anyone have any recommendations for bowfin lakes?

[Grant]

All CPR, if you dont want to post it on line, contact me at [email protected]

Thanks~

[shorefisher]

I see alot of them and hook up with a few each year in Chisago lake in the spring/early summer.

[sparcebag]

Shorefisher I was going to answer also! But then I thought I only get em in spring too.where are they now?? I dont know

[Paul_Kramer]

Many Point Lake up by Park Rapids.

During the summer I've seen a big one on the bottom in shallow water.

Another time there in July I was shore fishing for bass with a plastic worm and 8lb line at dusk.

This thing I thought was a northern kept missing my worm by a mile but the strikes kept coming closer to shore. All of the sudden, this huge ~~~~~ shaped fin fin rose out of the water 3 feet out from me and started slithering like a snake. That's something I'll never forget. I dabbled the worm in his face, the water blew up, and he tailwalked into some bullrushes and threw the hook. Then he sat in this little weed lane half-dazed. I ran in after him and got a grip on him twice but couldn't do much. Had to wear my friend's shoes for the rest of the week. He was at least 30 inches.

The next day I saw a six inch sunnie leap out of some muck 3 feet from shore. An instant later I saw that monsterous fin come out of the water and wiggle. I don't think that sunnie lived.

Another person who goes to a resort on that lake says he's seen some monsters in there before, too.

Good luck!

[erickol]

When I was in high school I worked at maney point scout camp. For part of a summer I was a naturalist at Voyaguer camp. I was teaching fishing merit badge and a kid caught a bowfin, maybe 5-8lbs. We put it in an aquarium for a while, then he disected it for the merity badge. It had multiple rusted fish hooks in its guts! Lots of boy scouts broken off thinking it was a huge northern!

[AugieAngler]

Cedar Lake, Wright County. Always catch them fishing northerns around opener.

[Black_Bay]

Halsteads Bay on Minnestonka is stiff with them in the spring, especially in Six Mile Creek. Whaletail also has it's share.

[aquafang]

Osakis is so full of them it's not even funny!

[sjburnt]

.

[Muddog]

The upper end of the Cannon River.

They spawn late May- early June. As time gets closer I'll be posting to see if we can nab a State record this year. It should happen!

[HUNTFISH69]

Lower Spunk lake out in avon has a pretty decent population of them, especially in the corner to the right of the access, fun to shoot come May 1st.

[Bowfin]

Muddog-

Good to see another "bowfin hunter" after a state record. I unknowingly caught a "state record" bowfin on a central Minnesota lake over 20 years ago - problem was I didn't know it at the time and tried to eat the thing. I caught it on a crankbait and it weighed in at over 12 lbs. I've been trying to catch another record ever since but only managed a few up to 9 lbs. The lake is full of them and they are easy to catch still-fishing sucker minnows during the "dog days" of late summer. I can't give away my secret "trophy" bowfin lake unless someday I get another record which I plan on registering with the DNR. Good luck to you in your hunt for a state record.

[Mcfin]

Bowfin- I was with a guy years ago that did the same thing.He caught a state record and then later found out so he wished he would have saved it.

Mabe it isn't the same as a state record walleye but it would be nice to get your name in the record book.

[Bowfin]

Mcfin,

Guess I not the only one who missed his 15 minutes of fame. I wonder if you caught a state record dogfish if people would want you to speak at sport shows and stuff like that. Could be the break of a lifetime! OK - probably not.

[Mcfin]

Bowfin- You might get razzed like that guy that caught the record carp out of Annandale years ago.

[HUNTFISH69]

I'm in the same boat as you, last spring me and a buddy went out fishing for dogfish and ended up catching 8 or 9 when we got back we weighed them and had 2 over 12 lbs, which would have been the record. Oh well there's always next year, you can bet we'll be more observant of the weight next time!

[erickol]

I'd love to see a state record bowfin. Hoping to get out and tie into some big ones this spring. Anybody find them in any numbers in the metro lakes or city lakes? I have heard of the occasional hook up in Calhoun, but I have yet to see one in any of the city lakes. Eric

[umichjesse]

Medicine Lake in Plymouth has tons of bowfin. They eat anything from shad raps to flu flus. When I was younger we would catch 15-20 them in a couple of hours while fishing crappies in the spring. We even caught an albino 4 different times. You could seem him cruising the shallows and he would hit your jig almost everytime you cast to him.

[HuskerBen]

I've caught a few out of one of the city lakes, but not in many numbers. I've caught a bunch from the Mississippi, close to the Minnehaha Falls dog park.

[LPCrowRiverFisherman]

Big Waverly in Wright county, off fishing pier.

[Cody Lubeley]

my buddys dad caught the state record sheephead this last opener on waconia and did the same thing took some pictures and released it not knowing it was a record, The thing was 40" and well over 40Lbs

[fishinbros]

at that many point, I hooked up with huge one in the 10lbs range, i ment dogfish

[Neighbor_guy]

Lake Mary in alex is another place to look for numbers.

[Lunker]

Not sure what the "top" bowfin lakes are, but I've caught nice ones in Clearwater lake, and in lake Hiawatha in MPLS.

[ricqik]

 Originally Posted By: umichjesse

Medicine Lake in Plymouth has tons of bowfin. They eat anything from shad raps to flu flus. When I was younger we would catch 15-20 them in a couple of hours while fishing crappies in the spring. We even caught an albino 4 different times. You could seem him cruising the shallows and he would hit your jig almost everytime you cast to him.

How long ago was it when you were younger. I'd like to add that albino to my list. I've caught an all black(melanistic) bowfin some yrs ago too. An albino would be awsome. Here my one and only known true black bowfin.