Maryland offering $200 gift cards for dead snakehead fish

Getting paid to fish sounds like a dream come true to some. But does it have the same appeal if you're going up against a "fish from hell" that can travel on land and sink its teeth into a steel-toed boot?

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources Inland Fisheries (DNR) is hoping so and is offering $200 gift cards through Bass Pro Shops to residents who capture and kill a snakehead, an invasive species from Africa that is upsetting the natural order of the local ecosystem.

"We do not want snakeheads in our waters," DNR Director Don Cosden tells FoxNews.com. "This initiative is a way to remind anglers that it is important to catch and remove this invasive species of fish."

The snakehead was first seen in Maryland back in 2002, after an 18-inch adult was caught in a local pond. But the powerful fish, which has no natural predators in the region, is also a determined survivalist (they can survive for up to four days on land) and has since migrated to the nearby Potomac River and its tributaries.

It's illegal to sell snakeheads in most U.S. states. But as I reported several years ago, federal agents have uncovered illegal snakehead selling operations in several states, including New York, Texas, Florida and Missouri.

"We don't expect that anglers will eradicate the snakehead population," DNR Tidal Bass program manager Joe Love told Fox. "We do believe this promotion and inspiration of anglers can help control the snakehead population. The information we gain from the Angler's Log reports are also helpful in assessing the abundance, spread and impact of these feisty fish."

To qualify for one of the $200 gift cards and an assortment of other prizes, all you have to do is upload a photo of yourself with a dead snakehead to the DNR's Angler's Log site. The only complicated part is actually capturing and killing one of the "fish from hell."

One photo uploaded on Thursday by recreational angler Berry shows him with seven dead snakehead. He says he had to shoot them with a gun. Berry wrote that the snakehead have been noticeably devastating the local bass population. "The snakehead are simply taking over the spawning grounds," he wrote.


I'll have to be careful when I wet wade and float tube,

1 wt

Here we go!

You meen I could take my musky streamers and 10wt and go down there and get 200 bones a fish? then I could tell my wife that fishing is really my second job!

In contrast, they're original location in Pa was in FDR Park, Philadelphia. They were introduced into a series of ponds and former tidal connectors in the park. Apparently, bass fishing has not suffered. Additionally, the abundant bluegills surround the snakehead nests and when snakehead adults try to chase the bluegills from one side of the nest the bluegills on the other side try to sneak in to eat the fry, much as they do with largemouth. Anglers catch the snakeheads from the nests and then watch the bluegills' feeding frenzy.

While I fish the upper Potomac pretty regularly, I don't fish the lower river where snakeheads are prevalent.
However, some folks I know who do fish it consider these fish to be common. It seems to me that $200 is a mighty big bounty for such a common fish. I'm curious to see how long this program lasts. MDNR may be forking out a lot of dough.

Edit: Having re-read the news release, it seems that this is a one time deal and not an actual bounty per fish. Once you've got your gift card you can't upload another photo of additional fish for another bounty(?) After all, how could MDNR - using uploaded photos - verify that they're different snakeheads?

This bowfisher from Maryland is ready for the bounty contest.




The same article talks about the Asian Carp and says "the Obama administration has actually appointed a “carp czar,” John Goss, along with an $80 million dollar budget, to search for strategies on how to eliminate this menace."


Bounty Hunters - EarthSports

Can anybody explain why they can't shock the water and remove the unwated species. I understand this wouldn't completely eradicate, but could at least keep populations in check. I'd think you could do one hell of a lot of shocking with $80M. Is more juice required to shock larger fish (would they have to use so much to shock a 10 lb snakehead that the electricity would kill smaller fish?)

The OP says that it's open to RESIDENTS. So I'm guessing MD only.

Quote:

This would be the lower Potomac River - it's simply too vast to electroshock, we're talking hundreds of square miles of back water areas and deep channels. I suppose strategically placed trap nest might nail many of the snakes during spawning season but it's too big to electroshock.