dogfish/bowfin EDIT: FROM Aug 2004

I understand this perfectly. I didn’t care about the responses on the treads, I just meant it was nice to see a good debate on here.

As far as the numbers of fish, I am very concerned about the future of many of the sporting fish in different bodies of water, especially the eyes. I am more of a bass and panfish person myself. I am trying to learn and deal with doing more walleye fishing. That is what I like about everyone here they help out. As far as “walking the shoreline reports” I’m not sure what you mean by that but I did take some offense to it. I spend a lot of time out talking to people fishing and a ton of time in my boat whether it is on the Mississippi, Chippewa, or on a lake.

Now getting back to the thread at hand. I’ve spent a lot of time today looking at articles about dogfish. I will post some of the things I am finding out about them in just a bit. Some interesting and some not so much.

I have to say sorry I was in a bad mood earlier. Please accept my appologies. I still mean some of it so I didn’t erase it all. I will have a report on dog fish on monday.

Warning, the following hyperlink contains unsuitable material for those with weak stomachs. This guys love for the DOGGIE is obviously not only the fight. From the sounds of it, a nice cooked doggie fillet can be enjoyed with a bowl and spoon.

http://www.fishin.com/articles/grinnel.htm

– d-nort

If you guys don’t like dogfish, you should go up to Canada and fish for Lake Trout,thats when you catch these nasty things called Burbott or as the locals call them Ling Cod. They have the head of a dogfish and a body like an eel. When you grab em behind the head to remove the hook they tend to wrap their body around your arm, kind of unnerving…trying to throw a fish off your arm! On good thing about them, they have 2 tubes of meat along their back that tastes like lobster when you saute it in butter.

i know one thing a pig wont eat a dog fish a friend threw one in a hog pen they wouldnt tough it but they ate the remains of all the other fish

They eat it down south. They prepare it by skinning and then cubing the fillet, soaking the cubes in salt/soda then pressing the the cubes with paper towels and repeating the process. Once finished the cubes are seasoned and deep fat fried. My brother-in-law reported them to be very tasty as long as you pressed, soaked, and repressed the cubes.

I know they eat bullheads, quillbacks, small carp and buffalo and just about anything else they want to hahaha. I don’t enjoy catching them particularly when they take over the bass bays. You have to be careful though… if you decide to kill them they have a tendency to get revenge… they don’t slime the carpet like northern do .. they crap all over everything and the stench remains whether you like it or not.

Curt

Slop, doing fine bud, but I haven’t really found an answer to my question in these replies. I asked was purpose in the ecosystem, does a bass serve moreover that a dogfish deserves to die? I’ve seen lakes ridiculously overpopulated with stunted, nuisance bass.

In natures balance, there are many critters. The bowfin IS NATIVE to WI waters and sturgeon shouldn’t be classified as a rough fish. They are targeted and a fragile species in regard to harvesting. They’re bottom feeders and take care of a lot of that stuff we’re never even aware of. What’s a doggie doing that you may be unaware of?

I’m looking forward to hearing Krisko’s research findings. I don’t know much about the critters and I caught my first one this spring. In the Red Cedar, the DNR CO’s want them harvested. Not killed and thrown back, harvested. I guess garden fertilizer is a good idea but that’s a limited option. I hate smelly fish garbage cans so shore disposal isn’t good either, but I guess it’s okay to throw them out somewhere else, bagged up tight or buried.

But in the lake/river/swamp/water…….. no human intervention………. What’s the difference between a bass and dogfish in regard to purpose or contribution to the big picture? Until I see 3 dumptruck loads of bowfin, I think it’s not nearly as problematic as other species.

Here’s a button that shouldn’t be pushed but here it is: Ask any nature nut and they’ll tell you of the numerous benefits to snakes and spiders, yet because of an inability to accept them for what they really are, multiples of people will kill them at every golden opportunity. Is the problem with the fish, or with the people catching them?

I’m intrigued that this topic has gone on to roll over and over on the dogfish but nothing’s being said about the bass. What makes a bass so darn special? In southern regions where they get much bigger and there’s an absence of other species, I can better understand the attraction. But up here in the north where a limit of 3 pound fish can win a tournament…….. what is so spectacular about bass?

There……. that’s enough mischief for one night!

First things first, STillakid2…

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Ask any nature nut and they’ll tell you of the numerous benefits to snakes and spiders, yet because of an inability to accept them for what they really are, multiples of people will kill them at every golden opportunity.

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Remember when “bats” were evil and had to be killed? We now know the IMPRESSIVE and CRITICAL ecological puprose, and large efforts are taken to increase populations to there once proliferous numbers.

I, too, look forward to the Krisko’s findings.

when i was around 10/12 yrs old, i went down to the local creek with my rod and can of corn, caught a few carp, took them up to my grand parents house and grandpa would dig a hole by his rose bushes, chop up the carp with a shovel bury them and let me tell ya he had the best looking roses in town. often wondered why rough fish couldn’t be netted and processed for fertilizer, sure worked for grand dad

It is a perception thing very akin to prejudice. All the glory goes to the respected species, walleye, bass, musky. You catch one of these and you feel good because you have been taught that these are the species worth pursuing. You hook into a big doggie and you immediately think that you hooked into a lunker bass and you get all excited only to find out that it is not the fish that gives you the good feeling.

They are very hard to handle, can be tough on your lures, but they put up a great fight and will hit anything a bass will hit. I think they have their niche in the ecosystem and are not the biomass issue that all of the carp species are.

I will even admit to being less than thrilled when hooking one, but that is mostly because they are so tough to handle. Maybe that is why there are no dogfish tournaments.

I see this deal all the time with so called rough fish. Here is a prime example for you. 2 teens fishing in the cannon river, one hooks into a good fish.I am watching him carefully fight it and see the obvious excitement on his face. After a nice 5 min. fight he sees that it is a 7# carp, this transforms him into a killer. Because it was not a northern,eye,or bass he gets upset and smashes the carps head on the rock and let’s it float down stream.Ok from my perspective this is just wrong. The carp or doggie did its job for the angler it bit and it pulled, but because it wasn’t the preffered species it became wanton waste. I see it all the time and it is wrong. If you slit a doggies belly your are not RESPECTING the fish. I am hardcore bas, but all fish deserve respect. What would all you belly slitters think if somebody slit pre spawn smallies and threw em back? The whole bass community would be enraged. If offended anyone I have no apologies because respect for fish is a # 1 priority in my book.

Yesterday I had the priveledge of a pretty good sized doggie tear the heck out of a #5 firetiger shad rap while trolling . Anyway, I finally got the thing untangled from the net and threw it back in. One of the guys looked at me with astonishment saying, “You are supposed to kill it, not throw it back”. I myself do not think they need to be killed, regardless of what fish it is. It gave me the fight I was after, that is what I fish for, the thrill. I will admit, I was a little disappointed that it was a doggie, but not a good reason to kill the fish. I love the fight from any of the so called “trash” fish. Bass and eyes are no match to the doggie or a good carp for fight, they are just over glorified because they are a “game” fish.

Eyes arent a match for a bluegill

Dan, Dan, Dan….that was not nice . But I have caught some nice fall bull gills that put a slop bass to shame . I mean, come on-Bass hits topwater lure, rip his lips off to get him on top of the weeds, then waterski him in as fast as you can , real fight there . Now if you gave the bass a chance to sink way into the weeds, then try and get him out, that is a challenge. Now before you get upset, I am only poking fun. The point I was making is have respect for all of natures critters. Who or what gives us the right to decide what should live or die based on our perceptions? If we all lived with that idealogy, the world would be even uglier than it is becoming. What if we treated people in the same way?

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Eyes arent a match for a bluegill

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DanWi……. I’ve heard my father say this many a times! He enjoys his ultra-light panfishing much more than the challenges of walleye pursuit if he’s looking for a little fight action. He’s been known to state that it seems foolish to pursue a half dozen or less bigger eye fights when you can have 100’s of thrilling bouts on almost any given day from those little blue scrappers!

For me, I like variety. Light fight, heavy fight, the “what do suppose that was?” fight, the surprise fight…………. variety. Too many lack luster fights gets old but so does too many gills. Great fight but I get wishing for some real drag rippin’ encounters.

From August of 2004.

Some were ahead of there time and well ahead of the DNR.

Under utilized fishing and micro fishing wasn’t even a thing in 2004!

God damn i just read that whole thing not knowing it was 20 years old. Work kinda boring right now.
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Well that was painful to read…

And even today 20 years later, a lot of people have the same mentality. Can’t eat it? Well just kill it then.

“Most people would not consider Sturgeon a game fish?” Huh? Say what? LOL

It’s the King of MN Gamefish!

BK you had this thread on the back burner for a looooooong time!

I’d bet money a couple of these old posters are dead by now.

3Rivers wrote:

“Most people would not consider Sturgeon a game fish?” Huh? Say what? LOL

It’s the King of MN Gamefish!

When I read that part I thought of you. Figured that would ruffle a feather or two.

Call me progressive but I’m pro-dogfish

Love the doggie, maybe my favorite fish to catch.

“dogfish/bowfin EDIT: FROM Aug 2004”

I guess I should of made the 2004 BIGGER. LOL!

I was searching for something, don’t remember what and found this post.

Yes at least two posters have passed on. A lot more of them have moved on with life, family’s kids ect.

I thought it was interesting and thought I would share.