Horny Snakeheads

[J. Rentch]

Went to a Blackwater tributary with some friends for my first real try at Snakeheads. Really beautiful area, could head the snakes jumping all around me in the Splatterdock, but we’re more interested in courting than eating.
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Was throwing a soft frog with no luck
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Want to revisit this area later when they have food, not sex on their minds.

[CHOC]

I went last year this time and had the exact same experience. Lots of jumpers but not many interested, especially in topwater. They hit topwater once it gets warmer. The only one I hooked was a monster that I hooked on a freakin beetle spin that I was using for perch. It looked like it was 30+ inches and snapped my beetle spin easily.

I’ll add that the locals were catching them on chartreuse buzzbaits.

[J. Rentch]

Thanks for the info, going back in June for another go around.

[YakMan1731]

I went out with Pat to the eastern shore for snakeheads on Saturday and found them in a similarly interesting mood. We ended up catching a handful between the two of us, but there was a bit of a trick to it. Like you mentioned, there seemed to be some spawn-related behavior going on. They would wake on my frog, smash it, swim off with it, but when I set the hook they rarely had the entire thing in their mouth and it would fly out. I usually lose a couple from bad hooksets, but this got Pat and I frustrated quickly, as it seemed they were treating it more like a pest to move out of the way than something to eat. I started using the frog as sort of a search-bait, and when I pulled it free of their mouth I immediately threw a chatterbait a bit beyond where they were and pulled it in towards them. 4 of the 5 snakes that I landed came using this chatterbait follow-up technique. They seemed much more willing to grab hold of the chatterbait than they were to fully eat the frog. Overall, like you said, hopefully in a bit of time they fall into a normal warm weather behavior, crushing (AND fully eating) the topwater stuff.

[Mark]

John,

I see you're using the "one leg shorter than the other" trick on your frog.

Good move.

Hope I can join you when you return in June.

[admwndsr83]

Let me know when you're headed down in June too, I'll see if I can make it down for some safety in numbers

[thedutchtouch]

if you're interested in adding another to the armada, let me know details please

[CHOC]

I’m headed back there in mid-July. For such invasive species they sure are elusive at times.

My guess is that the more they become a target species, the more the book will be out on them (literally as I’m sure someone will write one).

[admwndsr83]

I'm a pretty good writer, thought about doing the first book but can't seem to catch one myself, so it probably wouldn't hit best seller status!

[Slackdaddy]

Try the wooden "Jump Frogs" with weedless trailing hooks,

[CHOC]

I'm a pretty good writer, thought about doing the first book but can't seem to catch one myself, so it probably wouldn't hit best seller status!

Too late anyways. As soon as I wrote that post, I went and put a copyright on snakehead and every combination of the word in 12 different languages. $$$$$

[admwndsr83]

Too late anyways. As soon as I wrote that post, I went and put a copyright on snakehead and every combination of the word in 12 different languages. $$$$$

You already got the hats, man!

[YakMan1731]

Keep an eye on Rudow's FishTalk Magazine in the next few months. They've got some good articles coming out about snakehead fishing. There's definitely a lot of literature on SH just waiting to be created. I know Joe Bruce has a spiral bound snakehead booklet that he sells on his website, but a fully comprehensive and detailed book would be excellent as well. For now, I think sharing details here is lucrative and fun!

[mchottie]

John my best months are late June thru July.

I think you'll have better luck deeper into the summer months.