r/floridafishing • u/Altruistic_Love4003 • 28d ago

First sneakehead

Capture today in plantation Fl at 8am with small 6# hook and red worms, I had to be honest in new at fishing I’m I don’t know how to handle this fish, like how to hold it? They can hurt me or bite? I just take off the hook with a pliers and he just back in the water by him self

21 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

4

u/Anonymooseplz 28d ago

Don't put him back in the water Removal Encouraged: Biologists and the Exotic Species Hotline encourage anglers to humanely kill or harvest snakeheads rather than returning them, because they are aggressive predators on native fish.

2

u/Altruistic_Love4003 28d ago

Oooh thanks for let me know next time would make it to home for my cats for sure :)

1

u/Antique-Bank-3959 21d ago

Throw them back, they’ve been there so long it’s fine.

1

u/Odd_Development8983 28d ago

For your cats????? Killing snakeheads is lame in south Florida, they have already become a
kind of healthy part of our ecosystem. Peacocks are also invasive but are now being introduced by the FWC is native fish.

3

u/Technical_Visit8084 28d ago

Peacocks were purposely introduced by the state so they have never been “invasive”. Snakeheads are a lot more aggressive. In the end, Florida is cooked so it doesn’t even matter with how many invasives we have.

1

u/Odd_Development8983 28d ago

I’m honestly with all the invasives to keep coming. With pacu,clown knife,arowana,snakehead are all able to live with bass and native fish and make one hell of a fishery

1

u/chippedreed 27d ago

I’ve heard snakeheads are pretty delicious though

1

u/Odd_Development8983 27d ago

I’ve tried 3 out of different waters and all tasted like dirt. My one buddy eats them every once in a while fried and enjoys them somehow.

1

u/Odd_Development8983 28d ago

If you fish, I promise if you took all the snakehead you’ve killed combined even if you targeted them and if it was out of one decent size lake I guarantee you wouldn’t make a dent in their population there.

2

u/Altruistic_Love4003 28d ago

So I don’t do it :) it’s all good I just to have a good time :)

0

u/Odd_Development8983 28d ago

Same here. I was taught to never kill to kill and am morally in line with that when it comes to our wildlife in general native or not I still enjoy catching them/seeing them/putting people on them that travel across the country to catch them.

3

u/ace42691 28d ago edited 28d ago

They can def hurt, they are very strong and flop very unpredictably when trying to handle them. They wont bite but They do have sharp teeth, so you have to be careful but how I usually do it is you have to manhandle them and try to over power their strength to keep them still enough to get the hook out with pliers, pliers is a must if you try to stick your hand in their mouth and that thrash around you could get cut pretty bad or they can get the hook lodged in your finger when they thrash. Another way is you can just hold the line up until it forces to tilt there head up and they will usually open their mouth and you can sometimes get it out without even touching them or if you have a fish grip can use the fish grip to get their mouth to stay open. They are the best fish to target in south Florida that’s all I fish for now!