While Bowfishing out at Gibbons Creek tonight, a friend of mine shot a fish which none of us had a clue what it was. Apparently after looking at pictures, it's a bowfin. This is the first time I've ever heard of it. Anybody have any insight on them?

We were stacked up in gar when it was shot and it actually charged my buddy who was walking the shallows.

In pretty sure they are legal to shoot, if not, just pretend you didn't hear this.

TPWD shows that the Gibbons record bowfin was shot bowfishing in 1999 and went 8.33 lbs. So, looks like they've been in there for a while, and they're in most waters in east Texas, just not in huge numbers.

How long have you been fishing in TX?

I've fished Texas all my life, I'm 24, but I just recently got into bowfishing. This was my first trip out bowfishing Gibbons and the first time for me to shoot something. The 3 guys with me who have also fished Texas their entire lives also had no idea what it was.

I actually had to look up "Bowfin". I've never heard that name. We always called them mudfish.

We always called them Grinnel. I caught one at Gibbons in the late 90's that was 6-7 lbs.

There are a **** ton of them on the Trinity below Lake Lavon (when there's water).

I've always called them Grinnels. Use to catch them a lot in the early days on Toledo Bend..

In Minnesota they are commonly called Dogfish.

Nice! I always called them grinnel too

Is that like a snakehead?

I've seen em off my dock in Lake Cherokee, also had never heard of them till I saw one and had to look it up.

quote:

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Is that like a snakehead?

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Apparently people get the two mixed up. From what I saw in pictures, snakeheads have more "snake-like" markings and bigger more aggressive looking teeth. This fish didn't have much teeth that I could see at all. Looked like a catfish inside it's mouth.

I caught them below the spillway at Gibbons Creek back in the mid nineties. Wild looking fish!

We had a big swampy pond near the neighborhood I grew up in that we called the "Gar pond" because it was loaded with alligator gar and bowfin. Every spring we would wade in the shallow parts of it and you'd find the males guarding their ball of tadpole looking little dark colored fry. There were quite a lot of 5-10lb bowfin in that pond, and it was a blast to fish in.

Now it is a neighborhood.

In Louisiana they call them a shoepick

[This message has been edited by kayakag (edited 4/8/2014 9:45a).]

rookies

Chopique = bowfin
Sac at Lait = Crappie

Bowfin are cool fish. They are decendents of an isolated line of fish that are something like 180 million years old, through that time they're relatively unchanged.

Anybody eat them? Or gar for that matter?

^never heard about eating bowfin, but I've heard gar is pretty good

Choupique patties can be found from time to time in S. Louisana. Same with gar balls (gar meatballs).

wait, wtf? lol

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Gigem Aggies

Guy's got a party going on in both front and back.

DISCLAIMER: The picture above is NOT of myself.

Remember when I caught my bowfin in Medlin Creek just outside Ore City in Upshur County. Was 10. My friends and I thought it was something pre historic . Caught about a dozen since. If you haven't caught one you haven't fished enough.

Very cool fish and fun as hell to catch on rod and reel. I grew up duck hunting a swamp near Sour Lake. It was full of bowfins. We used to go fish for them in the summer. They go crazy and fly out of the water like tarpon.

Did you catch them up close to the dam or down in the creeks far below the dam? Thanks!