Snakehead mistakes
January 18, 2025
Woodbridge
1 photo

Trip Summary
Trip Summary
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.