Fishing News
Search for snakehead fish ongoing in western N.C.
BELMONT, N.C.(AP) - Bob Barwick is hunting on Lake Wylie, wearing thick rubber gloves and wielding a long-handled net. He's searching for the summer's most notorious critter: the land-walking, everything-chomping snakehead fish.
Last month, two fishermen reported catching a pair of the snakehead fish in the lake. That forced the state wildlife commission to go on a two-boat, four-biologist expedition Wednesday to confirm the presence of the Asian species that has turned up in several other states.
Fish and local wildlife experts were skeptical of the tale about the fishermen's catch, partly because biologists from Duke Power and the state routinely check the lake's fish population and hadn't spotted any snakeheads.
Still, the state wildlife commission took the report seriously. They moved up a trip to look at the lake's bass population, and added the search for snakeheads to the agenda.
"We didn't know what we would find," said Lawrence Dorsey, a district fisheries biologist with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission. "Also, just because we didn't find them today doesn't mean they aren't here. It's always possible that they could turn up later."
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