Tag Archives: Maryland snakehead fishing

Spring is Here and Snakeheads are Biting!

Spring Snakeheads are Back!

cropped-snakehead-mount.jpg
Not my fish but a great mounted Snakehead from the Maryland Snakehead Tournament in 2015

Of course the camera was on the blink and my cell phone died so no stills when I caught my first snakehead and some small largemouth bass on my first Spring fishing trip to the Potomac River two weeks ago.  I wore out the screw on mount on my Ion AirPro 3 it kept falling off the camera pole that I have installed on my kayak.  When I got home that night I filled it with gorilla glue and it seems to work now and not fall off the camera pole on my kayak, LOL!  Always have your outdoor cameras secured with an snapable safty line as even the best mount will come loose. I know dropped my new Ion Airpro 3 in the river two years ago!  Expensive lesson.  But now I am ready so the next time I blog here I should be able to have some good footage for you.  It will be posted here and on my Youtube channel soon!  I’ve been very busy with work and have limited time on the water but am clearing my schedule for the warm weather Potomac River season so you will be hearing a lot from me.

So in summary the water is still cool, the weed beds are growing but still not that big so the snakeheads are roaming more this time of year.  I had to cover a bit of water in my kayak to find a few nice ones.    The bass were holding on the drop offs too early for bedding in early April but by now that should be changing.  You bass specialists can keep me updated on that.  I found some nice snakeheads hunting the “soon to be weed beds” which that day were still just barren mud flats. I caught my snakeheads on this trip about 30 feet off the shoreline in two feet of water at a very high tide.  They were just randomly cruising (at least randomly to me since I am sure the fish had a plan, lol).  Snakeheads do not school so to speak although at times in the hot summers they seem to be a lot in certain areas.  They are solitary fish for the most part.

If someone has information on some scientific research that is contrary to this please let me know. I am not a fish biologist just and observant fisherman.

Make sure to visit and subscribe to my Youtube Channel if you want to see all my Snakehead trips this year.  New films weekly starting in May.

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If you are concerned about your health you HAVE to get one of these
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Fall is Here…the Water is Chilly

12 lb snakehead
My last big one, 12lbs. 33″ caught late September

Well they were hitting pretty good till the cold October nights started.  Granted the number of bites was down but if you fished the lilly pads long enough you got a few.  Even my friend Emanuel saw a slow down but we both were able to land some nice fish on those hot September days.  Now as the leaves change color and the weed beds die off a few snakeheads can be found if you are out there.   I will give it a try again unless it gets downright cold but you will find me now in the woods looking for deer or on my boat striper fishing!

Comment below on your winter fishing plans.

Well It’s Getting Cooler and the Snakeheads are Slowing Down

As I have seen every year so far the snakehead bite slows as September rolls around and is basically done by the end of the month.  Sure a few here and there may show up on some lucky fisherman’s hook but for us ‘addicts’ they just seem to hide in the mud till April or May.  Now it has been very warm this month so they may bite a little longer this year but I am seeing hit or miss days now.

To wrap up the season here are some pics of some real nice fish my friend and fellow Snakehead addict, Emanuel Tankersley caught.  He had a lot of fish this season and about 8 over 35″ and 15 lbs plus! Way to go Emanuel… he also is one hell of of kitchen cabinet maker/carpenter.

16l lb snakehead

A friend of mine who knows my passion for catching these fish  forwarded me this picture of his buddy’s snakehead but forgot to tell me his name!  He caught back in July, a very nice fish caught over by Aquia.  It looks to be around 8-10 lbs.

aquia snakehead 2016
Aquia Snakehead July 2016

 

Send me your snakehead pics and some info like where caught what lure did you use what were the water, weather conditions and I will post them here!  DrD@snakeheadfishing.net

 

 

Snakehead Fishing Fall Drop Off?

Snakehead Fishing Drop Off?

I am not a biologist just a fisherman who spends a lot time on the lower Potomac River chasing snakeheads.  It has become my addiction!  I am new to this and only started May 2014.    But last year I noticed that by the end of August the fishing had slowed down dramatically.  Now this year was a “slower” year all together compared to last year and everyone I spoke with who was snakehead fishing agreed with me.  The fishing this year did have a little peak in certain creeks like Accokeet off Potomac Creek in July and early August then it died by September 1st.   Like I said earlier I saw the same pattern last year and think this may be a seasonal change in snakehead fish behavoir more than a population change.

One interesting thing I noticed the last few weeks is that I get fair amount of “follows” and short strikes now they are much less aggressive so the “misses” happen more often now than the pole bending slammers of July.   I am also catching and seeing mostly small fish under 20″.  In the past 3 weeks I have only seen 4 “bigger” snakeheads (caught one 27″).  When you seem them they are the ones that just crash out as you get close to their sunbathing spot or when you cast a bait over them and it scares them. I assume they think it’s a bird trying to eat them!   Early last month even when catching them was slow I was still spooking 10 or 12 big ones with their characteristic big swirly splashes as I cruised by them in the weeds!  Now nothing but small ones bugging out occassionally and only a few.

So maybe the big ones move to deeper water and hang in the channels as opposed to their summer haunts in the weeds.  No sure.  Any observations you have please leave your comments below, all us snakehead fishing fans would appreciate it.

See you on the water but the woods will be calling me soon as bow season is not far away and I have a buck or two that I’ve been watching all summer!

 

Dr. Demetrios Kydonieus, Chiropractic Nutritionist with a passion for the outdoors!

Check out my chiropractic website or radio show pages.  www.TotalChiro.net or www.DrDSays.net, my weekly radio show.

They’re Back! Snakehead Fishing Has Exploded!

Snakeheads in the Potomac Creek and Aquia Creeks Are Out and Biting!

10 lb Female Snakehead on a 5" bubblegum swimbait
10 lb Female Snakehead on a 5″ bubblegum swimbait
2  nice ones, about 10 and 8 lbs almost 30"
2 nice ones, about 10 and 8 lbs almost 30″

Now they have come out of hiding,  the grass beds at low tide on the creek last week is where they were, stacked!  I ran over a bunch as I kayaked up the grass edge.  A change from the week before when they were in the lillies and large expanses of water plants that grow above the water while they swam in between the stems.  Now there were some in those big lilly expanses but most were out in grass at low tide.  I found the incoming tide better than the outgoing and things slowed down dramatically at high tide, even in the lilly fields.  But after 9 hours on the water I landed 9 nice ones 5 of which were 6-10lbs and 4 smaller ones.    And the largemouths, bigs ones were hitting at the end of the day, 4-7 lbs!

 

Here is one I caught two days later on the bass boat.  Only had 4 snakeheads that day.  But over all they have really picked up, saw 3 pods of babies being guarded by mom and dad but they weren’t biting anything just hanging by the “kids”.

 a nice 6lb largemouth on a floatin Toad top water
a nice 6lb largemouth on a floatin Toad top water

Other anglers on the water that day were having success too.  Jason here had a nice 10+ pounder that did a lot of jumping as he fought to get him to his kayak.  Way to go Jason!

Jason with a 10+ Pounder
Jason with a 10+ Pounder

Snakehead Fishing is Picking Up!

Ah the Snakeheads are Still There!

Well another day on Potomac Creek and I found a few fish. The days are hot now and the fish are active.  Still casting to the banks by any vegitation, lillies and grass seem the best. The weed flats are slow as the fish seem to be underneath and aren’t coming up to grab the top water stuff (the only thing you can fish in the thick weed flats, drop shotting hasn’t worked for me).

This average 5 pounder was right at the bank mid day and very hot 92 degrees. He was sitting inbetween the thick weed matts that the low tide was exposing when he slammed my  white “Floatin’ Toad” straightened the hook a bit too!

Potomac Creek pretty far back
Potomac Creek back way back up in the small part of the channel

The nicest one of the day was this 8 pound female that also killed my “Floatin’ Toad’, green/silver pattern in the morning.  She also almost go off by straightening the hook!

Nice 8lb female Snakehead
Nice 8lb female Snakehead

 

Here was real nice largemouth right at dusk in the main channel of the creek, about 5 lbs. It was real wild hard to hold and snap a photo with my phone so this was all I could get.  Wiggled right out of my grip when I was holding it up for a nice classic pic and went back into the river!  So you just get my foot(size 12) and the fish, so you can get an idea of the fishes size! LOL!

5lb. Largemouth on a White Floatin Toad top water
5lb. Largemouth on a White Floatin Toad top water

Well see ya’ll next time on the water.  Share your bass and snakehead fishing stories, tactics and locations(if you don’t mind that is..)  We’d love to learn from you too.

 

Dr. D (Dr. Snakehead) signing off till next time!

 

Check out my radio show on nutrition and chiropractic, www.DrDSays.net

The Snakehead fishing is DEFINATELY SLOW THIS YEAR

Snakehead Fishing  2015 is DOWN

4Lbs. and 7lbs. both got filleted and tasted great!
4Lbs. and 7lbs. both got filleted and tasted great!

But the good news is that the bass fishing on the Potomac River and its creeks seems to be up!  I have caught more largmouths this year than Snakeheads which for me is a bummer but I will take it as the bass have all been nice ones in the 2.5 to 4 lb. range…a bit skinny but long.  Now since I am fishing 90% top water my numbers are not huge on the bass, 3 or 4 most days and on a slow day  just 1 or 2 bass.   The snakeheads which I am targeting not bass have been hard to find, at least for me in my kayak.  I have caught a few each day but no numbers and definately not like last year.  A average day on the water for me in my kayak is 1 or 2 landed and 4 or 5 misses- but spectacular misses!  The acrobatics, jumpsand head shakes wear the spit the lure most of time is awesome!  I have to get a better video system on board and try to get some their areals on film.

This is one of the best things about fishing for snakeheads that I love.  Not to mention their shark like attack, they see or hear the lure and charge it from a distance fin up leaving a huge wake like Jaws as they SMASH the lure and dive.  As  you set the hook they dive deeper and swim hard, many times coming right up and out of the water like a minature swordfish or marlin tail-walking on the water thrashing their head side to side trying to spit the hook- which many times they do!  Their areal moves are great to watch even when you lose them.

This year though I have not seen many of those great water walks, just not catching that many fish.  In my conversations with other snakehead anglers on the waters where I have been fishing they all say the same thing.  “This year has been really slow and the lowest catches in 5 years”, Stewart told me yesterday on the Potomac Creek.

Now these fisherman have been fishing snakeheads hard for 4 or 5 years and can remember in 2011, 2012 and 2013 catching 10 to 20 fish in the boat between 8lbs. and 15 lbs. regularly!  Even last year 5 to 15 fish caught regularly was common by many snakehead fishermen.  But this year so far it’s 2 to 5 a day most of the time with a few big ones at 34″ and 12 lbs. but it a long day finding them.

I have fished Quanico Creek, Aquia Creek and Potomac Creek mostly this year and did one long day on the Maryland side at Matawoman Swamp(didn’t catch one, only missed one small one!)  So it’s been hard, I don’t hear as many breaking the surface this year either.  Last year was my first year targeting snakeheads I heard them all day long smashing the surface inside the lilly pads but this year it is sporadic and not so many “KIRSPLASH’S” in the weeds a sure sign the catch and kill regulations have greatly reduced their numbers if you aske me.

 

So I will keep hitting the water till deer season wish me luck.  Hope to see y’all on water sometime soon!

Dr D

I would love to hear your comments so please post them here and I will read and approve them.   Please post ONLY fishing stories, I appreciate the “nice blog comments…keep up the good work, etc” but most of those are just people trying get their sales weblinks which they post in the contact part of their comment posted on my blog and I willl not approve those types of posts.

2015 Potomac River Snakehead Tournament Has Come and Gone

Well another great tournament my hat is off to the organizers!

A Very Nice Snakehead Mount
A Very Nice Snakehead Mount

They did a lot of work and it went off beautifully, lots of FREE food, I loved the fried snakehead nuggets and the bagget sandwich with grilled snakehead and gourmet sauce!  MMMMM!  There were free donuts and IPA beer too.  Darn if more people knew about the free beer we would had to beat them off at the gate of the park!

Potomac River Snakehead Tournament 2015
Potomac River Snakehead Tournament 2015

Over 1500 lbs of snakeheads were caught mostly by bow fisherman(is that really fishing…I call it fish hunting, I do it too…just wondering I guess it’s just semantics)  These boats just glide over the water and at night with all their lights going they look like UFO’s- very cool!

One of the many bow fishing night rigs
One of the many bow fishing night rigs
Bukket of Snakeheads at weigh-in
Bukket of Snakeheads at weigh-in

I watched as hundreds of pounds of dead snakeheads(rules all fish must be killed when landed- no live snakeheads) were weighed in and it was impressive…took over 2 hours!  The rod and reel contestants of which I was one were a few but the top rod and reel team(2 guys) had over 60 lbs of fish, 11 in total which is a good day on the water this time of year!  The #2 rod and reel team was a family event, Dad and daughter and Uncle with 45 lbs. and also 11 fish, just a bit smaller than the other team.

Great fish from last year courtesty of Potomacsnakehead.com
Great fish from last year
courtesty of Potomacsnakehead.com
Bow fishing for snakeheads in Mattawoman Creek, MD
Bow fishing for snakeheads in Mattawoman Creek, MD

As a side note, Dad is the current world record holder for the largest snakehead ever caught, 17 lbs. 9 oz.   which he caught last May in Quanico Creek, Virginia of his dock!  That is where he liesurley fished this year for the tournament, a heck of lot easier than the hectic week-weekend I had and I got skunked!  It was very cool to meet Louis and his family and see his cooler full of fish as we stood in the weigh-in line.

No snakeheads for me this time but thats’ why they call it ‘fishin’ and not ‘catchin”!  I did get 3rd place in the Blue Catfish Division with an 8 lb 4 oz fish but then there were only 4 people to weigh in any catfish this year as it was the first year they had the catagory.

8lb. 4 oz Blue Catfish
8lb. 4 oz Blue Catfish

First place as a monster at 38 lbs big and ugly about 3 1/2 – 4 feet long!  Second was a 20 pounder so I was never really in contention for any prize, LOL!

All in all I had a blast fishing all night in my new bass boat.  But as I learned a bass boat is not the best boat to get into the lilly pads and fish, that is where the snakeheads were back deep in the pads not in the main current.  A flat bottom boat, kayak, or canoe would have been much better and maybe got me on the board.  Lesson learned I will be ready next year going back to my kayak!  But I did catch 2 nice bass at 4 lbs each. (In addition to my catfish).

See ya’ll on river!

Dr D

For health tips or to hear my weekly radio show on natural health alternatives check out my other blogs, www.drdsays.net and www.totalchiro.net

The Snakehead Waters are Warming Up!

Out last week, 4/21/2015 and the water was warm on Potomac Creek.  After the wind calmed down by 7 pm the water was smooth and the fish were jumping!  Caught one nice 8 lb snakehead about 28 inches and one nice largmouth 4 lbs. in the same set of pads.

Sorry left the camera in the car that day but will have pictures next trip.

Let me know how you are doing and where you are fishing.

 

Dr D

Snakehead Season is Finally Here!

Wow  what a long and COLD winter it has been here in Virginia but now it is finally warming up!  Can’t wait to get out on the water next week and find some snakeheads!   They should be out of the mud and moving around a bit now that the water is above 40 degrees.   I would recommend noisy deep water divers for now.  Rattle Traps, large ones and bright colors over dark.   Orange deep diving rattle bugs are my favorite for now.   But cannot wait for the water to warm up more and hit the top water frogs!