The popularity of fishing for invasive northern snakeheads hasn’t stopped growing. Just ask Eddie Weber, the owner of High Octance Custom Baits, and Steve Cahn — two veteran snakehead junkies based in Maryland. According to these guys, the sport exploded during the Covid pandemic and the recruitment of new anglers to the snakey side hasn’t slowed down yet.
From a conservation standpoint, more snakehead anglers mean more snakeheads in skillets, which is a good thing. But catching these fish isn’t intuitive. If you’re familiar with bass fishing and make the leap into snake hunting, only a portion of what you already know will help you with the new pursuit. Getting the bites isn’t all that difficult, but making sure that snakehead stays on the line and winds up either in a taco or in your social media feed is a lot more challenging than securing a trophy bass or trout. I asked Cahn and Weber to break down the areas where new snakeheaders struggle the most. Here’s what they told me.
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They Flub the Swing
Do you need beefed up tackle to fight a big snakehead? Absolutely not, but in this game your gear has little to do with the strength of the fish and much more to do with their anatomy and environment. It’s essential to be over-gunned. Cahn and Weber agree that 30-pound braid is the lightest line they’d recommend for northern snakeheads, and you want a heavy, fast-action rod to deliver a hollow-body frog. The lack of stretch in the braid and stiffness of the rod help plant the hooks in their rock-hard mouths, as well as muscle them out of pads or other vegetation. The right gear will only help you if you can master setting the hook, though, which is one of the most common areas where anglers new to snakeheads fail.
“When you’re trying to set the hook on a snakehead, you have to remember that these fish also breathe air,” says Cahn. “After they’ve inhaled something, they need to expel that air before they can swallow. So, when they hit a frog, you let them take it to make sure they have it, but if you wait a few seconds, you’ll see a small burst of bubble come to the surface. That lets you know they’ve expelled the air and are fully clamped down on the frog. Now you can swing.”
Training yourself to give these fish those few extra seconds takes practice, of course, and there’s more to a successful stick than just that pause.
“Make sure that when you do swing, you’re setting upwards straight over your shoulder,” Weber says. “People instinctively set to the side, and that will rarely create a positive connection with a snakehead. You want those hooks to go straight up into the roof of their mouths.”
They Can’t Get a Grip
Lip gripping tools are not exactly standard kit for most anglers, but if you’re aiming to successfully land a snakehead, they’re a must. As Cahn points out, snakeheads give you two fights—one in the water and the other when you’re dealing with them on land or in a boat. They are notorious for shifting from calm to berserk in a fraction of a second, so whether you just need to remove the hook safely or you’re planning to bring the catch home for the table, grippers are imperative.
“Northern snakeheads are a super, super slimy fish,” Cahn says. “It’s almost impossible to grab the fish with your bare hands and have a good hold on them because they thrash and kick and just go crazy. It’s critical that you carry quality grippers that won’t pull off once they’re clamped down.”
Weber and Cahn both use Boga Grips, which are the gold standard of grippers, but they’re not cheap. According to Weber, however, he’s never had a fish come off a Boga in all his years of snakeheading — something that cannot be said of cheaper version of the tool. Boga heads also spin, which helps counteract the force and leverage of a twisting snakehead. If you don’t want to invest in a Boga, The Fish Grip is another option made of plastic, and what I personally use when snakeheading. While the tool doesn’t rotate, it does provide an extremely firm and reliable grip once locked on a snakehead lip.
It’s Not in the Bag
Choosing the right net for snakeheads is imperative when fishing from a boat or kayak because having one in the bag doesn’t mean the battle is over. As a matter of fact, it’s just beginning. Northern snakheads love to lunge. They can generate incredible forward momentum even out of the water, so while many modern nets feature shallow bags, they are basically worthless for snakeheads because they’ll jump right out of them.
“If you’re fishing from a kayak, you want a net with a longer handle than you think you need so you can extend your reach,” Weber says. “Remember, frog hooks come out easily if you slack up, so the faster you can get the fish in the net, the better. Rubber nets are great and better for the fish, but you want one with the deepest bag depth you can find.”
Though rubber nets are popular for fish care, snakeheads are hearty and very difficult to hurt. With that in mind, I actually prefer an old-school nylon saltwater net for snakeheads, because they’re deep enough that I can twist the fish in the bag if necessary for extra security as I get pliers ready and rods out of the way in my kayak.
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