Wierd and rare catches

[ricqik]

Last year while bowfin fishing in Little Long Lake I caught a 24"-26" pure black male bowfin. When I say pure I mean no brown, green, no pale golden belly, nada, just black. The spot on the tail was all black with a broken bright orange ring around it. It had silver eyes instead of the usual black pupil. Is this a mutant or a melanistic variation. 2 days later it hit me that I should of brought him home and had it mounted. It's one of those once in a lifetime catch. I've also caught a couple of white sunnies.

[Lunker]

wow, that sounds kinda creepy. How do you fish for bowfin? I've caught a couple out of lake Hiawatha, but purely by accident.

[vern]

Cool catch Ricqik! Hey Lunker, your buddy caught a salmon under the Ford Dam? That's one of the stranger catches I've heard of. I know people have caught trout out of the river, but I've never heard of any salmon. What kind was it & how big? Vern

[Dennis Steele]

I cought a Red Horse on the Minnesota River two years ago that was white with bright pinkish red fins.Its the weidest thing I ever saw.The pink fins were so bright they seemed to glow!and the white was as white as snow.I shoud have gotten a picture of the thing but was so stupified by the thing it didn't cross my mind.

[Lunker]

oddly enough, he caught a coho, measuring a whoppin 12". I never said it was big, did I? Thats a one in a lifetime catch i think.
Not that it's so amazing, but on a vacation to south carolina a few years ago, i rented a rod and reel and some shrimp and went fishing in a golf course pond, and pulled out an eel about two feet long. Thats the last thing i expected. We soon left however, realizing a 10ft gator was creeping towards us through the bushes.

[deadeye]

What river did he catch the salmon on? If you want to see a real interesting looking fish catch a quillback they are a real weird one. It looks like a humbacked sucker/shad with a really weird dorsal fin. Got one in Iowa, it was the strangest fish I have ever caught.><>
deadeye

[vern]

Hey Deadeye, that was the Mississippi River. I've caught a few quillbacks below the Ford Dam in the past but it's been a few years. I've also seen a few small eels caught out of the Sunrise River. That's the cool thing about fishing the river, you never know what you'll catch! I think I caught over 25 species last year. Vern

[deadeye]

That is my favorite thing about fishing the river, I can put a worm on a hook and catch just about anything. It makes it real interesting when you hook a fish because you don't know what the heck it is until you can see it. Your buddy got a salmon in the mississippi, that is really weird! I didn't think that they would be able to survive there. Well that goes to show what can be in the river. RIght by my house on the mississippi someone caught some sort of pirahna type fish a couple years ago, after that I really didn't want to do much wading for smallies!
><>deadeye

[JP Savage]

Talk about weird catches....I'm fishin smallies on Big Sand by Park Rapids with a 3 inch tube on a single hook jig........Get a hit a reel in this 1 1/2lb rock....The rock is very round with just a small amount of barnacle on it , and that is where it was hooked......Very strange!

[blacksportsman]

Salmon in the river. I believe it. Go to the MN DNR HSOforum, go to lake finder, and look up U.S. Lock & Dam #5 Pool . They sampled a tiny pink salmon out of there back in '93. I found a dead 18" brown trout on the shores of the St. Croix near Hudson a couple years back. They're considerably more tolerant of warm and turbid waters than other salmonids, but I suppose it also could've died further upstream and drifted down aways before it washed up on shore. Cool topic. Anymore strange and unusual catches??

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"You're gonna need a bigger boat"

-Chief Brody (Jaws)

[Crawlerman]

I caught a pure black large-mouth once.. it was only 8" long or so but even the belly was back. The eye location, # of spines, and general shapetold me it was a Largemouth. That 12lb channel cat I caught a few years back out of a small pond by my house was almost pure black, except for a creamish belly. It could have been a World Record Black Bullhead had it not been for the forked tail! I've also seen a Pihrana (the toothy one) caught by the Mississippi Wakota bridge acess in S. St paul.

[Aquaman01]

Blacksportsman -
Now I'm gonna have to change my signature! (jk)
My son caught a funny looking black eelish deal below the Little Falls dam once. It was about 8" long, and had four barbels flanking a flat catfish-type mouth. It was black, and had a single eel-type dorsal as well as two little pectorals. The eyes were kind of bullhead eyes.
I hooked a water mocassin in Florida, once. Had to cut that one free with about 6' of mono hanging off of him. No way I was goin' closer. Boy was he peeved off!

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Aquaman
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"I think we're gonna need a bigger boat."

[erikwells]

I caught an eel about 16 inches long and it's snout was shaped like a needle nose plier (Mississippi River). I also caught a small silver fish with yellow fins in the gulf of mexico that someone called a 'widowmaker'. The rumor is if they stick you with their spines that a poison will cause you to be sick, severe soreness and swelling wherever you get stuck.

[Mr Special]

Last year fishing the St.Louis river in JayCook. I kept catching something that looked like a bullhead, but had smaller eyes and a flat tail, like the tail of a dogfish. They were mainly about 4"-6" long. My buddy used one for bait and caught a nice 11lbs channel.

[deadeye]

I think that those catfish looking things you guys caught are called madtoms, they are like a little bullhead/flathead catfish cross. I caught a few of them in a stream in southern minnesota. ><>
deadeye

[Crawlerman]

yeah. That or stone cats; which I am not sure if they are native to Minnesota or not.. I remeber reading an article about Stone Cats somewheres once, where it said they were a choice food for flatheads.. I don't know if they follow the same guidelines for bait as bullheads however...

[deadeye]

Has anyone seen a picture of an albino walleye? talk about a really weird looking fish! i saw a picture of one in a infisherman a couple years ago and that would have to be to get hung on the wall!
deadeye

[Mr Special]

Thanks guys,
I just couldn't figure out what those were. I don't think I'll be using those as biat though. I did notice that with bigger cut bait they seemed to not bother it as much. When they would bite it was usually little nibbles so I just didn't even bother trying to set the hook. Because when a big cat hit they really hit it.

Good luck

[deadeye]

I think that some of them are protected, so I would be careful about useing them for bait. I have heard that they work great for catfish if you get the right ones. I also remember reading somewhere that they have a mild poison in those little fins that stick you so I would be careful if you get one.><>
deadeye

[ricqik]

Lunker,
I try to fish for every species present at the time and at the lake on that given day as possible. The day I caught the black bowfin I was targetting 9" pumpkinseeds for the wall. What I thought was a small black log next to some sunfish honeycomb turned into a black bowfin. Bowfins love perch and sunfish. They will bite almost anything that moves, even plain jig and hook as long as it moves so they can see it. I use a 2.5" sinking plastic sunfish lures I bought from Wal-Mart to catch bowfins that I see visually. Those that I don't see I use a scumbfrog top water lure that I also use for bass and work it though the shallow weeds like I would while bass fishing. Stay in the shallows, 3-4ft or less. I've caught them in 5" of water. They like to sneak into the sunfish honeycomb and wait for one to get close enough to bite. If interested give Little Long Lake a try, it's got a good population of bowfins. Something out of the ordinary to try.

[Crawlerman]

I'd be interested into learning how to catch bowfin. I too fish for a variety of species.. with Walleye suprisingly very low on my list as Bass carp and Northerns are a lot easier to catch in the Metro. I hope next year to learn to catch trout.. as they have also eluded me thus far. I'll fish for anything once. Muskies are about the only fish I really don't care for fishing for.. as they are so rare and unpredictable... I wouldn't mind hooking into one while Northern fishing however.

[Toad]

Hey, I like your guys' attitude. Every fish is worthy of pursuit, especially big bold fighters such as carp and dogfish (bowfin). I look forward to talking carp with you guys here soon, as the season approaches. Got a lake up around my neck of the woods (Nisswa) that holds gargantuan carp (20 to 40 pounders) that often feed on the surface. But how to catch 'em without first spooking 'em? That's a subject for another day, though.

Crawlerman, tell you a little about dogfish. They're real common in late spring around bluegill nesting sites-- like to snap their powerful jaws at anything that gets too close. They might be just tucked into a patch of nearby weeds, but eventually, they reveal themselves. Great baits include plastic worms slowly crawled past their faces, and lively leeches. Other times, they'll attack spinnerbaits intended for bass. But the site fishing thing is the deal. They're a real tough mean fish, often difficult to hook, but get a bait in front of 'em and they'll usually bite. Those old dogs are a gash waiting the happen. Enjoy your fishing.

-a friend called Toad

[Aquaman01]

I too enjoy catching bowfin, although it's been by accident. They remind me of dinosaur fish, and the fight makes a bass of equal weight look lazy and sad. Can't abide those folks who gut 'em & throw 'em. Dogfish are so voracious that their only natural predator is a bigger dogfish - so when a (insert expletive) wantonly wastes one - he's actually increasing the population of smaller ones. I've had 'em come up and bite into sunnies on my stringer before. The two I've caught were on crawlers sittin' on the bottom.

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Aquaman
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"I think we're gonna need a bigger boat."

[erikwells]

Crawlerman, I am going to tell you how to catch Bowfin being that I am an expert. I hope you don't mind it being in the form of a story.

One nice Spring day I was wading shallow water on a metro lake. I was casting a small jig tipped with a waxworm up by the bullrushes and catching bluegills. I was having a fine day and had about 6 nice bluegills attached to a metal stringer hooked to my belt. I felt a tug and heard a thud thud thud behind me. I spun around scared as he#* and saw a big bowfin helping himself to my fish. I pulled the stringer away and he wouldn't let go. I pulled him in and grabbed him and had to pinch the side of his head to get him to let go (unharmed I have respect for all fish). I then went back to my fishing only to have the same thing happen 1 minute later. I know it was the same fish. However this time he pulled a bluegill off of my stringer and went about his way. I laughed and laughed and said to myself 'He has to eat too'.

Talk about persistence! A lot of people classify bowfin/dogfish as a trash fish. They are mistaken. Dogfish after they reach fingerling size are a lot like flathead catfish. They eat other fish. They are not bottom feeders. Best of luck to you crawlerman and remember metal stringer, bluegills, wade in shallow water and give em a little time but not too much time.

[Crawlerman]

From what I've heard they rival Northerns for agressiveness... and I like Northerns. I almost had a snapping turtle do that, a big one, but I was able to snatch my stringer away as it was opening its mouth. This startled it and it ducked back in it's shell, from which point I grabed my gear ran. I heard the things can get pretty nasty.