Most American anglers are familiar with the snakehead story. These non-native fish have permeated throughout the waterways of multiple states and the Fish and Wildlife Service marked the snakehead as an "injurious species" making it illegal to import and transport the fish across state lines. Bass Pros Shops even put a bounty on the fish by offering a gift certificate reward for snakeheads captured and turned in to conservation authorities. It is an alpha predator of the freshwater ecosystem and if it becomes further dispersed, it could be impossible to eradicate.

Call it the globalization of angling, but chances are the Chinese angler casting for snakeheads in a swampy canal outside of Beijing is using similar equipment and tackle as an American angler fishing for largemouth bass on a Mississippi slough. And like the bass fanatics, the snakehead in Asia has its following of hardcore anglers that pursue this fish with a methodical passion. Strangely enough, snakehead fishing and bass fishing are extremely similar.

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Copyright © James Card.