WASHINGTON — A Maryland man caught the state’s biggest northern snakehead earlier this week — setting a record-breaking 18 pounds.

On May 20, Emory Baldwin was wrapping up a night of snakehead fishing along the Maryland side of the Potomac River in Charles County when he saw the snakehead around 11 p.m., said Maryland Department of Natural Resources Communication Director Stephen Schatz. Baldwin used his compound bow to snag the fish and engaged in a tug-of-war with a 18.42-pound snakehead — a Maryland record.

The catch record was made official the next day, when Baldwin brought it to the Gray Brother Market in Marbury, Maryland, where it was weighed on a certified scale.

The previous record was a 17.49-pound snakehead, which was caught in the marshes of Mattawoman Creek on Oct. 16, 2015.

State fishing records are normally awarded only for fish caught by rod and reel, but Maryland makes an exception for northern snakehead as well as other invasive species, blue catfish and flathead catfish.