WOODBRIDGE, Va. – Once you catch a Snakehead fish you have to kill it immediately.
And that’s what Joey Campbell did after reeling one in July 1, while fishing on Quantico Creek and the Potomac River.
His Snakehead weighed in at 13.6 pounds, about average for a fish that can grow to be 33-inches long.
The Northern Snakehead is an invader from Asia and Korea, and since 2002 has been found in the Potomac and in Aquia Creek in Stafford County, to points north in Prince William, Fairfax and near Maryland shores.
It’s still a mystery as to how this creepy fish found its way to here. One thought is someone who owned one as a pet and then released it into the river.
Unlike most fish, the Snakehead is able to live up to three days outside of water breathing through an air sac it uses as a primitive lung. Using its pectoral fins, it can almost walk short distances across land.
It’s a top-level predator that eats mostly fish and has no known natural enemies here in the U.S., according to the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
“I killed it and then cut its head off. Then I called the state office phone number and left a message on their machine,” said Campbell.
He did everything by the book. Caught it, killed it and then phoned it in. Officials in Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland don’t want anyone releasing them back into the river after being caught.
It is illegal to own a Snakehead without a permit in Virginia. Even if you do have one, state officials still would like to know where you caught the fish so they can keep track of the Snakehead population.
The fish are not dangerous to humans, though wildlife officials are working to eradicate them from local waters.
Since the Northern Snakehead is a freshwater fish, you probably won’t find them swimming south of the U.S. 301 Bridge at Dahlgren, as the water becomes too salty the closer it flows to the Chesapeake Bay, officials said.
Knowing all of that, Campbell was still proud of catch.
“That was a big fish,” he said.
