Anybody catching any ?

Wish I was. They fight like the devil.

Do they still have the World Bowfin C'ship down on the upper end of the Mobile Delta? I went one year for the weigh-in and they had a truck bed full of mudfish up to 15 or so pounds. Most all of 'em still alive and meaner 'n hell, too.

I was just talking to some buddies the other day about how there are not near as many of them as it used to be. That and jackfish (chain pickerel). We used to literally wear them out as a kid!!! They were fun as heck to catch and were in about every slough, or slow-moving creek around.
Nowadays, a lot of kids don't even know what the are!

I still catch bowfin occasionally, but chain pickeral are rare. I haven't caught one in 10 years. Used to catch them often.

I believe that tournament still takes place in July.
We have plenty of them in our oxbow off of the Alabama river. They know how to fight.

theres still a ton of them. its weird but ive seen more below oliver damn in tuscaloosa than anywhere

Thats one species I've never caught.Caught several pickerel while bass fishing in swamps but never a bowfin.

Might have to get a swap going for the elusive bowfin
140 inch whitetail for an ice chest full of grinnel (I can throw in some alligator gar and carp to complete the slam).

first time I caught a bowfin I tried to lip it like a bass. bad idea. for any one that has ever had a snapper clamp down on them and not let go, this is what a bowfin bite feels like.

I have been bit by mangrove (grey) snapper on numerous occasions and I have learned that the bigger they are the longer their teeth are and they always sink their teeth in as deep as their teeth are long and they usually hold on for about 10 seconds which seems like an eternity and it would make men lesser than me cry.

Had a mango grab my pinkie finger

Those mangrove's have some serious pins for teeth. We caught several down in the everglades last week. Fun to catch.

A Bowfin (Grinnell) is a spooky looking fish. I caught one on a jug one time and that sob went crazy when I lifted it out of the water!

Used to catch Jacks all the time on spinnerbaits in sloughs when I was a kid. Too lazy to do that any more.

Lonster

theres a lake behind my house full of jacks i hate those things they will steal a crappie minnow in the blink of an eye. ive caught several big grinnel in bass tournaments that will break your heart once you find out what they are.

Im not trying to be ugly, but that was dumb....ouch!

little brother thumbed a nice mangrove snapper near Big Pine Key on evening. Funny(to us) to watch him try and shake it off.....

The bowfin tournament was just this past weekend! There are still plenty of them down here and plenty of Jack fish too! The black water creeks that run into the Tombigbee from the West are full of Jacks and the dang bowfin are thick everywhere! They'll destroy a spinner bait but are definitely fun to catch!

Neither of these species are fish that you will want to "lip"! Lol!

A grinnell is only good for garden fertilizer, but a jack is some good eatin. You just gotta figure out a way to deal with the bones. Best way we found was to scale him, then fillet him and leave the skin on. Then make a bunch of cuts down to the skin, but not thru it, and make them very close together to cut thru all the bones. The skin is the only thing holding the fillet together when you finish. Then fry him really crisp and eat skin, bones, and all. They have a great flavor.

Dadgum. Who puts on the bowfin tournament? Still the same tackle shop that did it 10 years ago? I can't remember the name.

Man I didn't know any better first time I had ever seen or caught one had to look it up after I caught it to find out its name. Don't know until you try I guess.

When I first moved to Florida I was a straight up bowfin catchin maniac. Love those things!!!My best is 9lbs.3 oz. out of the Withlacoochee river.

First caught a grinnel cat back in 65 in a dallas county swamp near millers ferry- think it was boga chito or chikatchee ??? Anyway im reeling this thing and a 2 foot gator latches on- i just took my knife stabbed both in the head.

You tell some of the tallest tales I've ever heard. I bet you've flown planes upside down and punched Bigfoot in the face too haven't you?

I don't think he's gonna be able to answer you

Damn. This guy is awesome.

I know. I am gonna miss him.

Does anyone have a pic of a bowfin ?

That's a nasty looking critter. Trash fish I presume ?

The state of Alabama doesn't consider them a game fish so it's open season

I guess that would depend on who is catching bowfin during the spawn and selling the roe. But yes most consider it a trash fish. 1/12 of the female bowfin weight during the spawn is roe, the roe is being sold to processors for around $18 lb or so. The companies that are selling the roe are getting anywhere from $8-$17 per ounce.

In Louisiana commercial fishermen can only keep bowfin 22" min total length. Recreational fishing 16” min total length.

http://www.cajuncaviar.com/

http://www.earthy.com/Bowfin-Choupique-Caviar-4-oz-P7.aspx

Is that what some call a mud fish ?

yes

Pretty good read on them.

http://outdooralabama.com/fishing/freshwater/fish/bowfin/

Wow! As many as we catch here I'd love for someone to open up a market here to collect them!

Wow. If that's the case then I know some backwater ponds that are worth a small fortune. LOL!

I drained a beaver swamp that was about 40 acres. There was 1 deep pool that all the gar and bowfin got trapped in. I took a huge dip net and scooped them out. If there was 1 in there there was 3-400. I just left them. Closest river was 1/2 mile and I wasn't toting that many that far.

I have funny story about a Grinnel that I tell pretty well. I doubt I can do it justice in written form because I can't write like an old black man talks. I'll give it a whirl.

When I was at Auburn, my neighbor and I use to drive over to West Point Lake and bowfish. We would wade in the shallows and shoot. We didn't have money to put gas in a truck and boat.

We would tie a rope to our waist and put the carp and occasional Grinnel on the stringer and take them back to Auburn to sell them for gas money to the Asian students and to the local blacks. We'd sell carp for $1 and Grinnel for $2.

We shot a nice sized Grinnel one day and stopped by the housing projects on the northwest side of town. There were several old black men who sat out under a tree every day. We pulled up and asked them about buying some fish. When they walked over to the truck, one of them said, "Whooooo boy, look at the toofies on that Grinnel trout." They picked over the carp and one of them bought one. That one old man just kept poking the Grinnel with a stick. He finally popped up and said, "I sho know who would love to buy that Grinnel trout. Ol Joe sho would love to have it." and just chuckled. I said, "well, reckon Joe want's to buy it, and he said, "Naw, Joe dead." End of story. LOL

That's much better in person.

No harm no foul there. Some people grind the meat up and fry it like salmon patties. I don't care for it but some do.



You should still be serving time in prison for this however. LOL! Most inedible fish in America. I'd just as soon eat a shad or a skip jack.

Back 1981 er so I was checking fishing one day around Akron and Lock Eight. As I drove down the Lock Eight road I saw a car parked off the road a ways near and old cypress pond. I drove back there to check it out. I found and old(real old) black woman with prolly 7-8 kids fishing with homemade poles and lines.

I asked if they were having any luck, the old woman pointed to a bucket. I looked in and there were prolly 30 4-7" grinnels in there, swirling and sliding around.

I asked her what they do with em, she said "we eats em"...

I asked if they were any good?

She replied "no"......

I left.

He does not drink beer often but when he does he prefers dos equis

I've eat it. Not that bad, not that good. I've paid money in restaraunts for worse fish though. Some Tilapia is inedible.

I don't understand why people love tilapia. They are just as much a trash fish as anything else. A lot of places use them to keep the weeds down in sewage treatment ponds

that brings back memories when i tournament fished on hatchey river in west tn we caught them on man's black grape jelly worms as fast as you could get it in the water, that was one ugly fish the grinner. the first one i caught showed me why u don't lip them:) mouth full of needles.they would tear up DuPont 20 pound stren like it was sewing thread.

Gotta agree with Todd on this one. I always had trouble even giving away a grinnel. I once tried to fillet one with an electric knife and was gonna just try it. The meat would not hold together to make a fillet. I see why some call it cotton fish. I finally just gave up and threw it away.

we call that a choupic, that fish needs to stay alive until you clean it, if not the meat will turn to mush, that is some of the best fish to eat if you know what your doing, being from south louisiana I grew up eating that