Dog Fish

[fishingkid78]

Does anyone know any good lakes around the metro where I could catch a dog fish. I've never caught one, so what would you recomend to catch them with.

[This message has been edited by fishingkid78 (edited 02-27-2004).]

[blacksportsman]

Hey fishingkid, I don't know too much about dogfish (bowfin) but I can tell you some of my past experiences with catching them and maybe that'll point you in the right direction. In the past five years I've probably caught only a half-dozen or so dogfish, and of that total only one was an intentional catch. Here's the breakdown: 2 fish out of Minnehaha creek downstream from Minnehaha falls, both on twister tails, caught in spring; 2 fish out of Lake Hiawatha, both on fatheads rigged under slip bobbers in 15' of water, late summer; 1 fish (30" long!) out of Stubbs Bay, Lake Minnetonka on a sucker minnow, mid summer; 1 fish out of Coon Rapids Dam, Mississippi River on a fathead minnow, early summer. Bowfin have a pretty widespread distribution around the metro so to catch them consistently you'll probably have to do some studying and trial-and-error to see what works best. I know Bald Eagle in the City of White Bear Lake has big bowfin in it. When I interned with the DNR east metro section of fisheries in the summer of '97, we surveyed Bald Eagle. Several large specimens were sampled, some of which that could've marginally beaten the state record of 10lbs 15oz.

------------------
"You're gonna need a bigger boat"

-Chief Brody (Jaws)

[This message has been edited by blacksportsman (edited 03-03-2004).]

[deadeye]

There are quite a few in Medecine lake. I always seem to snag some when I fish the backwaters in the spring. Try a little mepps spinner that you aren't to fond of(they will destroy it).

[Bobb-o]

I want to get one mounted in their spring colors, with the lime green on them, i think that would be a really cool mount, if only you could find a taxidermist who would touch one of them

------------------
a Leap year huh? sweet, an extra day of fishing!

[blacksportsman]

Hey deadeye, did you go to VCC in Ely? Checked out your profile...

------------------
"You're gonna need a bigger boat"

-Chief Brody (Jaws)

[Mr Special]

Okay here it goes,
I might take some heat for this but 2yrs ago, I caught and released a dogfish that measured 36.5". which might have broken the state record, but at the time I didn't know what the record was. It was on Lake Virginia in the city of Victoria on Hwy 7. It has a creek that leads to Tonka. Caught it fishing for bass on a spinnerbait. But everytime we fish there we always atleast catch a couple. We have actually fish for them with sucker minnow right in the bay where the boat launch is in the spring and have done pretty well. My buddy had one on last summer that looked alot bigger then mine, but got off at the side of the boat.

Good luck and hope this helps

[deadeye]

blacksportsman,
Yes, I am at the school right now. I will be home for spring break this next week so i won't be online for a while but if you need anything post it and I will be back on the 15th
><>deadeye

[ironman]

I caught one two years ago..in early spring looking for crappies in the shallows of chisago lake. I was wading around in the muck and looked down...right at my feet. A big ole dog fish...put the jig and minnow in front of him...he took it and off he went. It was about 4 lbs and had those spawning colors you were talking about. Bright, neon green on its fins...almost looked like someone colored them that way..never seen that color naturally..quite a sight.

[Moses2531]

My buddy's grandparents live in Buffalo MN, and we walk down to Twin Lakes and catch lots of Dogfish in the shallows of the two ponds... We've gottan some pretty decent sized fisb outa there... What does everyone do with em when they catch them... We always throw them up in the woods for the coons and foxes to get...

[2dalake]

That's what we do with them. I don't have any scientific backing for this, but I believe they are territorial. We had a big one hanging around our dock for years. He had a big scar on one side of his head. He'd grab whatever we threw out there whether we were fishing bluegill, crappie, northern, bass...we can catch all of them at one time of the year or other...and he'd break lines, straighten hooks, take game fish we were reeling in, then last August we got him. Just over 6lbs-I have a picture of it with my kids and my father in law (insert joke here).

I think you could find them in just about any lake up shallow at just about any time of the year.

[Lunker]

I've only seen them come out of Hiawatha on fatheads and suckers, and in the mississippi on a rattle-trap. Never caught one myself though.

[aimeeoutdoors]

Dogfish are aggressive in the spring from about the middle of May to the end of June. We catch them on Mepps spinners, buzz baits and plastic spinners. They are protecting their spawning beds at that time and will hit just about anything. They are homely, but fight as hard as any other gamefish. I've done some research on them, and the record is 10 lbs. 15 oz. They are prolific up here in the north part of the state, but I don't know about the metro area. Good Luck!

[Roughfisher]

Coon Lake is great bowfin water, as is Spurzem Lake. I caught nine in one day at the Coon Rapids Dam, freelining water dogs with a shocktippet and #2 hook.

Bowfin are native fish. They are very beneficial to have around. They keep panfish from stunting. Plus, Golden Shiners lay their eggs in bowfin nests. The male bowfin kills anything that comes near, so the shiner eggs and fry are safe from other fish. This is one of the reasons good walleye and bass lakes often have a lot of bowfin in them - the bowfin make for higher shiner populations, which are excellent food for other fish. Bowfin themselves eat mostly young sunfish and perch.

[Lost]

Only place I've caught these beautiful fish is Coon Rapids Dam. First one I caught, I had no clue what it was. I had a worm underneath a bobber and suddenly the bobber disappeared and refused to come back up until I had the fish landed.

Within a few weeks of that first day I caught probably 4 or 5 each evening I was out there going for cats. Most of the catches have come from nightcrawlers lying on the bottom.

[Teagan]

I caught one this year fishing for white bass. They are strong fighters. It went about 6 pounds.

[Mitch L]

I caught 1 and it barked like a dog

[Roughfisher]

They do bark like a dog! They can breathe air, and when they are landed they expel the air from their swim bladder/lung. It sounds like a barking dog.

[Mitch L]

Then it started chasing its tail.

[The Grebe]

Sugar lake, just a little west on #94 has all kinds of dogfish in it. Try the S.E. section of the lake.