Snakehead and other cool fish from D.C. and Virginia

[BenCantrell]

Had a fantastic trip a week and a half ago to visit my friend Pat in D.C.  I can't share much info about the snakehead catch, but if you are ever in D.C., let me know and I'll get you in touch with him.  Pat is a great guy and is happy to take people around to his spots as long as you don't burn them.  The rest of the trip was spent chasing new lifers, and I ended up with 5 in total (snakehead, white cat, striper, eel, herring).  Originally it was supposed to be an American shad and hickory shad trip, but the Potomac River was crazy high so we had to come up with other stuff to do instead.

Northern Snakehead (Channa argus) - 30 inches!


Largemouth Bass (Micropterus salmoides)


Pumpkinseed (Lepomis gibbosus) - Potomac tidal basin version


White Catfish (Ameiurus catus)


Striped Bass (Morone saxatilis)


Channel Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) - with no eye!


No eye cat.


I'm not giving away the spot am I?


Redbreast Sunfish (Lepomis auritus)


Cool iridescence on the dorsal spines.


Bowfin (Amia calva) - injured, caught by hand


Closeup of the tail spot.


Bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus)


Pumpkinseed (Lepomis gibbosus) - tannin swamp version


Chain Pickerel (Esox niger)


The toothy end.


Pat's bowfin.


Flier (Centrarchus macropterus)


Mouth shot.


Tannin pond microfishing habitat.


Warmouth (Lepomis gulosus)


Eastern Mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki)


Bluespotted Sunfish (Enneacanthus gloriosus)


Eastern Mudminnow (Umbra pygmaea) - netted


American eel (Anguilla rostrata)


Head shot.


Blue Catfish (Ictalurus furcatus)


White Perch (Morone americana)


Blueback Herring (Alosa aestivalis)


Plain #14 bronze hook is all it takes.


The Potomac River.

[xjchad]

Wow Ben, those are some rad fish!
That snakehead is wicked!  Thanks for the great report!

[Latimeria]

You're on fire, Ben!  Great fish and pics!

[Pinoyfisher]

Are you sure you aren't KenT? Love the report! That little blue spotted sunny is really cool looking! It's like a baby freshwater BSB. And yeah, that's a mean looking snakehead. Top water action on that guy? I've seen videos of how they absolutely blowup on top water plugs.

[BenCantrell]

And yeah, that's a mean looking snakehead. Top water action on that guy? I've seen videos of how they absolutely blowup on top water plugs.

It hit a slowly retrieved dark olive chatterbait.  The one in the upper left.  The other ones didn't have blades, and they didn't get any follows.