New Hook Shots: Florida Snakehead Hunt

Hook Shots: Florida Snakehead Hunt by FieldandStream

You ever have a fish you’ve always wanted to catch but failed? Then that fish plagues you as you scheme your next attack? For me, that was the snakehead. After a doomed mission for the northern variety on the Potomac River last year—during which we saw snakeheads that refused to bite—I’ve been itching to put one of these invasives in the net. This time around, I changed the game and headed to sunny Florida looking for the bullseye snakehead. And this time around, it was mission accomplished. While there is a lot of debate about how destructive these fish really are to an ecosystem and other gamefish, there is one absolute fact about them: when they strike a topwater frog, it’ll stop your heart. Love or hate snakeheads, they are worthy targets. They’re smart, powerful, and they’ll fight harder all the way back to the boat than your biggest bass. For this mission, we teamed up with Captain Brett Isackson from South Florida’s BassOnline. He fell in love with snakes years ago, and helped put us on 2 days of surface smashes I won’t ever forget. Enjoy the show (and my sweet revenge).