One thing that should make bowfins appealing is the variety of ways they can be caught. They also tend to prefer quiet, vegetated waters, so their presence can be indicative of good habitat, and these habitats often serve as nurseries for gamefish.”

“But in doing so, they help prevent potential stunting in gamefish. “Like other predators, bowfins will eat whatever prey is more abundant, including gamefish,” David says. In other words, bowfins do not destroy other gamefish populations. Solomon David, a research associate at Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium who has done extensive fieldwork with the species, bowfin health speaks to the health of an entire watershed.

The difference between bowfins and other “trash fish” like alligator gar, however, is that despite being the target of general disdain and even some eradication efforts, bowfin populations have remained strong. The range of the bowfin stretches as far north as Quebec, down to Florida, and as far west as Texas and Minnesota. They have remained largely unchanged since the time of the dinosaurs, and I only had to catch one to decide I’d take the fight of a dogfish over that of a bass any day.

The truth is that they were around millions of years before every gamefish we love. The funny thing is that in a fishing culture so worried about invasive species and preserving native fish, the bowfin is often falsely touted as a bad guy. With that mouth full of teeth, snakelike body, and viciously cold stare, a bowfin sighting conjures an icky reaction for many anglers.īowfins thrive in anything from mucky swamplands to pristine lakes and rivers, and when one mangles a perfectly good spinnerbait, cuss words fly among bass anglers. None of the regional names for bowfins are particularly flattering.

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