Snakehead Whisperer

Wire up that circuit breaker before you start running the motor again. I just burnt out my old trusty MotorGuide when I bypassed the fuse due to not having a replacement while on the water. Dumbest thing I've done in a while, and that's no small feat.

x2 My top 3 pickerel were all caught from ponds in Charles County. Serious pond fishing down there.

Even if they are carp you may still be in a good spot. When carp go sloshing around in vegetation they knock a lot of debris loose and into the water. Bait fish then are attracted to the area for an easy meal, and then the predators are soon to follow.

Fishing a jig with mono is like having a 50 foot rubber band between you and the lure. Don't get me wrong, I love monofilament... it's about the only line I use for crankbaits and the like. For jigs I typically use braid main line with a fluoro leader or just straight braid, for what it's worth. And no matter what line you use, retie often.

x2. I've caught snakeheads up to 17lbs. or so, but I am certain that I've seen some that were at least 5lbs larger than what I've caught around these parts. There definitely are. It's not uncommon for toman/giant snakeheads to grow upwards of 25lbs in Thailand. These 2 are possibly over 20lbs. As for northern snakeheads, this may be true; but I am doubtful. Who knows? DPRK (North Korea) is crawling with them, but it's anybody's guess what size they grow there. From what I've seen of northern snakeheads in South Korea, China, Russia and Japan; the average size is larger on the Potomac.

I too think it's pretty incredible that the world record was caught right here in the Potomac watershed. To be fair though the previous record is from Japan, and northern snakeheads are an introduced species there too (albeit they were purposefully introduced and not considered invasive.) It is geographically much closer to their native range though. I'm not sure whether they spawn more than once each year here, but I have seen Osprey nab some pretty large snakeheads out of the water (like over 12".)

Lol.

Any air compressor will work (that one looks noisy though!) I use one that was designed for automotive pneumatic tools (also very noisy.) I use the compressor to fill a portable external tank so that I don't have to run the compressor at night, which is when I do the bulk of my painting. I would recommend getting a good external tank, a moisture filter and a good pressure gauge/valve. That way you never have to connect the airbrush directly to the compressor. My 11 gallon tank will hold enough air to paint about 5-10 lures, if not more. If I knew more when I bought the tank, I would have opted for a 20 gallon size.

Those are really well done. Nice work!

The point is sensitivity. Jigging with mono is like having a 50' rubber band between you and your jig. You will not feel strikes in time to set the hook. Mono tied to braid will only stretch the length of the leader and give you far better feel. Fluoro tied to braid is slightly better for this. This is also especially helpful if fishing in areas where snags are inevitable. The light leader allows me to break off easily if I can't retrieve my lure. I use a fluoro leader tied onto braid on a majority of my setups. With that said, I usually use a leader with approximately half the lb. test strength of my braid main line. For river smallies I use a 10-15lb. braid main line with a 6-8lb. fluoro leader. For Potomac snakeheads in heavier cover I will use 30-40lb. braid with a 15-20lb. fluoro leader. A lot of folks will tell you to tie on 65lb. braid or something heavy like that (which will work,) but you will sacrifice casting distance if you go heavy with your line. For flipping and pitching into heavy cover (punching for instance) this is a sound strategy. For casting walking topwaters (where you want to make long casts to cover water) it makes more sense to fish lighter line to cover more water. I usually top out at 30lb. for frogging too, as I have yet to meet a patch of lillies or hydrilla that exceed 30lbs. (even with a 10-15lb. snakehead hooked to them.)That's what the drag on your reel is for. Tournament fishers may disagree with this statement. For jigging specifically I will usually tie on a fluoro leader with a modified albright knot. There are exceptions to this (heavy vegetation/punching being a major one.)

I haven't targeted muskie specifically on the Potomac. I've had a few follows while fishing larger swimbaits for smallies, but no strikes or hook-ups yet.

40-45lb. blue cat on 10lb. braid. It went for a 3" gulp minnow on a ds rig, size 1 hook.

Nice work. They all look great. I especially like the walker, the frog with the grub legs and the buzzbait.

Not sure what the water temperature is up there, but don't overlook the incredible walleye fishery in your area. The walleye spawn always makes the transition into the smallmouth pre-spawn a little easier for me. The walleye on the Potomac tend to spawn when the water is between 42-46 degrees, but not all fish spawn at the same time. You may still have time to hit some of the pre-spawners up there below dam 5 if the water is still colder.

What length rod did you choose? Great water you have to fish up there. I live in DC but make the trip up that way pretty often. Next you're going to have to pick up a good Muskie rod (if you haven't already got one, that is.)

Unfortunately I haven't any advice about the fishing for you. You may have a better chance at a response though if you posted this in the "Other Fish Species" forum here on BR, or perhaps ask about this in one of the local threads in AL. I'm sure somebody on the site has the information that you're looking for. I hope you find them. Sounds like a great trip.

At first glance I thought you were holding the world record crappie in your avatar pic

I fish for them in the Potomac with bass gear. M, MH and H casting rods with 20-40lb. braid is plenty. I've caught snakeheads as big as 10lbs. while crappie fishing on 4lb. mono. The Korean peninsula is known for good northern snakehead fishing. Search youtube for 'south korea snakehead' and you'll find a decent amount of videos, and also be able to get an idea of what techniques and gear they use out there. Don't overlook the trout fishing over there either. There is some world class trout fishing in South Korea, and some really cool looking trout species. There are also great saltwater angling opportunities. cherry trout

Not sure about bass, but you can get into some good snakehead fishing out there.

Snakehead Whisperer is a nickname that I received here in the DC area after catching my age (34 at the time) in snakeheads in one summer. As of late the name should be more like Smallmouth Wisherer (dreaming of Dwight status.) POSIX guy checking in. Debian, Slack and BSD here. I lived in BeOS, IRIX, Solaris and RedHat for much of the 90's. And I use vi and ed, if you catch my drift

That reminds me, I've been meaning to check out his book on snakehead fishing.

Pics, or it didn't happen But seriously, I've caught them up to 16lbs. and have seen some that were far larger. I believe that 22#ers are probably lurking in the Potomac. The fish in my avatar is 11-12lbs. at best. I'm a firm believer in treating snakeheads humanely (even if dispatching them,) btw. They never asked to be put here. Yes, and this is why I want to call BS on this story. I release almost all of the snakeheads I catch nowadays (when fishing in VA/DC waters, that is, it is required by law to dispatch them in MD.) But if I caught a 22lb. snakehead I would be calling the IGFA immediately and getting the fish weighed on a certified scale, regardless of where I caught it.

None in MO, as far I know. The threat of snakeheads was largely blown out of proportion by the media. The species found here in the tidal Potomac is the northern snakehead, and yes, it is considered invasive. The northern snakeheads are reproducing efficiently and found in almost all portions of the tidal Potomac river (none have yet been captured in the free flowing portions of the river above Great Falls, although there was a false report of one a few years back.) With this said, there is very little evidence to suggest that they are a threat to native species or to introduced species (such as largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, etc.) Most fisheries biologists around here are more concerned with the blue catfish than the northern snakehead, as far as threats to the balance of the ecosystem are concerned. Bass year classes have been strong since the introduction of the snakehead, and bass fishing continues to be great out here (with the chance of nailing a big snakehead to boot.) In fact, the world record northern snakehead was caught right here last year, beating a long standing Japanese record. The fish is also an introduced species in Japan, though the introduction was intentional. There is really nothing that can be done at this point to eradicate the northern snakehead from the Potomac river, as they are already present in great numbers and have proven to be well suited to survival in this river. At this point most efforts are focused on preventing the proliferation of snakeheads to nearby watersheds, which is also probably futile as snakeheads in general are well adapted to this. As of late there are several confirmed catches on Maryland's Eastern Shore (Wicomico River) and in the tidal Delaware River as far up as Philadelphia.

I can't agree more. It's also a good idea to see what the rod feels like with the reel you decide to pair it with.

x2 My most used rods for smallmouth fishing are between 6'9"-7'6", and most are ML or M.