Fish are showing up in strange places. If you’ve paid any attention, you’ve seen reports of anglers catching species far outside of what would be considered their normal range.
Introduced Northern Snakeheads
There are invasives that damage local ecosystems, such as northern snakeheads that first showed up in Maryland in 2002. These insatiable predators, thought to have been introduced from Asia via aquarium owners and live fish markets, infiltrated freshwater drainages of Chesapeake Bay—most notably the Potomac—and have spread through the web of creeks and rivers to inhabit waters from New York to Virginia.
They’ve gained a following among anglers because they blow up on topwater, but Maryland blames snakeheads for a decline in its bass fisheries and encourages fishermen to kill them. Meanwhile, Maryland’s Office of Tourism has rebranded the species “Chesapeake Channa”—a play on its scientific name—in an effort to promote the fishery.
Invasive Fish Species in Florida
Bullseye snakeheads in Florida are a different species. They originate from southern Asia and join a host of other weird invasives, like clown knifefish and Mayan cichlids, that have forever altered the native ecosystems and fisheries of South Florida’s sprawling canal systems. Of course, construction of the canal systems forever altered habitat in the first place.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission brought butterfly peacock bass from the Amazon in the 1980s to try and control invasives, and anglers readily embraced this new exciting sport fish, which appears to be spreading slowly northward.
Tarpon Spread to the Pacific Ocean
Humans have intentionally moved fish around for a long time. But the unintentional effects of large-scale human meddling such as dams and canal digging may be even more substantial. Perhaps one of the most dramatic examples of this is the arrival of tarpon in the Pacific Ocean. Tarpon are native to the Atlantic, yet you can now book a charter for them on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. A century ago, construction of the Panama Canal connected the Atlantic and Pacific. Tarpon swam through, and they now inhabit and reproduce in a 1,600-mile swath of Pacific coastline in Central and South America.
Brown trout from Europe grow huge and eat dry flies in New Zealand. Lionfish from the Indo-Pacific thrive to the detriment of the natives on Gulf and Atlantic reefs. The point is: If habitat is suitable, fish will flourish, sometimes dominating their new environs because there are no natural predators.
All the species mentioned so far are the direct result of the human hand, either through intentional or unintentional seeding or habitat alteration. What’s happening on the coasts of North America is different. Warming seas are allowing fish to go places where they normally would not.
Some might view this as a symptom of our planet’s impending doom, as fisheries managers adjust in the face of climate change. Other’s might see it as an exciting trend in their home-waters, which allows them to catch new species. Whatever light you want to shine on it, it’s happening, and it’s conspicuous on the Atlantic Coast of the northeastern US and in the northern Gulf of Mexico.
Subtropical Fish in the Northeast
Northeastern anglers are seeing unusual visitors in recent summers. In August 2024, Capt. Tom Weaver of Fish With Weaver Charters captured video as a pod of 80- to 100-pound tarpon pushed bait in northern Chesapeake Bay, off Maryland.
Each summer for decades, tarpon reliably visit Virginia waters in southern Chesapeake Bay, and they are not unheard of in Maryland. But according to Eric Zolkovitz with Maryland DNR, “This year is the first time we’ve gotten multiple reports of schools and not just a stray fish.”
By the summer of 2025, tarpon in Chesapeake Bay seemed pretty ho-hum. Maryland tarpon are homebodies compared to the 70-inch tarpon caught by a Rhode Island surf fisherman and a 72-incher caught from shore on Martha’s Vineyard.
Redfish Off Cape Cod
Redfish seem to be showing up farther north with greater frequency, as well. Historically, with exceptions, the extent of their northward range has been New Jersey, and it’s rare to see a large red drum north of Great Bay, near Atlantic City. In May of 2024, a surf angler landed a 37-incher way up at the top end of the state in Monmouth County. Then, in August, an angler targeting striped bass on a charter trip caught a 34-inch red more than 200 miles farther north off Cape Cod. “It’s like a unicorn, here,” said Massachusetts Capt. Sam Crafts. “I’ve been fishing my whole life, and it’s the first time I’ve ever seen one.”
Angler anecdotes of southern game fish in northern waters are not a new phenomenon. Headline-making catches, such as a bonefish caught from the surf off North Carolina’s Outer Banks, might just be fish that lost their way. However, there is no doubt sea surface temperatures have warmed. No one seems to be enjoying this trend quite like Alabama.
Snook in the Northern Gulf of America
In May of 2024, a teen slinging soft plastics for redfish and seatrout hung into a 7-pound snook that was certified as an Alabama state record. Snook don’t belong in Alabama. They are the quintessential inshore species of South Florida and cannot tolerate water temperatures below 60 degrees. As recently as 2018, cold-water snook kills have occurred up and down the west coast of Florida.
Yet snook in the eastern Gulf of Mexico appear to be expanding north and west. In recent years, they have become more prevalent along the Florida Panhandle. The same thing appears to be happening in the western Gulf, where snook abundance is expanding northward along Texas.
The Alabama state record snook was caught in Soldier Creek, which feeds Perdido Bay near the Alabama/Florida state line. “We’ve seen a few over the last couple of years show up in that particular area,” Scott Bannon, Director of the Alabama Marine Resources Division tells Fox News.
And it’s not just snook. Other fish that were once rare off Alabama are showing up with more frequency. Fish like African pompano and gray (mangrove) snapper are more abundant. Unusual species seem to be larger, as well. In 2022, the Alabama state record for permit fell twice in five months, and while permit are not unheard of in the Northern Gulf, they usually aren’t as large as the 8.5-pound record fish caught by a kid from the beach at Fort Morgan in October 2022.
“We look for diversity in our fishing opportunities,” Bannon says. “It adds excitement to fishing. So, at the end of the day, it’s a good thing.”
Where are the Gulf Cobia Runs?
On the flip side, no one seems to know what happened to the massive cobia migrations that were once a mainstay of the Gulf fishing scene. Data from NOAA shows a surface temperature increase in the Gulf of 1.9 degrees Fahrenheit between 1970 and 2020. Captains report earlier arrival of summer migrations of species like tarpon and tripletail, but the cobia run just vanished. Some speculate cobia just move offshore in rising temperatures, instead of running the coast like they have for decades.
