Don't let your bowfin gorge on borderline rotten fish...

[DrownedFishonFire]

Ive caught those and they are brutal to bring in on the line. Fantastic fighters pound for pound when it comes to native fish up north on my species list that i have caught. Ive seen beautiful specimens some have that intense green coloring in the best one was in Wisconsin fishing in Lake Michigan once near the shoreline so breathtaking! I have been on the lookout for nice looking bowfin fry and havent bit on what was being offered in the last 2 years of coming back into the hobby when i have seen so much better looking fry in the springtime no offense to our wonderful vendors.

Bowfin is definitely one of the fish im going to keep if i dip into the large native fish keeping realm.

Their markings is so diverse from region to region along with certain times of the year from my experience of catching them on the line and in nets (random fry hiding in the weeds when i was trying to catch other species never had the space to keep them though) this video thread was neat for me to see how they glide through the water on its best behavior with other monsters. With sad start and endnote i think you did a fantastic job with the brothers having one make it to 10 years old.

Cheers

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

DrownedFishonFire Thank you for this! Intriguing comments. Especially to a person overly excitable by fish.

As our peer, I quoted on the past post, says, the males turn nice green during breeding season. I've never seen it.

Nor have I seen the various markings and patterns you are mentioning, that make me pick up my drool off the table. All bowfins I have ever seen were rather drab with faint markings, even the characteristic ocellated spot in the back was usually pale / rather faint. Perhaps this is due to captivity. If you are one of those anglers who takes fish photos, you could show us those patterns on the various bowfins you caught, couldn't you?

 

[DrownedFishonFire]

thebiggerthebetter unfortunately photo documentation wasnt my big thing back then though but lucky for you Im starting to take photos of my catches and since I started to do this over the summer I have not come across a bowfin or their offspring yet tis matter of time and springtime is when I will intentionally target them. I now have a new iphone it does seem to take good fish photos to my surprise but storage space vs an android is awful thats the downside of this iphone

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

If you willed, you could use google photos of bowfins to show us the patterns you had seen on your caught fish. Not everyone is comfortable with using other people's work, so I understand if not.

 

[DrownedFishonFire]

with quick glance the U of I bowfins picture is an example what average markings Ive caught in Southern part of the State and the 2nd picture of some of the better looking specimens i caught in southern Illinois near Kentucky and Tennessee borders

Yours looks just like the classic northern illinois / certain part of michigan bowfin Ill catch those plain looking ones in summertime/fall the most off the fox river lol the fry look a bit more coppery in the tail but they are drab looking

now the wisconsin bowfin off lake michigan was so brilliantly teal now i think about it not very green like the specimen shown in the photo it was at least 25 years ago however my memory of it was it was the entire mouth colored up as well this and was not fishing for them we were going for the salmon or rock bass not sure but we were fishing for a specific species for some reason i remember my dad being disgusted when i was asking him what it was and he called it a dogfish and told me to leave it on the road which I didnt i threw it back in was at least 18” in length he didnt say anything to me when i dropped the bowfin back in the water to live another day. So much has changed in conservation.

 

[Hao]

Nice 50 cm bowfin in Japan

I believe this one was a 60+ cm one caught in Texas

 

[Krismo962]

Is the one on the bottom from Rehoboth aquatics?

Nice 50 cm bowfin in Japan
View attachment 1473638
I believe this one was a 60+ cm one caught in Texas
View attachment 1473639

 

[Hao]

Is the one on the bottom from Rehoboth aquatics?

Yeah. it is. He's the man for nice sized native fish.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Thank you guys for these visuals. This is great. Some bowfins have this pronounced reticulated cool pattern! I wonder if it is geography/genetics. Ours were like the two of the drabbest in the DrownedFish's pics above. The green is totally awesome but can't be aimed at or counted on as this is the breeding, transient color, it will not keep. Kind of the same as Chinese High Fin shark/loach get intense red/purple for the breeding, then back into the drab oblivion

Is Rehoboth Aquatics still owned and run by Toyin? The Africa specialist? (I bought fish from him back in 2015.) If so, when did he switch/augment with the USA natives?

 

[Krismo962]

I believe he still sells african species but I may be wrong ,here's his instagram https://www.instagram.com/rehoboth_aquatics/ .