Black Snakehead – Haruan Palas (Channa Melasoma)

A rare black snakehead (haruan palas) falls for a texas rigged Powerbait

The black snakehead (Channa melasoma) is one of the more elusive of the channa family of snakeheads. Hence it is always exciting to catch one. Or in this case, a number of them.

The black snakehead which is called haruan palas locally, lives in heavily wooded and mostly still water ponds. They do not grow very big but puts up a good struggle when hooked and can be very vicious feeders.

It looks the same from where I am standing! Talk about hard-to-fish places.

Rigging weedless is almost the only way to catch this fish which is by casting into the snags and twitching the lure. On this occasion we caught a number of them by texas rigging 3 in Berkley Powerbait Grubs on EWG worm hooks. A worm sinker is used to help get some casting distance and accuracy when using such light weight lures.

It is important to not use any swivel when rigging this way as the bait will get all out of shape when retrieved. The Powerbait Grub has a very lively tail when retrieved.

Berkley PowerBait 3″ Power Grub in Fire Tiger did the trick

Other soft plastic baits can also be used as pictured below along with some worm sinkers that I frequently use. Always use the correct work hook with the right length to match the soft plastic. This will ensure your soft plastic swims correctly plus in an enticing manner and also ensure effective hook-ups.

Always carry different sized worm hooks and sinkers to suit the conditions
Worm sinkers come in an assortment of design and packaging

Remember to release these rare fishes if you have the opportunity to catch them. Share with us your experience and rigging tips by leaving a comment .

2 thoughts on “Black Snakehead – Haruan Palas (Channa Melasoma)”

  1. artikel yang menarik! sedikit pertanyaan berkaitan worm sinker, dimana tuan beli? stok worm sinker saya telah kehabisan dan agak sukar ingin mencari worm sinker tersebut.

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