Dogfish

[Lunker]

Dogfish, although fun to catch, always manage too dissapoint me. Not because they are dogfish, but because I always seem to catch them when fishing tournaments. Last years Metro LETS on Clearwater was a perfect example. I was casting a spinnerbait over some emerging weeds, when a "northern" smoked it, I saw the length of the fish, and saw the white belly, and not knowing they were in the lake was saying get the net, nice pike. Ended up being about a 6 pound doggy.

[chunkytrout]

I don't think I hold the lake record anymore but I believe it was Bald Eagle back when I lived in the cities. I have never and I mean never had a fight like that on the line and I've caught some big fish. After I landed it some locals told me to motor over to the local watering hole to check it in where, in fact it was the biggest registered there. 12-13 years ago... What a blast and what a cool looking fish! MEAN LOOKING!!!

[Pulling-M-In]

Who much did it weigh?

[SCUMFROG]

I caught one that weighed in at almost 13 pounds not knowing what the record was I let it go. I catch them off the dock at the lake all summer..

Those things fight like there's no tomorrow... I love it...

[Moses2531]

Is there a big difference between these dogfish and eelpout? When I iced fished up at Lake of the Woods the ice was just covered in eelpout... Is that illegal?

[Ralph Wiggum]

Dogfish and eelpout are very different. If you google Bowfin (dogfish) and Burbot (eelpout), you'll see a difference. I don't think it's legal to leave them on the ice, but a lot of people do.

[MURPHFISHER]

I don't know why people would want to waste like that. I am told that eelpout taste like lobster..... Put them back in the lake if you are not going to eat 'em.

[maj330]

isn't there a regulation that requires all fish to be returned to the water unless you reduce them to posession?

[MedicDan]

yes there is.

[Roughfisher]

Another neat thing recently discovered about bowfin (dogfish) is that golden shiners lay their eggs in bowfin nests to keep other fish from eating the eggs! Here's a link to the article about it:

http://www.nativefish.org/articles/bowfin.php

It's amazing ... I always noticed that good bowfin lakes generally have a lot of shiners; this might help explain why. It also might explain why some of the lakes with the best walleye fishing also have lots of bowfin (Mille Lacs, Minnewaska, Leech, etc). The shiner eggs sure are not going to get eaten with a mean ol' bowfin guarding them!

[Toad]

Fascinating bit, Roughfisher. Thanks for sharing it. Goes to prove, there's a lot more going on, many more critical species interractions, that we don't know about-- particularly relative to less utilized fish. Just because we don't know about the activities doesn't mean they aren't critical within their environments.

For instance, this fall, while conducting nighttime fishery work on a local lake, we observed many large bowfin lined up right along inside weededges, tucked into pockets-- almost as if they were holding to beds. I can only guess they were there to intercept preyfish, but beyond that, it would be a guess . . . lots more to learn . . .

-Toad