It was already a special day for two friends enjoying a bass-fishing bachelor party on the Potomac River. But when the men spotted a long shadow swimming among the reeds, they knew things were only going to get more interesting.

On Saturday, fishing with a buddy on the Potomac River tributary, Caleb Newton caught what appears to be the fish of a lifetime — a world record northern snakehead.

If the fish, 36 inches long and weighing in at 17 pounds, 6 ounces, is determined to be a record catch by the International Game Fish Association, it would beat the current hook-and-line record of 17 pounds, 4 ounces, caught in 2004 in Kagawa, Japan.

Newton, 27, spotted the snakehead, a voracious predator with a brown, snakelike pattern along its sides, but it ignored a rubber worm. Then Newton tried a crank bait — a plastic lure resembling a bait fish, with multiple treble hooks — and it struck.

Click here for the full report with a photo of the proud angler and his catch by The Free Lance–Star.