Snakeheads

[ErikNJD]

Does anyone know/recommend any guides/charters that target snakheads in NJ?

[ErikNJD]

Well I found a guide, thanks everyone 😆 Went out the last Friday in June down in Salem County. Landed 3 of 7 snakes and 1 of 4 largies, plus a bunch of swipes and misses. Threw poppin frogs all day long.

On a side note- I heard a report of snakeheads in the Toms River, but I have yet to run into one bass fishing. Now I know they have made it above the dam and into Oakford Lake in New Egypt, so I assume from there they could use the creeks/brooks like Jumping Brook and Bordens Mill to make it into the Tom's. Has anyone else heard or seen snakes this far east in Jersey???

[Godrew1972]

Those are a great fight, and they really slam it when they hit. Does the guide want you to kill them after the picture, since F&W requires that they be killed?

I have never caught any in NJ waters, but have gotten them around the golf courses in Florida.

[AndyS]

I hope you didn't release them back into the water.

[ErikNJD]

Guys you dont have to kill anything. The only thing you have to do is release them back into the same water you caught it in. They cant force you to kill something. All fish were safely released since I did not want to keep any. The negativity around them is bs and the little studies on them show that. They should be embraced not treated like villains

[Ol Pedro]

. Has anyone else heard or seen snakes this far east in Jersey???[/QUOTE]

Grandson caught 1 out of the skimmer outflow creek below Prospertown dam. It tasted great !!! Don't think that they can get into the lake via the flume/skimmer.

[ErikNJD]

Yeah I know about them being caught below Prospertown. Thats as far as they can go there

[AndyS]

INVASIVE. If I ever catch one I'm tearing it's head off.

[AndyS]

Since everyone is so smitten with these newly introduced invasive fish why don't we just cut to the chase and try this instead. We'll scuttle all the hatcheries, both Pequest and Hackettstown. Do away with all law enforcement since we will no longer will have size and bag limits along with closed seasons. Let people stock whatever fish they desire. We won't need fishing licenses also, won't that be great ! I'm heading to the exotic fish store, any requests ?

[AndyS]

You know what this is called, humans "homogenizing" the Earth. In a sense we are picking everything up and placing it in different spots, technically where it doesn't belong. I will say this though, in nature there is NO excess. Somehow nature always finds a way to balance things out, despite human interaction.

[ErikNJD]

🤣🤣🤣 Funny you have no problem with invasive species like bass, walley, pike that are ferocious top predators. In fact you want them to stock walleye in more waters. But here you are acting like a child about snakeheads. How about do some reading: https://extapps.dec.ny.gov/docs/fish_marine_pdf/meadwillrep.pdf

Let page 9 paragraph 2 soak in. For almost 2 decades they have been in NJ now, they ain't doing shit. What you should be worried about is the blue cats that suck down anything and get to giant sizes. Those things are fckn up the Chesapeake bay, not the snakheads, and they are making their way here.

[bulletbob]

INVASIVE. If I ever catch one I'm tearing it's head off.

yes they are invasive,,, they are also a superior game fish, and from what I have read about them, they are also one of the best eating fish available in fresh water. There must be a reason so many members here respect them.. By the way, Smallmouth Bass , Rainbow Trout, Brown Trout, Lake Trout ,Walleyes, Channel Cats, Landlocks, are also not native to most of NJ . They are all predators just like the Snakehead, and I dare say are probably not as good eating, yet they are welcome in NJ, and blessed by the state DEC For every game fish a Snakehead eats, it probably eats 20 small rough fish, minnow, or small sunny or perch, just like a Pickerel or LMB...... bob

[AndyS]

You like so many others have a lot to learn. There are INTRODUCED fish and there are INVASIVE fish. The fish stocked over the years by our hatcheries are INTODUCED, yes Brown Trout can be listed as INVASIVE when they compete with native Brook Trout. The majority of our stocked fish don 't even spawn.
Snakeheads are INVASIVE and spawn twice a year.
INVASIVE fish DIPLACE the other fish by eating all their food.
I just wish all you closet arm chair biologists would get this through you thick skulls. The Blue Catfish are going to decimate entire coastlines, just sit back, and watch, this is only the beginning.

[AndyS]

yes they are invasive,,, they are also a superior game fish, and from what I have read about them, they are also one of the best eating fish available in fresh water. There must be a reason so many members here respect them.. By the way, Smallmouth Bass , Rainbow Trout, Brown Trout, Lake Trout ,Walleyes, Channel Cats, Landlocks, are also not native to most of NJ . They are all predators just like the Snakehead, and I dare say are probably not as good eating, yet they are welcome in NJ, and blessed by the state DEC For every game fish a Snakehead eats, it probably eats 20 small rough fish, minnow, or small sunny or perch, just like a Pickerel or LMB...... bob

These fish listed are INTRODUCED and not INVASIVE.

[bulletbob]

I never said the list of fish I posted were invasive.. Please read a little more carefully. I merely stated that so many beloved species in NJ were NOT NATIVE, just as the Snakehead is not native.. It also was introduced,.. Illegally of course, but it didn't get here by itself,, It was deliberately put into the water.. Just saying, its a fish thats just trying to survive like every other freshwater fish, and as a game and food fish its as worthy and respectable as a lot of other fish.. It probably eats the same stuff as a LMB, including little LMB.. If you are worried about them eating "more desirable" species, rest assured, those more desirable species eat Snakeheads in return... bob

[AndyS]

The Snakeheads were INRODUCED like many other fish in NJ, BUT they are INVASIVE.

[ErikNJD]

You have no proof the snakeheads do any damage, you are just regurgitating the bs F&W put out. I at least provided a study that says otherwise. Maybe F&W should do a better job conducting surveys and studies instead of fear mongering.

[Godrew1972]

Lets just fish.

[AndyS]

I don't need ANY PROOF. The Snakeheads are INVASIVE bottom line.

[Ol Pedro]

Snake heads, snake heads, yummy, yummy snake heads. Snake heads snake heads eat um up yum ! Seeing how they are so successful at breeding and protecting their young I say eat um all ! Anyone have a good Snake head spot around New Egypt / Jackson area?

[ErikNJD]

Snake heads, snake heads, yummy, yummy snake heads. Snake heads snake heads eat um up yum ! Seeing how they are so successful at breeding and protecting their young I say eat um all ! Anyone have a good Snake head spot around New Egypt / Jackson area?

Crosswicks Creek in New Egypt area has been producing lately.

[Ol Pedro]

Thanks, I will hit below the spill way in town when Grandson is back. Might try the beaver pond off 528/Colliersmills.

[AndyS]

Salem canal is ground zero.

[Lard Almighty]

I don't need ANY PROOF. The Snakeheads are INVASIVE bottom line.
Andy, I can't believe you could so blindly believe anything that F&W says. After all, they won't even stock trout in the lower Raritan, so they CLEARLY have no idea what they're doing. ;)

[AndyS]

My guide on the Upper Delaware who fishes for trout in the cooler months and smallmouth in the summer months has been posting less and less fish photos lately. He is posting bald eagle and river photos, I wonder why that is, coincidence ??

[acabtp]

Guys you dont have to kill anything. The only thing you have to do is release them back into the same water you caught it in. They cant force you to kill something. All fish were safely released since I did not want to keep any. The negativity around them is bs and the little studies on them show that. They should be embraced not treated like villains

yeah, so... you are 100% totally incorrect about the law in NJ. none of the states around here have that "back into the same water you caught it from" provision for snakeheads... i think that's a FL thing? anyway, here in NJ, including salem county where you caught the fish, it is prohibited to release alive any species listed on the aquatic invasive species management plan as a potentially dangerous species. your release of snakeheads alive anywhere in NJ, including back into the water they came from, was unlawful. :eek:

please see https://dep.nj.gov/wp-content/uploads/njfw/new-jersey-aquatic-invasive-species-management-plan.pdf and https://dep.nj.gov/njfw/fishing/freshwater/aquatic-invasive-species/ for more information

N.J. Admin Code. § Section 7:25-6.1(g) states “The possession and/or release of live potentially
dangerous fish species, identified in N.J.A.C. 7:25-6.2, is strictly prohibited. Potentially
dangerous fish species encountered while angling shall be destroyed. There are no season,
minimum size or creel limits on these species.”


7:25-6.2...
"Potentially dangerous fish" means the following species:
1. Asian Swamp Eel Monopterus albus
2. Bighead Carp Hypophthalmichthys nobilis
3. Black Bass species other than Micropterus spp. other than M.
Largemouth Bass and Smallmouth Bass salmoides and M. dolomieu
4. Blue Catfish Ictalurus furcatus
5. Brook Stickleback Culaea inconstans
6. Flathead Catfish Pylodictis olivaris
7. Grass Carp (diploid) Ctenopharyngodon idella
8. Green Sunfish Lepomis cyanellus
9. Oriental Weatherfish Misgurnus anguillicaudatus
10. Round Goby Neogobius melanostomus
11. Snakeheads Channa spp.
12. Silver Carp Hypophthalmichthys molitrix
13. Warmouth Lepomis gulosus

if you disagree with this, fish and game council meetings are the proper place to express your disapproval and try to get the NJ fish code changed

[jmurr711]

blue cats are going to be 100000x worse than the snakes can ever be, places i catch them they've only made the fishing better for bass which are not a native nj specie & were introduced here in 1874 and all you bassh0les defend those dumb things to the death

[AndyS]

Maybe the bass fishing became better since they have to compete harder for food now. Same thing happened at RV when the herring were destroyed by all the lake trout The big browns were being caught left and right because they were starving competing against the lake trout.

[Broad Bill]

My guide on the Upper Delaware who fishes for trout in the cooler months and smallmouth in the summer months has been posting less and less fish photos lately. He is posting bald eagle and river photos, I wonder why that is, coincidence ??

So is everyone to understand your basing a part of your argument on the fact that the guide you use in the upper Delaware caught one snakehead in the upper Delaware so that in itself means snakeheads caused a major decline in the smallmouth and trout population? C'mon, you can't be serious making a statement like that.

Next we'll be talking about flatheads again where there's no proof whatsoever they threaten existing population.....none. F&G is against anything they don't stock or endorse themselves because it threatens their existence and I'd bet in some way how money is allocated to fish they stock and possibly even state funding. Remember, Virginia F&G is the group and state that initially introduced blue catfish in the 70's for recreational angling opportunities. But now we're supposed to blindly listen to the same agency in every state that created that absolute mess in Va. and is spreading.

If snakeheads are a threat to the Delaware, for the same reason we should kill all muskies and stripers in the Delaware as I guarantee they kill more resident non invasive fish than flatheads and snakeheads combined. Do you support that because I don't? There's a natural food chain if we simply let nature take it's course and stop &^*%$@! with it. Unless there's absolute proof that a species is creating havoc in a system, leave it alone. Blue catfish fall into that category and need to be dealt with as there's sufficient proof they not only kill everything, their voracious appetite is actually in large part responsible for killing an entire ecosystem in the Chesapeake and having negative impacts on many other stocks including stripers, redfish, blue claw crabs etc.

[AndyS]

Muskies and striped bass are not invasive but snakeheads and flatheads are.

[ErikNJD]

yeah, so... you are 100% totally incorrect about the law in NJ. none of the states around here have that "back into the same water you caught it from" provision for snakeheads... i think that's a FL thing? d

Maryland is right in this area and they allow C&R, shit they have c&r snakehead tournaments, so ur wrong there... and no I don't have to kill anything. In fact Im pretty sure these snakheads are identifing as bowfins so we just need to respect their feelings 🤣

[bulletbob]

Muskies and striped bass are not invasive but snakeheads and flatheads are.

Muskies are not native to NJ.. Flatheads are a curse... We can agree there...

[Broad Bill]

Muskies and striped bass are not invasive but snakeheads and flatheads are.

Why does that matter if we're talking about the impact they're supposedly having on other species or harm to the environment. In my opinion whether a fishery is invasive or native doesn't matter. What does matter is their presence not creating an imbalance in the food chain or with other species or posing harm to the environment like blue cats and Asian carp have. Same with Goby's in the Great Lakes. I just don't see snakeheads falling into that category. Most people have never caught one or even seen one for that matter so how much damage can they be doing. If there's proof they're hurting natural fisheries or the environment, I'd agree it needs to be dealt with but I don't hear or see that.

[Ol Pedro]

This thread has got quite the set of legs. B.B. , I agree that they have to be dealt with. The State said to remove them. I say to eat um all and not to waste them. Having processed a large one I noticed that these things are armoured and designed to survive. They can live out of water and slither around like their namesake. When I filleted one it was like cutting through an aluminum can and well worth it. Need more to perfect my technique.
I could easily see them take over Pineland lakes and ponds. I don't see any Snakehead shaped lures for Bass yet . Will Bass eat their fry?

[AndyS]

Like I said, it is humans homogenizing the earth. The irony is an INVASIVE fish is displacing INTRODUCED fish, so it becomes a wash I guess. In nature there is NO excess, there are checks and balances in nature. One of the stories I heard was a family from abroad stocked a pond with Snakeheads knowing how fast they reproduce they would have a never ending supply of fresh fish at hand. Everyone says these fish are causing no harm, and I keep saying "yet" as they are doubling in numbers with each passing year. I have to agree the blue cats will decimate our already hurting coastlines. People are always looking for fresh to eat and here they are, beats trying to cook and clean a 10 inch stocked trout that tastes like mud and is full of bones.

[Broad Bill]

This thread has got quite the set of legs. B.B. , I agree that they have to be dealt with. The State said to remove them. I say to eat um all and not to waste them. Having processed a large one I noticed that these things are armoured and designed to survive. They can live out of water and slither around like their namesake. When I filleted one it was like cutting through an aluminum can and well worth it. Need more to perfect my technique.
I could easily see them take over Pineland lakes and ponds. I don't see any Snakehead shaped lures for Bass yet . Will Bass eat their fry?

Pedro I agree with you as it pertains to snakeheads. Enjoy the fishery, have tournaments, eat a great eating fish if you so choose or let it go and don't worry about a fish that's not doing any known provable harm to the environment or other stocks. I could care less if it's considered invasive or native. Blue cats, gobies and Asian carp, that's a completely different situation that needs to be addressed.

[Broad Bill]

On an unrelated topic which has been discussed before, the pop ups on this site are beyond out of control. Truly don't even want to post anymore, it's gotten that bad. Maybe in my case that was the whole point.

[Ol Pedro]

On an unrelated topic which has been discussed before, the pop ups on this site are beyond out of control. Truly don't even want to post anymore, it's gotten that bad. Maybe in my case that was the whole point.

Hope I don't jinx myself but I'm not having that problem on this site. It has shifted to utube.

[AndyS]

What I can't understand is people in S Jersey will flock to some scum hole duck pond to load up stringers of half dead stocked trout that taste like mud and are full of bones, but will C&R a great eating snakehead. They are even considered a delicacy in other countries with their firm white meat.