Bowfin is the only freshwater gamefish i have never caught... and it appears that the merrimack river holds them? does anyone know if this myth is true

Posted Sun Jul 27, 2014 2:34 pm

Taunton River has bowfin

Posted Sun Jul 27, 2014 5:28 pm

have u ever caught one

Posted Sun Jul 27, 2014 6:15 pm

DW Field in brockton has them

Posted Sun Jul 27, 2014 6:29 pm

pikesrcollio

have u ever caught one



http://www.bowfinanglers.com/ma.html

Posted Mon Jul 28, 2014 11:55 am

That's an interesting looking fish. What is used or what style fishing is used in catching them?

Last edited by pocketfisherman on Mon Jul 28, 2014 6:03 pm; edited 1 time in total

Posted Mon Jul 28, 2014 12:41 pm

pocketfisherman

That's an interested looking fish. What is used or what style fishing is used in catching them?



They are a by catch of bass fishing all the time up in Champlain. I know a few that were caught in my club tourney last weekend. Im sure there is a more precise way to catch them .

Posted Mon Jul 28, 2014 1:15 pm

Kinda looks like a snakehead?

Posted Mon Jul 28, 2014 2:06 pm

They do look very similar to snakeheads, I sell tropical fish and I stock juvenile bowfin sometimes and people buy them because real snakeheads are illegal. Really cool fish, I might have to get to DW in brockton, I bet they put up a good fight!

Posted Mon Jul 28, 2014 3:31 pm

Ive fished the Taunton for years and never caught one in there. Ive caught stripers, smallies, pike, tigers, walleye. but never a bowfin. not surprised though

Posted Mon Jul 28, 2014 4:56 pm

I have been told by a very reliable source, a white spinnerbait or a shiner on a slip rig..In a certain spot in the Taunton river, about 2-3 weeks a year..

Posted Mon Jul 28, 2014 7:57 pm

I know the Taunton River and DW in Brockton have quite a few... That shallow, front pond at DW that is filled with muck is loaded with them. They gulp air, so they love weedy, low-oxygen places. They eat lots of little mammals and like bigz said, a bass bycatch. If I were to go fish them there, which I may, I would use a frog/or plastics in those shallows.

A couple CT river tributaries hold em. Never heard of them in the Merrimac, but who knows.

Their flesh is trash... My man from New Orleans calls them ShoePigs. He's a good buddy and fishing partner, always up for adventure, and told me to go fly a kite when I asked him to fish DW for them with me.

In New Orleans, they live in any highway run off puddle.

Posted Tue Jul 29, 2014 7:39 am

What pond on the dw would be your best bet for bowfin? And how likely is it that you'll hook into one? I'm interested and thinking of giving it a shot. Thanks!

Posted Tue Jul 29, 2014 11:39 pm

thebeardedclam

What pond on the dw would be your best bet for bowfin? And how likely is it that you'll hook into one? I'm interested and thinking of giving it a shot. Thanks!



I think he's talking about upper Porter pond. At the entrance to the park. I've heard of people catching them occasionally there. I just started to become interested in Bowfin recently and have yet to catch one. I live not far from D-Dubs. I don't fish it as much as I should though. I've caught a few bass out of there from shore and back in the early 80's the state used to stock it with trout. I yak fish mostly and the only place you can launch a yak or canoe is thirty acre pond across from the entrance to the park. Haven't done that yet either and I've lived in Brockton 25+ years.

Posted Sun Jun 30, 2019 11:21 am

kizel13

DW Field in brockton has them



Say what? First I've heard of that. Which pond?

Posted Sun Sep 01, 2019 8:39 pm

Display posts from previous:

MA Fish Finder

Social Links