Snakeheads anyone?

Has anybody here had any contact with the snakeheads that are invading? I saw a show about them and I don't know how accurate they were, or if they were just trying to make the show exciting. If what they say is true, it could be a disaster for our natives. there is doesn't seem to be any close to Kentucky, unless the Ohio River holds some secrets.

I officially hate National Geographic. That was at least 50% science fiction and drama Shakespeare would be proud of. As far as getting information, there is some in here in the invasive forum but your best bet is going to the source, the NAS website, FWS, Virginia DGIF, etc.

I officially hate National Geographic. That was at least 50% science fiction and drama Shakespeare would be proud of. As far as getting information, there is some in here in the invasive forum but your best bet is going to the source, the NAS website, FWS, Virginia DGIF, etc.

My hunch was right. They never pass up drama to sell shows. The history channel has some BS on it too. Thanks, Tom

I saw the show as well, perhaps Hollywood got there hooks set in the snakehead as well, however I know this much to be true, a friend of mine, whose opinions I value as fact, caught one on rod and reel in the Potomac River last year. As required by law, he killed it and reported it to VDGIF. I guess it was a few months before "Fishzilla" aired...


We have fliers in every baitstore in the area. Apparently some folks are mistaking them for Bowfin.



They are there and are apparently a persistent problem.

I have heard that there are TWO(?) species of Snakeheads loose in the river now. I know of the Northern Snakehead, but allegedly there are reports of Giant Snakeheads now as well. How did TWO different species of the same %^&# fish get turned loose in the same river?


-Scary

Sorry for getting off subject

I officially hate National Geographic. That was at least 50% science fiction and drama Shakespeare would be proud of.

I don't like most learning channels I wonder why the History channel has shows on UFOs, Iran being the next Iraq (the future hasn't happened yet), and so on... While the Science channel has shows on tattooing, sit com with "Little People" (midgets, and I mean no offense to anyone), and "What to wear" etc... I could go on about them forever...

We have fliers in every baitstore in the area. Apparently some folks are mistaking them for Bowfin

I hope Bowfin don't suffer because of them.

In Ohio we(Ohio division of wildlife) get calls all the time of people who caught bowfin and think they caught a snakehead. I am slowly updating the ID pages for the the divisions web site. I tried to make it very clear what the difference between a snakehead and a bowfin was. The id pages were rather sad to start with but I hope I am doing them justice. I have made it down to the channel darter so far starting at the top of the list found here... http://www.dnr.state...13/Default.aspx Not even close to all of Ohio's species are on that page currently. Once I get through the ones listed I hopefully will begin adding more species to the page. keep in mind I am trying to keep these as simple as possible for the general public to read and understand. If anyone has any sugestions I'd be glad to hear them.

I've seen comparative ID bulletins, signs, notices, etc. and it still doesn't kick a persons gut reaction. Bowfin are so rare and their habitat is so under sampled in this area that I wouldn't blame someone for having an initial reaction to thinking it was a snakehead. Honsetly, you probably havea better chance of catching one than a bowfin. We're working on a similar update to online Maryland fish ID's with a combination of photovouchers and drawings.

Here in Ohio it is the opposite, there is (so far) no snakeheads that have been found in Ohio and we do have a fair number of lakes and reservoirs that have at least small bowfin populations. People catch them and call in thinking they killed a snakehead and want to know what to do with it. On the other hand if someone does find a snakehead we definately want to know about it, but we don't need a bunch of dead bowfin turned in to wildlife officers. I have gotten some coments back that people have already been refered to this page to see the difference between the two. I don't deal with any such calls personally so I don't know if people really have caught bowfin in Ohio in the past 2 weeks or people have just been asking about snakeheads.

The fisheries guys I work with are pulling these things out of the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers like crazy. Most spots along the river with downed logs and cover from the bank are good spots.....they aren't hard to shock up.

Ya know how they put pix of missing people on milk cartons? Maybe FWS and the state DNRs can lobby the eastern US beer distributors to put bowfin vs snakehead ID pix on beer cans. Then 90% of fishermen will have ID info handy when needed.

Here in Ohio it is the opposite, there is (so far) no snakeheads that have been found in Ohio and we do have a fair number of lakes and reservoirs that have at least small bowfin populations. People catch them and call in thinking they killed a snakehead and want to know what to do with it. On the other hand if someone does find a snakehead we definately want to know about it, but we don't need a bunch of dead bowfin turned in to wildlife officers. I have gotten some coments back that people have already been refered to this page to see the difference between the two. I don't deal with any such calls personally so I don't know if people really have caught bowfin in Ohio in the past 2 weeks or people have just been asking about snakeheads.

Ya know how they put pix of missing people on milk cartons? Maybe FWS and the state DNRs can lobby the eastern US beer distributors to put bowfin vs snakehead ID pix on beer cans. Then 90% of fishermen will have ID info handy when needed.

Good one!!

Brian