The Species Collection

The snakehead arrived in Maryland waters in the early 2000s and arrived in the press as a monster. Two decades on, the reality is less cinematic and more interesting: it is an invasive ambush predator that has settled into the tidal-fresh grass beds, and it fights harder than almost anything else swimming there.

They hold in the thickest cover available — pad fields, matted grass, fallen wood — and they hunt by exploding out of it. That makes them a topwater fish, which is why the standard approach is a weedless frog worked slowly across the salad, or a swim jig ticking the edges. The strike is not subtle. Anglers describe it as the water detonating.

Maryland asks that you do not release them, and there is no size or creel limit. They are also, by broad agreement, among the best-eating freshwater fish in the region — dense white fillets that hold together in a pan. An invasive species that fights hard and tastes good is an unusual gift to a fishery.