Ryan Alvarez had a score to settle.
Based out of Fort Lauderdale, he was on a mission this past spring to catch a couple oversize bullseye snakeheads that had been alluding him at nearby South Florida canals. The species Channa marulius, often called the bullseye snakehead or great snakehead, is native to South Asia.
Snakeheads are an invasive species in Florida, with the common bullseye species concentrated in northern Broward County fresh waters. Anglers love to catch snakeheads because of their propensity to smash a topwater bait and fight like hell. A bit north in Delray Beach, Lake Ida and its connecting maze of canals have become a popular spot to target exotic species such as snakeheads, peacock bass, clown knifefish and cichlids.
Alvarez was fishing at a canal in Pompano Beach in late April 2025 when he landed his record-setting catch.
“I went to a spot I found that I knew had some giants because I lost a bunch of big fish there,” Alvarez said on his Facebook page. “I lost another snakehead of at least 10 pounds that frayed me on a broken dock. I almost went home but kept fishing for five more minutes and caught this absolute slob.”
The 17-pound, 1-ounce (7.74 kg) snakehead struck a Z-Man chatterbait and was subdued after a short fight. Alavarez measured the fish, recording its length of 37.5 inches. Alvarez brought his fish to IGFA headquarters in nearby Dania Beach to be recorded and weighed on a certified scale. With his catch, he set the IGFA all-tackle world record for the species. Other 14- and 15-pounders have been caught in South Florida in the last decade, according to the IGFA, but nothing topping 17 pounds.
Other snakeheads: The largest snakehead ever caught and recorded, according to the IGFA, was a giant snakehead (Channa micropeltes) — a different snakehead species with the same common name — weighing 30 pounds from Malaysia. In the US, the largest IGFA-recorded snakehead catch was a 21-pound northern snakehead (Channa argus) caught in Dorchester County, Maryland.
