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Yesterday early Friday morning, I launched at 6:00 am to mostly sunny skies and low winds from the south in a Patapsco tributary. The tide was low but incoming. I paddled for 15 minutes south to a cove that contains submerged wood, lots of SAV, and plenty of piers. Large schools of killifish roamed the grass beds, and the water quality has drastically improved as the mahogany tide diminished.
As I made my way down the cove, I was blind casting in between the piers, throwing a chartreuse buzz bait to any spot that had a slight cut or other structure such as reeds, rip rap, and submerged wood. Shortly after reaching the back of the cove, I stood up to get a better view of the shallows. Not too long after scanning the water, I spot two decent sized snakehead, maybe 12 feet apart. I observed them for a moment, then threw my buzzbait near the larger one. He/she took a look at it, followed it for a second, then was still. I made another cast and to no avail, buzzing the bait slowly past. I switched to a Big Bite Baits Cane Thumper white swim bait rigged weedless on a 1/8 oz jig head. I cast just past the fish, retrieved the bait slowly towards it, only for my offering to be ignored. I made several more casts where I then was bumping my lure into the fish, only to constantly watch it just sit there.
I moved on to another portion of the same cove where it is a similar story, submerged wood, grass beds, and lots of bait. As I was slowly maneuvering the 30 yard stretch of shoreline, a snakehead rises from the depths out of Nowhere, only a few feet away in front of my kayak. I stalk the fish for 30 minutes, making many casts with both the buzzbait and the swim bait. He only followed it once. Before calling it a morning, I had one more spot to check.
It was a 20 minute paddle north to a different cove, with the same features as the previous. Only this cove is a 5 minute paddle from where I launch. After scanning almost the entire shoreline in the very back of the cove, I finally spot another snakehead. This time, I threw the swim bait first, and the fish zeroed in on it. However, he did not commit, so I made a second cast but botched it. I reeled my line back in very quickly to perfect the next cast. The third time is the charm as I casted past him, slowly retrieved it back, and to watch him stalk the bait then strike was a moment that I will never forget.
After 2 hard runs into the grass, he came to the surface, but I knew that he wasn’t done. As I contemplated on how I was going to land this fish with only lip grips, and no net, he made a strong effort to pull me into a submerged lay down. I managed to get him back away from the lay down, and paddled a good ways away from the structure with my rod in between my knees. I then brought the fish close to the boat side and grabbed the hook with my pliers while using my dehooker to open his mouth so that I could get my grips in there. Finally, he opened up and I got him with the grips. I decided to harvest the fish as I have yet to try snakehead. I bled the gills and placed him on my stringer, then headed home to fillet him up. The fish measured to be 22 inches, and weighed maybe around 5 pounds?
For dinner that night, I dressed the fillets in old bay lemon butter and threw them on the grill. For the side, I grilled green zucchini seasoned with salt and pepper. They have white, flakey meat with absolutely no fish taste. It was a delicious meal.
The chance to sight fish so close home is incredible, and now I think that I will dedicate more time to chase these fun fish.
4FA0F1FC-64BE-464E-849E-9E5B9D00B0B8.jpg
As I made my way down the cove, I was blind casting in between the piers, throwing a chartreuse buzz bait to any spot that had a slight cut or other structure such as reeds, rip rap, and submerged wood. Shortly after reaching the back of the cove, I stood up to get a better view of the shallows. Not too long after scanning the water, I spot two decent sized snakehead, maybe 12 feet apart. I observed them for a moment, then threw my buzzbait near the larger one. He/she took a look at it, followed it for a second, then was still. I made another cast and to no avail, buzzing the bait slowly past. I switched to a Big Bite Baits Cane Thumper white swim bait rigged weedless on a 1/8 oz jig head. I cast just past the fish, retrieved the bait slowly towards it, only for my offering to be ignored. I made several more casts where I then was bumping my lure into the fish, only to constantly watch it just sit there.
I moved on to another portion of the same cove where it is a similar story, submerged wood, grass beds, and lots of bait. As I was slowly maneuvering the 30 yard stretch of shoreline, a snakehead rises from the depths out of Nowhere, only a few feet away in front of my kayak. I stalk the fish for 30 minutes, making many casts with both the buzzbait and the swim bait. He only followed it once. Before calling it a morning, I had one more spot to check.
It was a 20 minute paddle north to a different cove, with the same features as the previous. Only this cove is a 5 minute paddle from where I launch. After scanning almost the entire shoreline in the very back of the cove, I finally spot another snakehead. This time, I threw the swim bait first, and the fish zeroed in on it. However, he did not commit, so I made a second cast but botched it. I reeled my line back in very quickly to perfect the next cast. The third time is the charm as I casted past him, slowly retrieved it back, and to watch him stalk the bait then strike was a moment that I will never forget.
After 2 hard runs into the grass, he came to the surface, but I knew that he wasn’t done. As I contemplated on how I was going to land this fish with only lip grips, and no net, he made a strong effort to pull me into a submerged lay down. I managed to get him back away from the lay down, and paddled a good ways away from the structure with my rod in between my knees. I then brought the fish close to the boat side and grabbed the hook with my pliers while using my dehooker to open his mouth so that I could get my grips in there. Finally, he opened up and I got him with the grips. I decided to harvest the fish as I have yet to try snakehead. I bled the gills and placed him on my stringer, then headed home to fillet him up. The fish measured to be 22 inches, and weighed maybe around 5 pounds?
For dinner that night, I dressed the fillets in old bay lemon butter and threw them on the grill. For the side, I grilled green zucchini seasoned with salt and pepper. They have white, flakey meat with absolutely no fish taste. It was a delicious meal.
The chance to sight fish so close home is incredible, and now I think that I will dedicate more time to chase these fun fish.
4FA0F1FC-64BE-464E-849E-9E5B9D00B0B8.jpg
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