giant bowfin

caught this beat on a white spinnerbait in grays bay on minnetonka

Let me be the first to say yuck, those fish give me the willies

7 Pounds? More??

Come on Nick! She’s perty!

Awesome dog fish

The are the meanest finned critter to swim

Let me be the first to say, “What a beauty!” They are cool fish.

Nice ‘fin! Sure looks healthy.

Awesome Fin. I’ll bet that was one heck of a fight!

Well, I’d say that would peeve me but they fight great and if it were a bass or northern it would be going back anyway so no harm no foul. I personally hate wasting bait on those things but they are fun to catch.

should have kept it for Tuck, he eats all those rough fish…

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7 Pounds? More??

Come on Nick! She’s perty!

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she was actually 9 1/2 on the scale

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should have kept it for Tuck, he eats all those rough fish…

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HAHA do them son bi***es even have a grain of meat on em? and yeah i agree there fun to catch im just glad it wasnt a rapala because usually when they hit them the rap looks like it got shot with 12 gauge birdshot

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should have kept it for Tuck, he eats all those rough fish…

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HAHA do them son bi***es even have a grain of meat on em?

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Yeah, as much as any Northern, walleye or catfish, or sheephead and white bass… they’re all just predator fish. I believe that catfish and bowfin actually have a larger percentage of meat per inch of fish than the rest.

Beautiful fish. I was expecting a really giant 40+ incher but that one is pretty big itself.

Thats a pretty cool fish

I was doing some more research on the matter, and found out that they are also referred to as “Swamp Muskie”

Does anybody know if they are a native species, or are they an invasive species

They kind of remind me of a snakehead

Bowfin are native and pretty widespread across the central and eastern parts of the continent.

Snakeheads look somewhat similar, but are completely unrelated.

To the OP – Nice ‘fin!

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Beautiful fish. I was expecting a really giant 40+ incher but that one is pretty big itself.

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yeah considering the state record is 11 lbs and some odd ounces a 40 incher would be a nice state record smasher

Nice dog fish. That must of been a heck of a battle. What did she hit. We used to catch them on silver spoons as kids fishing the back waters by Red wing.

mike i caught him on a white spinnerbait fishin for bass and pike in grays bay on lake minnetonka

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mike i caught him on a white spinnerbait fishin for bass and pike in grays bay on lake minnetonka

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Nice catch…I think…fun though I bet..:)

Al…who’s thinking Grays bay will be wall to wall boats after this gets out…

I find it funny that some guys will complain about catching such a cool fish and the same guys will fish for walleye and bass and end up releasing them anyway. If they are looking for a good fight, the mighty Bowfin is hard to beat.

C&B! Glad to see you again!

Are you stateside yet?

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I find it funny that some guys will complain about catching such a cool fish and the same guys will fish for walleye and bass and end up releasing them anyway. If they are looking for a good fight, the mighty Bowfin is hard to beat.

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this is true cast and blast i usually never fish for them but do tend to catch them quite a bit and i never complain they hate the side of the boat HA!