Bowfin eat frogs too.

[Jigfishn10]

4 minutes ago, desmobob said:

 

They are practically a dinosaur as far as evolution goes, and they fight like one.  Very strong.  Tough to handle in the boat... they (and big northerns) were my motivation to trade in my plastic fish-grippers for a real BogaGrip.

Are you getting into them in Upstate? I'm in MA and have never heard of one being caught...never bothered to look it up to be honest.

[bulldog1935]

On 7/27/2021 at 12:15 AM, Bluebasser86 said:

I'd trade all the drum in our lakes for bowfin. I've only ever caught 2, both in the Everglades flipping a Pitboss into vegetation. Great battles both times, minus the gator charging the second one and making things dicey for a second, it was a blast. I could see where they'd be really disappointing if I was in a tournament, but I was fun fishing and catching them was a heck of a lot of fun. 

Not to totally disparage the topic or a wise fisherman, 

Gaspergou - fresh water drum - I've bottom-bounced some 8- and 10-lbers on fly rod with Teeny line and cats whisker around boat docks - they have shoulders.  

[desmobob]

5 minutes ago, Jigfishn10 said:

Are you getting into them in Upstate? I'm in MA and have never heard of one being caught...never bothered to look it up to be honest.

 

I have an old photo posted farther back in this thread.  I caught a huge one this spring on Lake Champlain and really regret not taking photos of it. 

 

I didn't think to photograph it because it was going apesh*t while I was trying to unhook it and I just wanted to get it back in the water.  ?

1 minute ago, bulldog1935 said:

Not to totally disparage the topic or a wise fisherman, 

Gaspergou - fresh water drum - I've bottom-bounced some 8- and 10-lbers on fly rod with Teeny line and cats whisker around boat docks - they have shoulders.  

I love 'em... they're like bulldozers.  And it seems I hook them most often when I'm fishing with an ultralight rig with a Roadrunner or marabou jig.  Fun!

[Jigfishn10]

12 minutes ago, desmobob said:

I have an old photo posted farther back in this thread.  I caught a huge one this spring on Lake Champlain and really regret not taking photos of it. 

Oh crap, I see it, sorry mi amigo...Senior moment.

[MassBass]

On 7/28/2021 at 8:39 AM, Jigfishn10 said:

Are you getting into them in Upstate? I'm in MA and have never heard of one being caught...never bothered to look it up to be honest.

I have never caught one or seen one in MA or NH. We got the chain pickerel and little pickerels in the shallow warm swamps.

[Nelson Delaney]

On 7/28/2021 at 8:39 AM, Jigfishn10 said:

Are you getting into them in Upstate? I'm in MA and have never heard of one being caught...never bothered to look it up to be honest.

The MA state record was recently set twice in 3 days in Raynham area.  I think the Taunton River.  
I have caught a few small ones in the Nashua river.   All less than 10”

[Jigfishn10]

10 hours ago, MassBass said:

I have never caught one or seen one in MA or NH. We got the chain pickerel and little pickerels in the shallow warm swamps.

It is funny that I've never heard of Bowfin here and I've been fishing in MA since 1997. Crazy isn't it!?

 

8 hours ago, Nelson Delaney said:

The MA state record was recently set twice in 3 days in Raynham area.  I think the Taunton River.  
I have caught a few small ones in the Nashua river.   All less than 10”

I'm like 20 min from the Taunton River and have never fished it...LOL

Thanks for the info Nelson!

[the reel ess]

On 7/26/2021 at 4:33 PM, ErieCan said:

It hasn't been a great season up here so far. We've had very unstable weather for weeks.  I was out at sunrise and immediately started working a frog in a back bay. Several pike launched themselves clear out of the water at the frog. Most miss but I landed a couple. Bass were not committing to the frog. I'd follow up the boils with a weightless caffeine shad and landed four. The surprise of the morning was this bowfin. Followed the frog from behind like Jaws before taking it. We don't see too many of these here so it's a bit of exotic catch. 

 

Nice! There are no toothy critters where I fish. We do have pickerel and bowfin in some waters. Do they shorten the life of hollow body lures?

46 minutes ago, Jigfishn10 said:

It is funny that I've never heard of Bowfin here and I've been fishing in MA since 1997. Crazy isn't it!?

I fished a lake from the time I was old enough to hold a cane pole until I was mid-40's. I never saw a gar on it in all that time. Now people catch them regularly.

[Jigfishn10]

2 hours ago, the reel ess said:

I fished a lake from the time I was old enough to hold a cane pole until I was mid-40's. I never saw a gar on it in all that time. Now people catch them regularly.

I just find it amazing that we've been so misinformed all these years. My father was right: "John, one of these days reality is gonna slab you right in the face". 

 

Crazy, he was so right...LOL

[MassBass]

1 hour ago, Jigfishn10 said:

I just find it amazing that we've been so misinformed all these years. My father was right: "John, one of these days reality is gonna slab you right in the face". 

 

Crazy, he was so right...LOL

Well I think the specie distribution can change overtime, even with North American native species. I believe the bowfin is native.

[ErieCan]

11 hours ago, the reel ess said:

Nice! There are no toothy critters where I fish. We do have pickerel and bowfin in some waters. Do they shorten the life of hollow body lures?

 

The pike will shorten the life of all lures by making them disappear. Lol.  When I target pike I use steel leaders. 

[bulldog1935]

11 hours ago, ErieCan said:

The pike will shorten the life of all lures by making them disappear. Lol.  When I target pike I use steel leaders. 

 

I buy Eastern European titanium-wire pike leaders for inshore fishing.  Unfortunately Mako Fishing in Ukraine quit selling to US during the '20 postal crunch.  But I found Dragon brand leaders, and a Poland retailer who will DHL to US - his min order is about 20 leaders.