so finicky and hard to get to strike a bait- I tossed a 4 inch crystal metal flake Zoom fluke with an unweighted 5/0 Mustad worm hook across one's head as it came up and it just submerged and then tailed with its tail out of water...for some reason they just were not feeding and it didn't matter what you tossed at them- but the tour of Pohick is great- the only hit I had was on a Koppers Real Target green and yellow frog - a huge blowup like dropping a volkswagen in the water- but the strike was more like the fish was trying to knock the frog away than trying to eat it-