Snakehead report
July 15, 2023 Woodbridge 5 photos

Trip Summary

Thee Fishing Detective’s Snakehead Report and General Fishing thoughts for week of July 9 to July 15, 2023. House cleaning - this week the boat only caught 7 snakeheads and that brings the total number of snakeheads caught since June 11 to 68. Two clients caught their first ever snakehead and one caught his snakehead in a fly rod. A historic moment for the Fishing Detective’s business. Trips - this week I have the 17th, 19th and 20th open for morning or evening half day trips. Half day trips are 4 hours for $300. Morning trips begin at 0545 hrs and evening are at 1600 hrs. I’m primarily using the leesylvania ramp. This week I’m interviewed by Snakehead Magazine Reporter about snakehead fishing on the Potomac River. Here’s a segment of the questions and answers. Reporter - you consistently throw a hollow body frog. Why and u-tube experts always talk about chatterbaits - do you use other lures ? The FD- it should be remembered that Im a fishing guide that takes clients out that have limited fishing experience. Consequently my lure selection keeps that in mind while placing clients in the best position to succeed. Like Bill Munny said in the Unforgiven “I’ve killed everything that walks or crawls” - I can say I’ve caught snakeheads with every lure and technique I’ve caught bass. However, the hollow body frog allows clients to throw a bait into snakehead habitat rather easily without the need to worry about snagging or engaging the reel or the need for pinpoint accuracy. It allows the client to minimize cast exhaustion and keep a bait in a strike zone as long as possible. Reporter - what about the chatterbait ? The FD - the chatterbait is certainly no secret and very effective snakehead bait. It’s probably the most effective bait for big snakeheads that like hard weed edges in slightly deeper water. I love it but I don’t love it on shallow Inside marsh edges and I don’t love it with clients thst are throwing it on my equipment. A famous guide would often respond to clients asking to use a different lure by stating “you ain’t ready for that yet bub.” There must be practical considerations for a guide and one of the practical considerations is increasing catch probability by limiting lure choice. A chatterbait on a spinning rod equipped with braid is going to eventually result in disaster. Also it requires engaging your reel properly so it isn’t smothered in grass. A guide doesn’t always fish the most effective way but he fishes the most practical way for clients fishing abilities and to allow them to have the highest probability for success. Reporter - why do you hate the internet ? The FD - I don’t necessarily hate the internet but I do understand the difference between “knowing a lot and doing a lot”. Please remember that I’m trained to only understand “Case closed or case open”. I’ve been around alit of smart people in my life that have the ability to communicate well and convincingly but they have a lot of “ open cases”. I choose to live my life not as a promotional assessment paradigm but as a black book that documents measurable success or failure. The first thing I learned at age 11 years old that had a life long impact was that just because your talking loud and a lot doesn’t mean you are right. I try to do a lot while humbling myself in thinking I know a lot. The internet is loud and extroverted and not very insightful - it’s the mob and I dint like what it’s done to fishing. I’ve caught 68 snakeheads in the last month on the Potomac - one either accepts that or they don’t. That’s not a reality show or a perfectly edited u tube video - it’s credibility while acknowledging that one doesn’t have to do it my way. Reporter - why is black frog a diva ? The FD - it’s my creation and my fault. At times we support and give accolades to support staff so that the bigger goal is accomplished. It’s sort or Machiavelli and manipulative but it’s win-win in a goal oriented team project. It will backfire on you when the support staff begins to believe that success depends on them instead of having the intelligence to know their role. Black frog forgot his role. I made him believe it was him instead of tempering my praise with the fact that I’m the one choosing the spots and casting him into the spots. He is now sitting in the boat and you know what he’s catching - nothing. He’s the Antonio brown of the fishing detective guide agency. He needs to get his head straight and understand thst my best bait is the one in the water. The reporter - thank you. Any last piece of advice ? The FD- Don’t be so concerned about lures or colors. Snakehead cliques are obsessed with lures as if a snakehead is a special kind of predator fish. It ain’t. Snakeheads are caught in a very limited number of ways because they are a shallow water fish. Learn habitat and ambush points in that habitat. Learn to cast accurately and efficiently. Keep your bait in the strike zones as long as possible and limit the time that i
Kenneth Penrod III
Woodbridge, Virginia, United States
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The Fishing Detective Guide Agency is located in Marbury and offers to show you a memorable time in these waters. Capt. Kenneth will do his best to make sure you have a fun day full of fishing. This involves 4-hour trips, mainly fishing for Snakehead and ...

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Snakehead mistakes
Snakehead mistakes
January 18, 2025
The top ten northern snakehead fishing mistakes I’ve observed of clients : 1. Wrong rod - you don’t need a special snakehead rod but you do need a 7’ medium heavy rod (or longer) with a bit of a soft tip. 2. Wrong line - I like 30 lb braid and I’ll go up but never down. No mono, floro.. 3. Bad knot - braid will slip so I use a double Palomar knot. 4. Bad casting - the further away I can keep the boat from intended targets - the better. Casts must be relatively long and very accurate especially to sighted fish in shallow water. 5. No polarized sunglasses - essential to spot snakeheads. 6. Not observant - many snakeheads give away their position by a movement in water or vegetation. 7. Lazy - this is a game of how many good casts can I make to keep my bait for the longest period of time in snakehead habitat and strike zones. You cast - work in strike zone - reel in as fast as you can through non productive water and cast again. 8. Bad hook sets - I’ll tell u a secret. There’s three different snake head strikes that dictate how I set the hook. However I don’t care when you set the hook but I do need u to set the hook hard. 9. Missing opportunities - you may only get 1 to 3 great opportunities in a day. If you don’t observe a wake following ur bait as u reel in or you take a long time to cast at an observed fish or if you miss a strike and don’t immediately and repeatably throw to same spot- then a lot of hard work is lost. 10. Not controlling what is controllable. No leaders. Don’t use a med rod and make a mile cast that overextends your equipments ability to hook and land a snakehead. I’ll break the rules every now and then. Yes I’ll use heavy floro if I’m casting a chatterbait. Yes I’ll throw a long way and take my chances. It’s heartbreaking to see a missed fish that was catchable because I know that these opportunities are limited in a day. Control the controllable and cast a lot. I’ll worry about the rest. Book a June trip. Do it - do it now. ?. You won’t regret it.
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Top 3 snakehead baits for 2024
Top 3 snakehead baits for 2024
December 7, 2024
Part 3 - Three top Snakehead Lures of 2024 The 2024 Fishing Detective Guide Agency LLC Snakehead Summary brought to you by thee Fishing Detective and #simmsfishing, #fishdetective729, #seaguar, #dobynsrods, #seewhatsoutthere, #powerpole, #kuiu, #ardentreels, #wackyworm. The fishing detective provides the most excellent Christmas gift for the fisherman in your life - a gift certificate for full and half day fishing trips. The 2025 snakehead trips will be 500 for 7 hours and 325 for morning/evening half days. Part 1 provided the stats for 2024. Part 2 will summarize my impression on fishing and the conditions that existed on the most productive days. Part 3 is the top lures of 2024. Part 3 - Three Top Lures of 2024 My guide agency specifically targets snakeheads on snakehead trips. Consequently I don’t consider randomly casting a grass flat with a chatterbait as targeting snakeheads. I have specific areas and cast specific baits at specific times where the odds are in my favor that snakeheads will be the dominant fish. Yes - I do catch bass in these areas but the bass are by product catches. Also I’ve caught snakeheads on every single bass bait catsgory and technique you can name - creature baits punching, dropshots on docks, shakey heads on gravel banks, Zara spooks, whopper plopper, buzzbaits, senkos etc etc. However, 2024 proved that there are only 3 baits necessary to target a snakehead. These three baits were the most productive because they can be thrown into heavy shallow water. They can be worked fast or slow. They work the water columns that snakeheads exist. 1. Hollow Body Frog - the hollow body frog is still my #1 choice for targeting snakehead. I only need two colors but I have a variety of sizes. I don’t much care if it’s a popper or standard frog except that it comes through the cover without hanging up especially on pads. I don’t care if you can walk it or not. These things to me are selling points for frogs that are basically all the same so you have to sell your frog by making it appear different. The body size, the texture of the frog body and the hooks are my considerations. Consequently I primarily use 2 brands - Booyah and Spro. Both come in standard and smaller body sizes. Both have good durability and great hooks. My Booyah frig has caught more snakeheads than any other bait but I did start throwing the spro a lot because it’s a little harder plastic and comes throw pads much better. 2. Chatterbait - it’s very difficult for me to say this because unless I’m fishing way south I feel the Chatterbait isn’t necessarily “targeting” a snakehead. It’s also not a bait I like clients throwing on my rods. However it’s a great snakehead bait and the bait I use to catch the biggest snakeheads on grass edges and the mouth of guts especially on lower tides when they are away from the banks. The biggest snakeheads always have come on a Chatterbait because big snakeheads act like big bass in that they are in slightly deeper water and are efficient predators. I don’t use a lot of custom blades jigs but again I use 2 sizes - full size and a mini max. I like gold and black blades. I like gold, white, black/blue or green pumpkin shirts. The trailer - I use a variety but really like the hog farmer spunk shad. 3. Bubble gum Fluke - a fluke is a good snakehead bait. It can be fished fast to locate snakeheads that are away from the banks. A lot of times I throw a fluke so they reveal themselves by a wake or a chase. The other great thing about a fluke is that I can use it like a senko and let it sink near a snakehead that is reluctant to hit something on top. It’s a great sight fishing bait. I always have a bubble gum fluke on to throw to fish that I can see but ignore a frog. I can also throw it far, fish it fast, throw to bank or grass edges, fish it on top or bottom. A lot of times I’ll have the boat positioned so clients can throw the frog to the marsh edges while I throw out away from the bank to help locate snakeheads. That’s my top 3 baits. These baits are no different than most throw. I may do things differently with a hollow body frog or work a chatterbait a variety of different ways than some but essentially all 3 baits can be worked as a version of any soft plastic or crank bait or wake bait that you have in the box. I did learn a frog modification year that made a real difference but I’m not going to share just yet. My opinion is that there are no specific “snakehead” lures. A frog doesn’t need a spinner on the back to be a snakehead frog. A bait doesn’t have to be bigger or louder to be a “snakehead” bait. The areas you throw a bait are what differentiate the bait from fishing for snakeheads or another fish. The niche is being filled with “snakehead” baits but that’s only you being suckered or sold. It’s ok - I do it too but in the end the biggest world record snakeheads have all been caught on a regular old bladed jig. If you are interested. Book now. My advice is to look at
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