Caught this beast on a Purple Essence Rapala Shadwrap in Butterfield Lake in Upstate NY...we were trolling for Walleyes and I thought I got snagged on a rock until this monster started to rip line off my reel...what a fight! According to the locals they are not native in these waters
Yup they should be native to that area for sure. I had an interesting experience recently involving bowfin. I was shown an old picture from the early 1960's of a kid at my works yearly fishing derby holding a wopper bowfin at the pond on our property. The pond has been there since the early 1900's and I'm very curious to know if they're still there.