High school students looking to interview fishermen about snakehead!

[studentresearchers]

Greetings StripersandAnglers Freshwater Fishing forum!

We are a group of ten high school students at Mastery Charter Thomas School in Philadelphia. We are in a special ecology program at our school, and we're doing a interview-based research project on snakehead fish.

We are trying to figure out how far exactly snakehead have spread in the Philadelphia region, and we think that fishermen are the best experts on where the fish are! So we are hoping to find some fishermen on this forum who would be willing to do an interview with us to tell us about where and when you have caught snakehead. The interview will take about 20 minutes and it can be done by phone, or in person. All information in the interview will remain completely anonymous.

Please message us as soon as possible. We hope to hear from you soon!

- the Advanced Ecology Club at Mastery Charter Thomas High School

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[buckethead]

I really couldn't help much. Only caught one in my fishing career. That was last year late spring in the Delaware using a spinnerbait trying to entice some smallmouth.
There is a thread here where they had a bounty on them. Think it was maryland that did it.
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/showthread.php?8418-200-Bounty-on-Snakeheads
good luck with your quest. It is nice to see younger folks getting involved in learning. Wish I could be more helpful and best wishes in your search.

[DarkSkies]

Studentresearchers, I have fished all over for different freshwater species but have never caught a snakehead. I regret not being able to help you kids either.

As buckethead said, it is nice to see younger folks getting involved in fishing and learning about different species. :thumbsup: What you are doing has tremendous value.

I hope your findings lead to some of you deciding to pursue careers in ecology or fish biology. If you are ever running a contest or anything like that, I have some freshwater lures I could help out with. If there is any other way we can help your group please let us know. One of my saddest observations is that there is a waning interest in fishing in kids your age. Beyond that, even for the ones who are interested, there is less and less interest in the "Whys" and "Wheres" of fishing today. Learning about all the pieces of the puzzle is something that will benefit the whole future generation.

I don't mean to stand on a soapbox here, but apathy reigns supreme among many anglers out there, not only in your generation but my generation as well. A good way to combat that is with education -- showing others how many things are related in the field of fishing, fish management, and forage and fish migration.

An invasive species like the snakehead could one day take over some of the great freshwater fishing we have all come to know and love.
I'm grateful that there are groups out there like yours trying to make a difference and learning about it. :clapping:

[DarkSkies]

Don't get discouraged if you don't get the participation you need online.

Some further thoughts.....If I were involved in this study....
1. Be prepared to interview folks who don't speak English. It would be helpful if some of your group spoke a few sentences in different languages. Also bringing pics of the snakeheads with you should put folks at ease and get them to talk to you. When they realize you are researching this, some may want to help.

2. I would go to the most popular freshwater fishing spots and talk to all fishermen I ran into. There are lots of guys who fish regularly, particularly the old timers. They have no need or use for the internet. They are the ones who know what is being caught, and the most accurate reports will come from them. You will have the best success finding them by doing the legwork. It will be tiring and tedious. But you will get more true intel from them than you could ever imagine. :learn:



**Please keep us posted on your findings, and let us know of any recommendations your group comes up with to combat this invasion. Good luck and thanks for your efforts. :thumbsup: :HappyWave:

[ledhead36]

Good job to the high schoolers. Keep up the good work, snakeheads are the spawn of satan.

[studentresearchers]

Dear anglers,

Thank you all so much for your incredibly friendly messages! I am the teacher coordinating this interview project and am thrilled to see all the encouragement. I'm excited to show the thread to the students when we meet again next week.

Most of the students I'm working with right now live in the city and haven't ever had the opportunity to go fishing. Do you know of any programs (or, I suppose, individuals) that might be interested in taking a small group of students (~10) fishing? We're close to FDR Park (which is part of how I developed this project in the first place), so we could just go there if we could scrounge up the gear. That might also help us meet up with some more fishermen to interview! :)

Any thoughts or suggestions you have would be most welcome!

[J Barbosa]

I don't fish freshwater that much so I can't offer much help.

I do recommend you look into the snakehead episode of a show called "river monsters" on the discovery channel. I enjoyed it very much and Jeremy Wade goes further than just fishing for them.

[rockhopper]

Good luck you you and your students. Keep us posted.