Best Lures for Snakehead Fishing: How to Catch Snakehead

Although they are widely known as an invasive species, snakehead are incredibly fun to catch and are absolutely beautiful fish.

They can grow to quite big sizes and put up an intense fight. Using the right lures will catch you the most snakehead and give you the best, most fun fishing trips.

Best Snakehead Baits

Snakehead are very aggressive and vicious predators. Lures that are loud, flashy, erratic, and obnoxious are typically the best types of lures.

1. Hollow Body Frog

If you have paid any attention to the world of snakehead fishing, you will have seen anglers using frogs.

There are a few reasons why hollow body frogs are such tremendous lures for snakeheads.

Firstly, snakehead seem to love topwater lures. Their aggressive and predatory nature is often directed toward the surface when hunting, ducks, frogs, snakes, bluegill, and other forage.

Secondly, snakehead live in warm environments. This warm climate also brings vegetation.

Lily pads, grass, algae, pond scum, and other green plants that can snag on your lure.

Hollow body frogs are the most weedless lures that you can use, which is incredibly convenient in the thick vegetation that snakehead love to hide out in.

And lastly, the warm climate that the snakehead live in also attract lots of amphibian and feathery creatures that snakehead love to feed on.

Snakehead feed on tons of snakes, lizards, and birds that hop and crawl around the surface vegetation.

Types of Frogs for Snakehead

You can use more traditional, bass style frogs and have lots of success, but in order to catch the most snakeheads, it is best to use specialized and modified frogs.

Frogs with Blade Legs

This style of hollow body frog is the most popular internationally, but doesn’t quite get enough recognition in the United States.

The additional flash and vibration that the spinning blades take advantage of the snakehead’s aggressive nature.

Popping Frogs

Popping frogs are much louder and more obnoxious that traditional frogs.

They can also be fished much slower, which is great for targeting specific areas like a piece of structure or overhanging branches.

Buzzing or Flapping Frogs

These frogs incorporate buzzbait or plopper style action into the lure. This makes lots of noise and commotion on the surface that snakehead love.

2. Buzzbait

Speaking of surface commotion, nothing is more loud and obnoxious on the surface than a buzzbait.

The spinning blade on the buzzbaits splash, squeak, and clank on the top of the water.

Buzzbaits are ideal for grass lines or shallow, open water situations. You can use both traditional buzzbaits or inline style lures.

They both work great, but I tend to prefer the traditional wire arm style buzzbait.

The Booyah Buzz is my all time favorite buzzbait because it has a clacker below the blade that causes even more sound that drives snakehead crazy and produces bites.

You can also add trailers to your buzzbait to increase the size and profile of the lure, but I typically will just fish it straight out of the box.

3. Paddle Tail Swimbait

The paddle tail swimbait is an incredible versatile lure that is my go-to choice for snakehead in cooler or clearer water.

Compared to most snakehead lures, the swimbait is much more natural and subtle of a lure.

Although snakehead are warm water fish, the winter season or cold fronts will still lower the water temperature and cause snakehead to become a bit less active and a bit more picky.

And anytime the water is clear, you need lures that are a bit more natural since the targeted fish are able to get a very good look at your lure.

One of the advantages of finesse swimbaits is many different ways to rig the swimbait to best fit your fishing conditions.

Whether it be adding flash, making the bait weedless, or being able to slow down the bait, the endless rigging options of the swimbait opens the door to tons of opportunity to catch snakehead in different situations.

The versatility and natural characteristics of paddle tail swimbaits make it one of the best subsurface lures for catching snakehead.

4. Inline Spinner

Inline spinners are flashy, fast lures that seem to work especially well for toothy predators.

They are very popular pike and pickerel lures as well as snakehead. The fast spinning blade and triggers the aggression of snakeheads and gets them to slam the lure.

My favorite time to use inline spinners for snakehead is in open, shallow water on overcast days.

The flashy presentation of inline spinners is able to reflect a lot of light, which makes it much easier for snakehead to see and attack in the low light, cloudy conditions.

There are two styles of inline spinners that I use for snakehead.

Small, Bucktail Spinners

These smaller spinners take the quantity over quality approach. They are going to catch a lot of snakeheads, but the average size will not be very big.

Also, the open treble hook is not good for the heavy cover that snakehead love to hunt in.

Small creeks and open water will be the best places to fish this style of spinner.

Weedless, Single-Hook Spinners

These are my preferred snakehead inline spinner. They are bigger, weedless spinners that produce both lots of bites as well as big bites.

Pairing the spinner with a paddle tail or curl tail plastic are my two favorite trailers.

In colder water, I sometimes use a straight tail fluke, but that is fairly rare.

5. Chatterbait

Chatterbaits are a favorite lure amongst all snakehead anglers. The aggressive thumping and flashing of the chatterbait is one of the most aggressive lures you can use.

I think of the chatterbait almost like a subsurface buzzbait because of how loud, and obnoxious it is.

During the summer months, the chatterbait is the best subsurface lure that you can tie on.

Trailer options are primarily a personal preference from angler to angler.

With that being said, a couple rules of thumb are:

• Paddle Tail Trailers: Best for darker and shallower water.
• Straight Tail Trailers: Best for clearer and deeper water.
• Grub Style Trailers: Great balance of action and resistance.

Gear for Snakehead Fishing

Rod and Reel for Snakehead

Both spinning and casting setups work well for snakehead. That choice comes down to personal preference, the lures you are using, and the size of snakehead you are targeting.

I always use either a medium-heavy or heavy rod. Snakehead are vicious and extremely strong fish.

You need a heavier duty rod that can deal with their strength and pull them out of the vegetation they are usually found in.

Best Fishing Line for Snakehead

Similarly to the rod power, you need a bit heavier duty line when going after snakehead.

I really never go below 20 lb line. If I am using monofilament or fluorocarbon, I will use 20-30 lb line.

If I’m using braided line, which I do the vast majority of the time, I’ll use 40-75 lb line.

One thing you definitely need to consider is the toothy mouth of snakehead.

Just like musky, pike, and pickerel, snakehead have lots of sharp teeth that can cut your line.

Contrary to those other species, I rarely use a wire leader for snakehead. I will almost always use 2-4 inches of heavy braided line connected to my lure.

The braid is a bit more flexible, and I can control the its length much easier.

Best Time of Day to Catch Snakehead

There is no great answer to this. Many anglers will say that snakehead are most active during the morning and evening like many other predatory fish.

Others will say that since snakehead are primarily sight feeders, that the best time of day to catch snakehead is the midday hours when visibility is high.

In my experience, the only time that morning and evening are better for snakehead fishing is during the dog days of summer.

When it is really hot and humid, I have better success during the low light periods of the day.

But the rest of the year, snakehead do seem to be more active and aggressive when the sun is high.

FAQ

Q1: What is a snakehead fish? A1: Snakehead fish are predatory freshwater species known for their aggressive behavior and powerful strikes. They are often found in various habitats, including ponds, lakes, and rivers, and are a popular target for anglers.

Q2: Why is choosing the right lure important for snakehead fishing? A2: Snakehead fish are known for their selective feeding habits. Using the right lure mimics their natural prey, increasing your chances of a successful catch. It’s crucial to choose lures that match the snakehead’s preferences and trigger their predatory instincts.

Q3: What types of lures are effective for snakehead fishing? A3: Loud, fast, bright, flashy, and obnoxious lures that trigger the snakehead’s aggressive nature.

Q4: Are there specific colors that work better for snakehead lures? A4: Bright and contrasting colors such as chartreuse, white, and orange are often effective for snakehead lures.

Q5: Can I use live bait for snakehead fishing? A5: Yes, live bait like frogs, small fish, or even worms can be effective for snakehead fishing. However, lures offer the advantage of being reusable and less messy compared to live bait. Anglers often prefer lures for their convenience and versatility.

Q7: How should I retrieve my lure for snakehead fishing? A7: Vary your retrieval speed and techniques to find what works best on any given day. Snakehead can respond to a fast, erratic retrieve as well as a slow and steady one. Experiment with different retrieves until you find the pattern that triggers strikes.

Tying this Off

Snakehead are without a doubt, one of the most fun fish that you can catch.

They fight harder than just about anything else, and look like they are straight out of an alien movie.

Although they can become invasive, I honestly wish that snakehead ranged much farther throughout the United States because they are just too much fun.

Now that you know what the best lures for snakehead are and the gear you need to use, there is no excuse to not catch them.