This Giant Snakehead Was Just Declared a New World Record. It Was Caught from a Florida Canal

South Florida fisherman Ryan Alvarez caught a large snakehead on April 23 that’s been licensed as a brand new world report. The Worldwide Sport Fish Affiliation highlighted the report fish in a Facebook post Sunday. It famous that Alvarez’s nice snakehead (recognized domestically as a bullseye snakehead) weighed simply over 17 kilos and is the brand new all-tackle world record for the species. 

Alvarez didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark about his fish, which replaces the earlier world report set by Corey Nowakowski. (Nowakowski had beforehand held seven of these world information, as reported in Anglers Journal.) In response to the IGFA’s publish, Alvarez was fishing a canal in Pompano Seaside when the snakehead hammered his Z-Man chatterbait. He landed the fish “after a brief however thrilling battle,” the IGFA added.

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At this level, most record-seeking anglers would’ve sought out a licensed scale at a fish market, grocery retailer, or another store. However due to Alvarez’s proximity to the IGFA headquarters constructing, which lies simply 16 miles south of the place he was fishing in Pompano Seaside, he introduced the massive snakehead there to have its official weight of 17 kilos 1 ounce licensed in particular person.

Alvarez killed the invasive fish within the course of, which was simply nice by fisheries officers and conservation groups, lots of whom encourage anglers to reap each snakehead they catch. Not like another states with invasive snakehead populations, nonetheless, the place anglers are required to kill them, Florida regs permit snakeheads to be launched alive — so long as they’re put again into the identical waters the place they had been caught. 

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And though the fish have been villainized by some for the effects they can have on native fish species, snakeheads have turn out to be a favourite goal of many anglers — particularly these on the East Coast, the place they are often present in good numbers from Pennsylvania and New York by means of Virginia and Maryland and right down to Florida. Most of those fish are northern snakeheads, and never bullseye snakeheads, that are solely discovered within the southern reaches of the Sunshine State. 

In a Facebook post Alvarez shared in Might, he included a photograph of him with the fish outdoors the IGFA headquarters in Dania Seaside. He famous the fish’s complete size of 37.5 inches, and defined within the remark part that he first weighed the bullseye snakehead on his Boga grip, which he stated was “correct by half a pound.”

Alvarez is aware of greater than most in terms of IGFA regs and weighing report fish. Because the record-keeping group was proud to level out in its latest publish, Alvarez was a former camper on the IGFA Fishing Summer Camp. Primarily based in Florida, the week-long camps assist introduce 7- to 14-year-old children to primary fishing strategies, whereas additionally instructing them about fisheries science and conservation.