Thanks for all the input. I'm in Western PA, in Slippery Rock- Just north of Pittsburgh. These pics are all from the Geneva Marsh, or Conneaut Marsh as some people call it. We don't have many bowfin in most of PA, but in the last few years they've really taken off in the Conneaut area. The Conneaut Channel flows from Conneaut Lake, through the Marsh, and into French Creek. All three places are great for bowfins. It's sad that people hate them as bad as they do, because they're "invading" waters where people regularly catch bass, pike, and muskie. The other three are becoming harder to catch in these waters- dunno if they're rarer, but the bowfin definitely strike more often, and a heck of a lot harder! Lots of people in the area there are cutting bowfin bellies open, cutting heads off, or just throwing the whole fish up on the bank to die.
Personally, I think they're amazing fish. We started catching them a few years ago, and even though we've been fishing those waters for years, we'd never seen one before maybe 6 or 8 years ago. My dad's been fishing those waters for close to 30 years, and he'd never seen one before that. Since my interest in fish (in an aquarium and on the end of my pole) has grown in the past few years, my interest in these guys as grown exponentially. I'm thrilled that we have them in the area again, and would be thrilled to see them fill waters other than the Conneaut system, as long as they're given the opportunity to spread naturally and aren't introduced to other systems. Supposedly their population has been growing in Erie, too, and we're headed up for Memorial Day weekend to see if we can't find some up there. I've never caught any other fish that was as much fun as these guys. In my experience, if they're in the water, they'll bite more often than not, and when they bite . . . wow. I've never had anything hit as hard as one of these guys. My wife caught that 25" pike and said the 25" pike fought half as hard as the 15" bowfin. That alone makes them game enough for me!
Oh, also- yes, the blue and green mean they're in spawning mode. Both of those were males, and I've been told they lose all that color after spawning.
And one final before I forget- As for the tshirt. . . Virginia may be for lovers, but we have Intercourse in Pennsylvania!
One my wife brought in with lots of blue.
