A Dorchester County, Maryland, man broke the record for the heaviest invasive snakehead fish ever caught in the state at a whopping 21 pounds, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources announced Friday.

The previous record-holder, a 19.9-pound snakehead, was caught in 2018.

Damien Cook, a guided fishing tour operator from Rhodesdale, Maryland, was fishing from a kayak Wednesday, using a custom rod, custom bait and a braided line. When he first hooked the historic fish, he thought it was a normal snakehead.

“Honestly I thought it was just your average 30-inch snakehead when I first hooked the fish. It pulled hard but I had the advantage of it being close and I got it in the net pretty quickly,” Mr. Cook explained in an MDNR release.

The record-breaking fish turned out to be 36 inches long, and heavy enough to make Mr. Cook look at the scale again to be sure it was right.

“I’ve caught a lot of bigger fish, but nothing like that. When I weighed it, I checked my scale three times to make sure it wasn’t broken. I didn’t believe it,” Mr. Cook told WTTG-TV.

MDNR encourages the sportfishing of, capture and killing of the invasive snakehead species; the particular subspecies caught is native to northeastern Asia. In Maryland, transporting a snakehead while it is still alive is illegal.

• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.