Bowfin are strong ,agile fish so no doubt they are capable of a desperate leap but they are very calm , intelligent beings.I'M sure no expert ,but if your asking do they have the tendencey to jump I'd be comfortable saying no. They do need something to do to occupy their time, my guy ,"steve" is fascinated by kitchen spoons and if I give him one he will move it all around the tank for about a week before he gets bored with it.
Are bowfins jumpers?
- Thread starter sg1717
- Start date
I had a bowfin jump once. I found him on the floor covered in carpet lint and not moving. I actually found him by partially stepping on him. I noticed his gill cover move so I threw him back in the water. In five minutes he was swimming around like normal. Tough fish.
bowfin can survive very long amounts of time out of the water because they can breathe the air due to their air blatter...also good for low oxygenated waters 
I usually catch my bowfin from some tidal rivers of Virginia. We saw some nice 8 to 10 pound bowfin yesterday on the Mattaponi River yesterday and saw some decent bowfin today on the Chickahominy River. One day, in my master plan of things, I would love to have a backyard pond with a 12 pound bowfin raising hell.
We catch them ! It is against the law to sell them. Not flashy on a rod but more power than anything close in size. A good shipping container and the cost of shipping and I would be more than happy to give you one, as long as you promise to treat it as the wonderful creature it is. Can you tell I'm a big fan? In some parts of the country they are called grindal, or mud perch maybe they are local to you. Respectfully, JoeBig Business said:
