Caught this one today.  Didn't know there were snakeheads at Burke but if they're at Burke soon they'll be at Huntsman and Mercer (if not there already).  Too bad, we need to catch 'em and get them out of these lakes.

Wow!

 

Have them down south in Swift Creek, too.

 

People must be transporting them to places outside of the Potomac.

 

Only problem killing them is that they are so bloody.

 

Keep up the good work.

Somebody put them there. That sucks, isn't Burke the brood stock for musky and walleye?

you aren't going to get rid of them and study after study has shown they have no negative impact on the fish population and if anything they are good for the overall health of a body of water.  

I still want to catch one but haven't taken the time to go do it yet.

 

34 minutes ago, flyfisher said:

you aren't going to get rid of them and study after study has shown they have no negative impact on the fish population and if anything they are good for the overall health of a body of water. 

 

That's in the tidal Potomac where it's a much larger, and complex watershed where their primary forage is banded killifish and bluegill. Maybe they'll have the same impact on a smaller/closed body of water,  I hope. I love to fish for them, and harvest once in a while.

A good test will be Lake Brittle.  Very small and Snakheads were brought in by a doofus that bragged about it and got arrested/fined.  From What I hear they are pretty thick in there.  I don't fish it anymore even though it's about 7 miles from my house.  Burke used to be a brood lake for the VDGIF Musky stocking program but I do not think it is any longer.  There are some very respectable Musky in there.  

8 hours ago, flyfisher said:

you aren't going to get rid of them and study after study has shown they have no negative impact on the fish population and if anything they are good for the overall health of a body of water.  

I still want to catch one but haven't taken the time to go do it yet.

 

Fly, they are very good fighters and you will have a blast catching them.

 

Just watch their teeth.

Lake Brittle...people are pulling 6lbers.....I myself is one of them....

10 hours ago, flyfisher said:

you aren't going to get rid of them and study after study has shown they have no negative impact on the fish population and if anything they are good for the overall health of a body of water.  

I still want to catch one but haven't taken the time to go do it yet.

 

This is false.  I have yet to see a study say "no negative impact"...They all say something to the effect of, "Not as bad as originally thought, but long-term impact is unknown."  Keep in mind, "Not as bad as originally thought," is the inevitable conclusion because back then people were losing their minds and talking about them walking across land to eat cats and small dogs.  

 

People need to quit illegally moving them around and sentiments like this only make people more likely to continue....Even IF they coexist fine, they are still carriers for LMBV so it's like a ticking time bomb should there be an outbreak.

 

The Potomac is huge and loaded with them...Fish for them there and leave them there.  

For Logan S:  Agree with almost everything you said except "Fish for them there and leave them there"  Fish for them there and get them out of there.  DNR asks that if you catch one, kill it and I agree.

2 hours ago, vaparrothead said:

For Logan S:  Agree with almost everything you said except "Fish for them there and leave them there"  Fish for them there and get them out of there.  DNR asks that if you catch one, kill it and I agree.

I agree with that, however I'm too much of a realist to think there is even the slightest chance of getting rod of them in the Potomac.  Snakeheads are here to stay in the Potomac, for better or worse....So I don't fault people for catch and release fishing for them there.  

 

It's the guys that want to make their closest lake a snakehead fishery so they don't have to drive to the river that need to meet the long arm of the law eventually....One can hope.  

"Potomac Pike" are in the Potty to stay, and are a fun fishery. 0% chance of getting them out of the Potomac. Could a brutal winter limit the population and push it south? Probably. I just hate the bucket biologists that move a clearly invasive species to inland lakes. 

In a small lake like Brittle with a limited food source and the propensitiy to grow to the size of the Snakehead I caught on the Potomac, just how long before even though Bass are not their "preferred" food source, do you think it will take them to start feeding on the native species?  The Potomac has an endless supply of baitfish as a food source.  I know Brittle has a stocked Walleye population (I have caught them) and I would hate to see that decimated.  

I hear in the past that snakeheads have made their way into Burke Lake, but this is the first confirmation that I have seen. Thanks for the heads up. I have to be sure to bring my grippers with me in case I hook into one of them.