Big Bowfin from Orange Lake, FL

[lizardfishman]

These are two of the 15 bowfin my two friends and I caught last week at Orange Lake near Gainesville, FL. Almost the entire lake has dried up because of the drought and these bowfin are piled up in a sinkhole right next to the boat ramp. Both of these were over 10lbs easy and the rest we caught were between 3-8lbs.

 

[wantokeeptrout]

nice catch

 

[Oddball]

Beauties!! Did you catch and release? The last pic looks like an ripe female full of eggs.

 

[lizardfishman]

Yep Oddball, every bowfin we caught was released. I went back to the "lake" again today and it looks like the O2 levels in the water are dropping because a lot of the bowfin were surfacing and holding their heads above water for a few seconds to breathe. I hope the rain in the forecast later this week will bring enough to help out the fish in the lake that are still alive.

 

[nativelover]

break a sprinkler head near the lake.. or turn on someones water hose. that should help them out. =D