Hey Corker... have you heard?

Any reports of finding Snake Head fish in Abel Lake? I have a buddy that lives down stream on Potoma Run and he has found evidense of 3 different snake head fish that have been partially consumed by otters on the bank of his private pond. Potomac run also runs through his property and when it floods it often spills over into his pond. Anyway, when he found the snake heads he contacted the game department and they told him that they were not surprised that snake heads had made it from the river up Potomac Run and that they had received reports of them in Abel Lake. At first they just wrote it off as normal public mis-identification, but admitted that they now believe that snake heads have made their way up Potomac Run and possibly over the dam at Abel Lake. My buddy's place is not that far from Abel and his findings seem to solidfy their speculations.

I know you fish Abel quite a bit and thought if anyone would know about sitings there, you would.

Speck U Later

thats some BAD news...

maybe we should have a bash for snakeheads,,if all of us go we might get all of them out of the lake,,,are snakeheads eatable??? some eat snakes and we all eat fish

Surprisingly enough Diecutter, that's the one thing the fish has going for it. I have not personally tasted it, but I have several bass fisherman friends that have, and they all tell me that the meat is fantastic. Very firm, white meat, with a sweet mellow taste. Not fishey as you would expect... The problem is though, because of this fact, and the fact that these fish are very agreessive and grow quickly, their popularity as a game fish is gaining some momentum. They even have people guiding for them on the Potomac River and making good money at it.

I think the game department has relaxed it's position, and even though they are still encouraging fishermen to destroy the fish they catch and not return them to the water, they have resigned themselves to the fact that the snake heads existance in US waters is here to stay and a battle they won't get ahead of. I don't know what that means for our fisheries, but it can't be good. Especially at the rate they multiply and with how hardy they are and their ability to live for hours even das out of water and move considerable distances on land to other bodies of water, make expansion of their range more and more likely.

The only one I've seen in that lake was 8/21/10. See this thread. There is no way those things could get over the Abel dam. Someone (or some thing) put them in there.

You might be right about the dam Corker... I don't know. I guess no one could know for sure, but the fact that at least one fish has been caught in the lake makes me wonder how many are really in there. Everywhere I have read they have turned up, they begin by finding one or two, but later realize there are many more than first anticipated. From what I read, the best time to spot them is after the fry ave hatched. The fry swim around in a dark mass and both the parent fish guard the fry ferociously.

I have only fished Abel a few times but I think it is a beautiful lake and would hate to see it ruined by these fish....

The dam is a mound of earth that rises 15' to 20' above the lake surface and the lake is 60'+ deep near the dam. Snakeheads would have to climb 75'+ up the downstream side of the dam to get in without help. They had help.

There are reports in the Rap, as well. DNR is concerned that the fish may have actually made it there from the Potomac via the Bay waters. They are electroshocking in the Rap to try to confirm a viable population. I understand that, just like Grindle, these things have a primitive lung.
I've never been in Lake Abel, but I would bet there are eels there. All eels are spawned in the Atlantic. They move through wet grass at night
and can cross a sunstantial amount of land between bodies of water. Maybe snakeheads can as well, I don't know enough about them to say.

Here's what they would have to climb.

i was tailking to a couple of lifelong stafford county guys the other day and they mentioned the snakeshead that was caught in the spilling pond, below the dam at abel, but didn't say anything about any in the lake as i recall.

The eggs often stick to the legs of wading birds and are transferred by them. Snakeheads are a very interestind and hardy species. Some have been documented as having been released by aquarium owners when they outgrew the tank or ate the other fish.

.http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/fishqa/f/snakeheads.htm