BAGman,
I've seen bowfin and caught them in several locations in Monroe County, Wisconsin. Most recently was in Warrens.
The cranberry marshes are haunted by these fish.
Lee S, 06/30/08
BAGman,
My husband and I were out at Half-Moon Lake in Eau Claire, WI and we were kind of off in the back waters bobber fishing. Something jumped out of the water right next to the shore where I was standing! And of course, I freak out, not knowing what it was that had made such a big splash. Then after a little bit, the mud settled and I saw this huge fish looking through the water at me. I yelled for Alex (my husband) to come over and see this thing! We had no idea what it was and thought at first it was an eelpout. So we started to try and catch it. Alex dangled a worm in front of it and he took it! He started to reel it in and almost had it to shore and he got off the line. So we tried again, mind you, he was only about a foot away from the shore the second time and so when he got on the line again Alex flung him up on land, not wanting to loose him again. He was only 20" but we didn't weight him. We had never seen anything like it and took several pictures to show family. Everyone we talked to said that it was a dogfish, so we came home and looked it up and found your site! We definitly have learned a lot and are excited to go back out and hopefully catch some more!!! :)
-Hannah A, 06/02/08
PS- As soon as I get the pictures uploaded on the computer, I will definitly send them to you!!!
BAGman,
Last week, my dad caught this bowfin in Bashaw Lake. We didn't weigh the fish, but it put a smile on my dad's face. Bashaw Lake is just southeast of Hertel, WI.
Chris S, 05/29/08
BAGman,
I was fishing on the Wisconsin river behind the paper mill dam in Rhinelander, WI. The river is a muskellunge (musky) hotbed, and I have yet to catch one (I'm 19 and only get up there once every three years or so.) After having 3 muskies lunge at, miss or spit out my bait during the week I was there, I got extremely frustrated, but kept on fishing. I made a
cast that I knew was only going to get me weeds, and, lo and behold, my line starts running away from the
boat. It took me 10 minutes to get him out of the weeds, and I thought I had a big pike or a decent
musky. Nope. I didn't know what it was. I stopped at an older couple's dock on the way home and they had no
idea what it was. I stopped at another gentleman's dock, who later I found out was a rather prolific
musky fisherman, and he enlightened me to the term dogfish. It was one heck of a fight, but I really wish
it would have been a musky. I didn't end up getting a musky, but the 11 lb 33 in dogdish really put up a
fight.
Stephen R, 09/16/07
Hi Chuck,
After last summer I had about given up! With the changed lake levels and weed lines I never did get
back in the groove. I got this gal this morning( cloudy and just before a thunderstorm) at about 8:00. she was 30" but only
about 8 lbs. She hit on a 4" 'gill in the usual place on the weed line. It has been a bit slow this spring
on old Buffalo but things are looking up. I hope I have a few photos
to send this summer too!
Keep on finnin!
Bob E., 06/04/07
BAGman,
I caught this fish while going for walleye in northern Wisconsin (Lake Nokomis in Oneida County) and didn't get any measurements of it. Just wondering if you could give me a guess on the length and weight. I never done this and have know idea how to. I really didn't think it was big for the kind of fish, never caught one before. 5'6" ultra light rod, 6lb test, 1/16 oz jig.
Thanks,
Jarrod G, WI 05/31/07
BAGman,
My boys were just asking me again about the great fish I caught in 1994! I wasn't really sure what it was and had some trouble through the years of identifying it. Definitely a bowfin. I was on my pier on Lipsett Lake near Spooner, WI and saw something thrashing around in a weed line that's in about 8' to 10' feet of water. I put on a number 2 Mepps and started casting in its direction and BOOM! it hit, it fought, it ran. I eventually brought it in and had no idea what it was. I described it to people as a prehistoric looking fish with big teeth. It completely destroyed my Mepps.
Thanks for having the web site, I'll check in once in a while, hopefully with another story of a catch.
Joel W, WI 05/14/07
BAGman,
This is a bowfin which I caught at beautiful Lake Minocqua in Northern Wisconsin. This big boy was caught in the early evening hours in July 2006. I caught it off the dock at Carol and Al's wonderful summer home on the lake. It jumped out of the water and into the air with great drama and flair. I certainly was not expecting a large bowfin. Once you've caught a bowfin, everything else seems new age.
Bill W, WI 03/26/07
BAGman,
Hi there, I enjoy your website. I am attaching a pic of a nice Bowfin taken on a bucktail while musky fishing. I'm also attaching a couple of nice pics for the Incidental page.
Enjoy,
Mike C, WI 08/30/06
Bagman,
Hiya. Thought to myself, why not make a video. These guys are so predictable in this drainage pool, I'll cast some bluegill meat out there, wait for that first little line jerk to signify he's workin with the bait then start recording the show. What came out is sufficient. I'd like to get a better camera for this so it turns out better but so far this works. I'll probably make another with the camera operator at a different angle and hopefully fighting a larger bowfin cause there are larger ones in this area.
I was pulling him in on a Shakespeare Custom, not an Ugly Stick though. It's the 30 dollar reel/pole combo job they sell at Wally World. That said I have since picked up some $15 65lb braided super line from whichever company. It's the most expensive stuff they had at Wally World. I also picked up the most expensive baitcasting reel they have too. This stuff will come in and hold me over until I really figure out where I fish the most, and my styles and what not. If I need online fishing hardware, so be it. In any event, I do not know the LB test of this mono line that came with the Shakespeare Custom, but it did pull in the 27" beast from the other day.
I would like to make another video of me fighting one a bit larger and I'll try to keep him near the surface so I get a lot of that topwater thrashing on film. If I'm REALLY lucky, maybe I can get a couple 15 foot underwater barrel runs combined with some nice topwater thrashing in the same fight video!
I was using a chunk of bluegill meat around 1" square. To be honest, the spot you see me casting to in this video, I could keep it up all day long. I eventually leave that corner alone cause you'll cast there, then 2 minutes later, boom, another one. While standing up on an elevated vantage point I could see 3 congregating around each other. This time a year, are they spawning or something? Most all the ones I pull out have the turquoise mouth and there's tons of them in this area around each other all the time and I think they're more of a solitary fish?
- BenH, 07/31/06
Well, got another one, heh! Drainage pools for the wetland marsh basically. 27 inches long, pretty good mass to him, even for that length. You'd estimate 5-6 lbs maybe? Dunno, he fought good but not long. This area is pretty cramped as you might be able to tell from the photos.
This is actually located in the town limits of Lone Rock. I'm
basically catching all my interesting fish in that town as that one single
tiny town has like 3 different styles of water; wetland marsh, drainage
pools, severe backwaters(shallow and weedy yet accessible), average
backwaters(small and shallow rivers), then just easy typical access to the WI
River. I forsee fishing frequently here. And hey, it's 5 miles from home and all
accessible by foot/car.
- BenH, 07/09/06
Hi Chuck,
I have been busy and not able to fish as much as I'd
like and the fishing has been a bit weird. I don't
know if it has been the weather or what but things
have been up and down a whole bunch. And, I have been
a bit off my timing and have missed several I should
have caught.
The "incidental" pix is what happens when day and
night shift overlap. One catch is a nice doggie and
the next a nice channel ..both about 6 lbs. The second
"pair" one in the morning and the other at noon ...I
couldn't catch any more that day. All I got were misses
and very chewed up minnows. The two are again about 6
lbs (one 6 and the other a bit more). I can't seem to
find the big ones(or hook them if I do). If you give
me enough time I'll find some good excuses.
I have, however, got my neighbor kids interested and
one of them got an 8 pounder..one very tickled boy for
sure!
Keep on finnin!
Bob E., 07/06/06
These bowfin are being caught on the stretch of the Wisconsin River from approximately Orion/Muscoda to Lone Rock/Spring Green. I would say the hot spot is the back waters areas around Lone Rock, those little offshoots from the main portion of the WI river channel where one or two land masses might separate this huddle of water from the main channel. These are still being caught in completely free flowing waters directly connected to the Wisconsin River.
They were favoring me late afternoon to night. Around 10:15-10:30 we had our last wrestling match with either him or something similar to him. He got away near bank. We wrestled a good 5 or so fish this size, all on medium to baby bluegills. Just hooked them through the mouth and threw them into the deeper portion of water that was still right beside some cover like a downed tree. Sure enough after a few minutes the pole would start tugging and the line would start walking. You guys are right, they do put up a fight and they LOVE to swim closer to structure and banks when they feel you testing their grip (don't want to yank the bait out of their mouth until you're sure they took it). This one we finally landed. 2 feet long, 4 pounds. He/she has the florescent/turquoise mouth and no dot on the back fin and is a little bigger than the previous one I sent(just yesterday I think). He might be a tad longer but the difference is girth. This one simply has more mass.
I'll submit what I can as I think I may have found a honey hole. I heard some people talking back and forth, "Hey, there's a couple pike babies right here. They're probably spawning by this small dam." So, if I land any of these Bowfins mixed in with the other active predators, I'll send the pics and details.
Thanks!
- BenH, 06/27/06
I caught this bowfin in a small back-river section. It's basically an offshoot of the Wisconsin River. It has current, but slow moving due to a man-made rock dam nearby. I was fishing the cover in a line of downed trees. There's a nice little spot along this tucked away weedy bank area that you can still safely walk through (small paths). There is a tree in the water every 20 feet or so for a quantity of 5 trees or so. So, I alternate back and forth with night crawlers catching B@$$, Bluegill and this Bowfin. I'll toss in a small bluegill for those interesting moments too...had some bites and did some fighting but yet to land that beast. Either way, I toss my crawler out and felt a bluegill style bite but no takers. So I pulled the crawler in a few feet and because of that I could see the crawler faintly. I seen the suspected bluegill move in to eye the worm but then this larger fish just strolled right in, looked at the crawler, started mouthing for air in the shallows then took the worm. I sunk the hook and that was the fastest land for an approximate 2 foot fish I've ever had! The 12" b@$$ I've caught out of this area twice now put up more of a fight.
Either way, enjoy the fish photo. I figure I'd send it to you as I'm picking up fishing since childhood. Only been at it intelligently for a few weeks now and have had my share of lucky days that's for sure! The spot I pulled this bowfin out of seems to be my honey hole. Where there are active bluegills there seems to be, as I've proven, predators. Not even trying, I've yanked 15 various fish off this bank in around 2 hours before.
As you can tell I have no measurement on this fish or weight. At first I naively thought it was a muskie (there are active pikes in this section of the river), but then thought it was a burbot. Your site and a fellow angler helped me to realize it's a bowfin.
Thanks for the site, have fun!
- BenH, 06/26/06
Ice Fishing Surprise
I was talking with one of the local guys who ice fishes Buffalo( not for 'fins, of course). As you know, doggies will poke their snout out for a breath of air on occasion when oxy levels are low or sometimes ,I think, just for the heck of it. It seems that the "lawyers" will do this in winter as well, and a handy hole in the ice is a great place to do it. You guessed it! More than one ice fisherman has been given a good scare, I guess, when a big 'fin stuck his snout through the hole and barked. It seems that at least one young occupant of a fish house left in a hurry yelling about a "monster" coming through the ice, much to the detriment of the poles, minnows and occupants in the house.
My first fin barked and then bit me as I tried to "lip" it. It was early morning and I thought for sure I had a Bass. What I had was a mad 'fin, a bleeding finger and a very amused father. He about fell out of the boat laughing. I, of course, have been hooked ever since.
I love 'fin stories!
BobE, 06/23/6
Hi Bagman,
Summer is almost here and the activity is moving out into the lake and off the last of the nests. These two males have lost most of the 'Bowfin Blue' on their tongues and are lighter for their length than they would be at the end of summer. Now I have to start hunting this years hotspots on old Buffalo.
Good 'finnin
Bob E, 06/21/06
Hi Bagman,
After wandering around the site, I have a better idea of what's needed for a good posting. Please excuse the first pix as it was taken on a lousy evening with a cheap camera. I fish Buffalo Lake, Wisconsin, which is 2200 acres of shallow weedy warm water that is full of fish. The primary baitfish for doggies(Bowfins) are the incredible number of bluegills and carp minnows. In the spring the activity is in two or three feet of water right in the heavy weeds. Difficult to fish but
rewarding in the early evening and early morning hours. A 4" gill minnow in the weeds is usually the most productive. Later in the year, trolling (yes, Buffalo is one of the very few lakes in Wisconsin where trolling is legal) a large spinner on the weed breaks, along the cuts where the weeds have been mown and along the river channel in the evenings is my best bet.
The small dog in the pix loves to bite the doggies as I bring them out, Sushi on the hoof I guess. The average take here is from 24 to 30 inches and 6 to 10 pounds. There are some much bigger, though not like our friends down south.
Thanks for your work on the site, I really enjoy it and will be a regular visitor and I hope a contributor (if the catching is good!)
Bob E, 06/11/06
Hi Bagman,
Bowfins?? They are dogfish here in Wisconsin. Who knew?? I thought I was the only one dedicated to big doggies. Especially here in Wisconsin. I happen to live on a lake full of fighting , nasty tempered and great fun to catch doggies. I'll bet I'm the only one on the lake who fishes specifically for them. I prefer 4 or 5 inch bluegills as bait although when I can I use a large "Northern" spinner. I usually take them from 7PM to sundown this time of year. After dark I fish Channel cats...sacrilege???
The fin in the picture was about 17 lbs but only about 32" long. He was about the fattest one I've ever caught. Even the 7 to 8 pounders I normally catch put up a heckuva fight though. I'll be checking the site regularly now that I have found it.
What fun!
Bob E, 06/10/06
Hey, I'm glad I found this site. I was wondering who kept those fish; I always put them back. After talking to a fellow fisherman on the Rock River in Fort Atkinson WI about the days catch, he told me he caught a couple of walleyes, two carp and a dogfish. No big deal, I must have (and I'm not kidding) caught a hundred of them while fishing for walleyes there. That should be no surprise because they eat the same things. Anyway, what bothered me was that the guy said he killed the fish - and for no other reason than that he claimed it was a "garbage fish". Waste, waste, waste.
Anyway, I've caught (as I've said) a ton of dogfish on the Rock river fishing both from boat and on shore at Fort Atkinson and Jefferson and on the Fox river in Mukwanogo WI. Big too.
Cool site
JohnA 05/08/06
Hi
BAGman,
I came across your website when I was trying to
figure out exactly what it was that I caught today. By process of
elimination, we thought the only thing it could possibly be is a
dogfish. My husband and I were fishing on Eagle Lake, about 6 miles
East of Danbury, WI in the Town of Swiss. We were actually fishing for
b@$$ using a buzz bait with a yellow double tail plastic worm. I
actually caught 3 of these fish today, but only took a picture of the
first one, which was also the largest one. This one I caught in a
weedy/grassy sand bottom creek between Eagle Lake and Mud Lake. The
other two bowfin I caught in Eagle Lake. I couldn't believe it. It felt
like I was fishing in Jurassic Park. Anyway, the one in the picture
measured 27" long and was 4.5 pounds. Enjoy the pictures.
Sheri J 06/19/05
Catch and release on gar and bowfin! At least
someone has got it right. I don't know if there is a fishable
population of gar in this lake but the park manager told me they
stocked about 300 gar and a similar number of bowfin in the lake about
10 years ago as an experiment to try to reduce the crappie population.
This is Yellowstone Lake in WI.
Bob R 05/18/05
,
Ray
W: I caught this fin in a dip net at the marsh. I was in waist deep
water trying to net up mudminnows for bait. I felt something thumpin in
the net, pulled up, and there he was.
This
male was also caught on a sandy bank with cut bait fishing at night.
This
little male was caught at night along a sandy bank with cut bait. He was too released.
This big girl I caught using a white,yellow, and green spinner bait.
This
little male was also caught at night with cut bait on a sandy bank. The strange shape of its tail was probably caused by
a snapper.
In late June they seem to bite really well at night on cut
bait on the sandy drop-offs of a reservoir in the marsh. The rest of
the year it seems daytime only. Fishing right on the edge of a drop
off, in about a foot of water that goes down to six feet, I use a chunk
of chub or shiner suspended under a glow bobber. The bullheads don't
come up this shallow, but the males must be feeding after guarding the
young and find easy pickings of small sunfish on nests, crawfish, and
perch.
This
fin I caught on videotape, but I wish I would have had my friend Matt
get the camera rolling right away. Out in this reservoir there are
clumps of bull rush. They usually always hold one bowfin. I told him as
I cast out, "I am going to raise a hoge." Hoge is short for Hogan,
because they have a mustache, like our favorite wrestler. Babies are
called hogies, or blippers, because they blip at the surface. Anyways,
a wake that would make an alligator smile came at the spinner when it
hit the water outside the perimeter of the bulrush patch. I dropped the
spinner back, then surged it and she nailed it like a freight train.
This is where the video picks up. It is pretty uneventful - until I get
her to the boat. It's hard to see until she comes up along side the
boat and Matt thinks she is done, but I know she is not. Bzzzzzzz out
goes some line when she realizes the weeds she is wrapped up in are not
hiding her. Another battle and she is in the boat. I never measured
her. Judging it fairly, I put her at around 32 inches, possibly a bit
more, but no less.
All the bowfin I sent were released. I do eat them, but have
not kept one in several years. They are very good eating contrary to
popular belief. I think the problem is people expect them to taste like
bass or crappie. If they would go into it thinking its something
totally different, that would help. If you expected grouse to taste
like chicken, you would be repulsed by grouse as well. Another problem
is the strangeness of the meat when filleted. The nice thing, no bones
other than the ribs and backbone. Soak the fillets in salt water or
milk over night. Then freeze, even for a short time. This makes it
easier to work with. The meat can be used as canned tuna would be, but
of course has to be cooked. Favorite recipes are broiling and deep
frying after making patties mixed with green pepper and onion, covered
in batter. Celery ,okra and other veggies can be added to the patties.
Quick smoking to actually grill the meat in about two hours makes a
beef steak like fish fillet. That is good, soaked in a hearty brine
before hand.
I have two pets right now, one is a yearling out in the
gar pond, and the other is a hogie in a twenty gallon tank. I hope to
get a few more to keep inside, and let the one in now go in the pond,
along with some new ones. Last winter was brutal, and I lost the bowfin
and gar I had in the pond, along with alot of other lesser "newer" fish
and plants.
Ray
