Pacemaker Fishing Forum

Ernie · Sep-02-08 10:54AM

The Coastal Conservation Association of Northern Virginia is pleased to announce an upcoming meeting with guest speaker John Odenkirk! Meeting is open to the public!

John is a Fisheries Biologist with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. His official duties cover all of Northern Virginia waters, both private and public, making him the most knowledgeable person in the state regarding Northern Virginia fisheries. John is also the point person in the Northern Snakehead controversy. His presentation will focus on the Northern Snakehead Tracking Project and the current status of the Snakehead, one of the most prolific species in the river.

He will also touch on the status of the fisheries on all other bodies of water in the Northern Virginia area.

Date: Wednesday, September 17th

Time : 7- 9 PM - Guest Speaker - John Odenkirk and also discussion of upcoming Chapter trips and the fall fishing season

Location: Grace Presbyterian Church, 2381 Cedar Lane, Vienna, VA 22180

Directions from 495 Beltway:

- Take Exit 51 Gallows Road
- Turn left on Gallows Road (VA 651) -go 3.1 miles
- Turn left on Idylwood Road(VA 678) - go .4 mile
- Turn left on Cedar Lane (VA - 698) - go .3 miles
- 2381 Cedar Lane is on left

Ernie · Sep-18-08 6:39AM

John Odenkirk made a great presentation on the status of the Northern Snakehead in the Potomac River.

While these fish are not easy to catch, they do like shallow, murky water (slow & muddy streams). The also like weeds such as hydrilla that's near spatterdock. Like bass, they like wood (trees, docks etc). In his opinion, one needs to throw bass type lures that are weed less due to the habitat.

The prime areas are:

Little Hunting Creek
Dogue Creek
Pohick Bay

John reports that reports to his agency have gone down but when they talk to people in the field, folks are saying that they have caught one.

One of the stories that he told was of a man who called in ('06) and reported catching nine of them. He was surprised at how many the guy caught so he called him only to find out the number was 90! That was in Dogue Creek and the guy was netting them! It seems they all had run up creek for some reason.

The record so far is 34" and @ 12lbs.

Snakeheads slurp air just like a turtle does so they can be "sight" fished.

Odenkirk is concerned but not worried about this species, after all, most of what is in the Potomac is not native (large mouth bass, blue & channel cat etc).

He also spend time talking about blue cats and expects the MD record to be broken 2-3 time s each year and foresees a 100lb blue cat in the near future (Potomac). That species are voracious eaters and he worries more about them than snakeheads.

Ernie

AndrewDo124 · Sep-18-08 4:19PM

Sounds like a very good presentation!

Regarding the current record, what about the snakehead that was caught this month out of Ft. Belvoir? The report said it was a 20lbs. 35" snakehead.

I'm also surprised about the threat of blues! Never even thought about it.

Ernie · Sep-18-08 4:37PM

The "record" means one that VGIF has shocked up. That is a nice fish in the picture....good eating!! I will report that one to Odenkirk, I bet he didn't know about it.

High tide is good and you are going to have one on Saturday at 11 AM!! Go get 'em!

Ernie

Pacemaker Fishing Forum

#1 Sep-02-08 10:54AM

NoVA CCA event- 9/17 (John Odenkirk to talk on Snakeheads!)

#2 Sep-18-08 6:39AM

Re: NoVA CCA event- 9/17 (John Odenkirk to talk on Snakeheads!)

#3 Sep-18-08 4:19PM

Re: NoVA CCA event- 9/17 (John Odenkirk to talk on Snakeheads!)

#4 Sep-18-08 4:37PM

Re: NoVA CCA event- 9/17 (John Odenkirk to talk on Snakeheads!)

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