Bagman,
I think South Carolina is underestimated in our bowfin abundance. SC has a lot of bowfin. I know for a fact in Lake Murray they are plentiful. One night about a year ago a friend and I caught about 100 bowfin in one night! Granted, they were only about 2 inches long and still in the swarm just after hatching (they were returned back out of the net just after being caught), but I have seen many in Lake Murray, and just last night I missed about a 6 pounder. If you want to see and catch fins come to Lake Murray. They're here.
Happy Finnin
Andrew M, 06/10/08
Hiya Bagman,
Here's another one of those first time stories. Having been fishing as long as I could hold that first Zebco 202 I've caught a lot of different freshwater fish and quite a few saltwater fishing in the surf. It's been about 10 years since I had done any serious fishing but recently I got my wife into camping and we have been spending alot of time at Ocean Lakes campground in Myrtle Beach. They have several large ponds and certain parts are brackish,anyhow, I haven't had much luck until the morning of 10/27. Using a small Rebel minnow I was catching 7 to 9 inch bluegill,little monsters, I figured if they were hitting this then a rooster tail would drive them nuts. The campground store didn't have any rooster tails but had something I thought might work {yellow and white feathers with a trailing treble and a single hook meduim sized bullet weight with a willow). The brim didn't like it but the b@$$ were tearing it up.
Got up the next morning about 830(check out is 1100) to get a little bit more in. Caught a few small b@$$ and then this HUGE b@$$....so I thought. The dangdest thing I had ever caught, it fought like a gorilla, but I finally got it landed and was so excited, I reached to grab its lip and thought twice...teeth...what the... I grabbed the thing by the gills and took off for the camper to show the wife and kids. Was stopped by one of the security guys saying..nice cat...I said no, he said yeah. I said no, it has teeth and no spines. He didn't have a clue at first. After about an hour he came by and said he thought it was a Bowfin. OMG!! After reading all the stories you have here I'm hooked too. What a fighter and not a bad looking fish. I have always enjoyed catfishing but I think I have somthing new here. Keep up the great work and info.
Jamie F, Rock Hill SC, 11/05/07
May 2006, Loc'n Unknown
First of all I've been intentionally fishing for this great species since 1973, originally in Florence, SC. Incidentally the World Record Bowfin was actually caught there in a swampy lake area just outside of Florence called Forest Lake. It's a country club now.
Yep, I've caught some big ones and lots very near record size from the exact same fishing hole and many others. I even use fly fishing gear for them just for the fun of it. Now I fish for them all over the place. I've grown up a bit since then and can now drive a car instead of having to use a bicycle to cruise across the golf courses. Personally, I feel it's a highly overlooked sport fish that fights like heck. Generally we don't eat them. Many used to think of tarpon and bonefish as trash fish, so what is so bad about the voracious bowfin?
I have lots of tales and many swampy spots. Both are meant to misdirect you from my favorite Bowfin areas. For the moment I'll leave you with a pic of one caught just last week, a little one. And I'm still chasing records after 30 years.
Tersh, 05/19/06
I
caught this in the Waccamaw River in Myrtle
Beach SC. I had no idea what it was at first. I am fairly new to
fishing the area it was not until the next day that I thought about
bowfin. I got to thinking that the fish may be a bowfin; I had seen
pictures of them before, a long time ago. Checked on the net, found your site and sure enough I
had caught a bowfin. I caught this one on a nightcrawler on the bottom
in about 10ft of water. Thanks for the bowfin information. I will be
attempting to target these more in the future now. I had a wonderful
time catching huge longnose gar in my former living area while everyone
scoffed at me. Hey I don't keep and eat fish anyway, I'm just looking
for something to tug on my line, I don't care what it is.
Ben P 08/15/05
SC Fin Turns the Tables
A little story about my latest bowfin experience from back in
January and it doesn't involve a hook or line. A friend and I were down
in Jasper county doing a fish survey for a consultant in some swamps
they want to protect for a nature trail. We had stopped by one of our
regular sites to get a baseline on what was out at this time of year.
The previous May, we had been chased out of this site by a 10ft gator
(they look alot bigger when you're chest deep in the water than from a
boat). Anyway, we were seining around the same spot as the gator had
been but since it was in the mid 30's we weren't to concerned. Suddenly
Dustin's eyes get really big and he says "something hit me in the
leg...HARD!" I kinds think to myself "yeah right....chicken" when I get
nailed in my legs, three times! I see a wake cut across in front of the
seine and holler (in a high-pitched girly voice) "lift the seine, lift
the seine!" When we lifted it, there was a brightly colored male bowfin
about 20" in length. Knowing Riverbanks Zoo wanted one to display in
their tank, we took it back to them and it's now happily swimming
around one of their tanks along with a couple of longnose gar, a large
bluecat and several species of sunfish.
I had heard that male bowfin will protect their nest but would
never have believed they would go after humans and I've got bite marks
in my waders to prove it.
Chip in SC
I
caught my first bowfin of the 2005 season and it was my
first fish of spring! Just like last year, only too bad this one is
about 11 lbs smaller than that beast from last year. Oh well, it's a
bowfin and I'm happy! I caught it on a maroon ribbon-tailed
Texas-rigged worm, about 55 degree water, 70 degree air temp, at the
duck pond flats of Lake Moultrie, SC. This catch was about 50 yards
from where I caught the monster of last year! Lookin forward to a more
productive year.
DavidG 03/26/05
Here
is the big bruiser I caught today on frozen
shrimp! This tank took me to hell and back... especially when I boated
it, typical!!! 31 inches, just over 11 lbs. I'll be hitting this spot
more often and maybe the intervals between each bowfin won't be by
multiple months! I've caught a lot of personal trophys but bowfin
always seems to outdo them all!
David G 07/16/04
Caught
a bowfin on the lambo today... also had a
gar with half a snout (broken) try to take on the lambo but didn't stay
on. This one was around 26 inches or so... only one caught.
David G 07/20/04
I'm a retired Firefighter from Ct. I moved to SC and was
fishing the Waccamaw River. I was fishing for crappies but a
thunderstorm was coming so before I left I just want to see if a Rapala
would do anything. I'm still learning the river and what it has to
offer. This fin hit it very hard and was a good fight.
07/01/04
I
promised you I would be back to grace the covers again and I
kept my word. I caught my first Carolina FIN, baby!!! But it wasn't
just any fin, Try 30 inches and 12.2 lbs of pregnant female for a first
in nearly a year, halfway across the country! I was fishing a spot I'd
read about that bowfisherman often go on the Santee. I decided it was
worth paddling out to. The paddle was nearly 25 minutes just to get
there but obviously worth while. When I reached my destination I
immediately saw more massive grass carp than I can count, and
eventually gar began to cross the front of the boat. All the time I had
been working a plastic floating frog across lilies, but after seeing 3
gar run by my boat I decided to sit down and fish some shiners since I
had spent more than half the day without coaxing a fish up to the
surface frog. Immediately I missed a fish, and I figured that was
probably the last bite I'll get. I watched the water and saw a gar
surface just beyond casting distance but I tried anyway. As soon as the
shiner was in the water something nibbled once... twice... a third time
and a run, I set the hook expecting a gar to leap out of the air but
no... something was pulling me down, HARD. I figured man this is too
powerful for a bass... and doesn't quite feel like a striper, after the
thought ran through my head... bowfin... It jumped and nosed dived into
a patch of weeds but while in the air I caught glimpse of the big brown
head and a white chin and screamed out BOWFIN!!! It's not normal for me
to scream out and began a nervous shake, it's special occasions and big
fish this happens on, anyway the massive female bowfin rocketed towards
me as I struggled to reel in the slackening line. I whiffed when I
tried to net her several times just anticipating the line to loosen and
an empty hook to emerge. Finally I thrust the net upon her and it was
over. I fell back into the boat and just yelled! I had finally done
what I have been trying to do since I first moved here!
Water temp: around 55 to 60
Air temp: 78
Wind: 5 mph
Depth: 5 feet
Check out the shirt I'm sporting! Get yours!
