Unpleasant suprise

[grip-em+rip-em]

I was fishing bass last sat. morning in one of my favorite honey holes with a moss boss. I see a nice little open pocket in the lily pads and throw the boss about 5 yards past it. As soon as the moss boss dances into the opening i see a really nice V coming at it, big swirl and the fish misses the lure completely. I real up and throw it back, same thing happens big V, bigger swirl but the fish misses it again. I figure that it must be a pike or a dog fish but cant resist throwing it back in one more time. This time the fish connects, I rip him pretty good and the fight is on. Through the weeds, under the lily pads, back down in the weeds. Turns out to be about a 11 lb. dog fish. I have seen these fish before but never had the priveledge of catching one. I fish up at lake of the woods alot in the winter and have caught my share of eel pout, but these dog fish have risen to the top of my least favorite fish to catch. Their ugly, stinky, mouth full of teeth and mean. He was fun to catch though.

[Ralph Wiggum]

I don't have the stats, but I think that'd be a state record fish.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Grip they do put up one heck of a fight.. If you catch them during the spawn they are quite ugly and pretty at the same time. Their belly gets a really bright blue color that is just awesome... Just an FYI, the State Record BOWFIN(dogfish)Bowfin 10lbs15oz, 32"Length, Mary Lake Douglas 07/15/1983

[grip-em+rip-em]

ok, ok maybe it just seemed that big. i didnt measure it or weigh it. heavy fish eaither way and fun to catch

[Ralph Wiggum]

They are fun. There was one Friday cruising between the docks at the cabin. I spent about 20 minutes trying to get him, but he just kept following and nudging my lure. Oh well. He was probably 4-5 pounds.

[Deitz Dittrich]

my bud caught one inthe back of my boat last week that went 8.5lbs... it was a blast to watch him try and get his crankbait back from that fish!.. LMAO

[lunker651]

Those fish are fun to catch. They fight pretty good too. I went to Coon Rapid dams on the mississippi last week and caught a couple of those and let my kid pulled them in. I had alot of fun and my kid too. There's lots of dog fish in the dam, where all the big northerns and walleyes hang out.

[HuskerTornado]

We used to catch Dogfish (Bowfin) all the time, with quite a few over 8lbs.

Funny thing I saw on TV about a year ago, some guy with his own cooking show named Molto Mario was preparing a....Dogfish feast! I couldn't believe that they had a whole show on cooking dogfish. He said they actually taste quite good.

I'll still throw them back though.