Personal Best 6 LB 11 OZ Bowfin "Mudfish"

Location: Mullet Lake Park, boat dock
Tackle: Gamakatsu 6/0 octopus circle hook on a Carolina rig

Species: Bowfin
Weight: 6 lb 11 oz
Bait: cut bluegill

6 LB Bowfin @ Mullet Lake Park

Last nights fishing was about to end without a decent fish landed. I had caught one bluegill but that was it. There were good bites coming from both rods and I had a couple fish on for awhile, but no luck landing them. Actually just minutes after my first cast I had a big fish on the Shimano/Pflueger rod & reel, but as I'm retrieving I noticed I'm snagged on the dock. Just great! I'm keeping pressure on the fish while I try to figure out where I'm snagged and turned out to be a protruding nail towards the end of the dock. I unsnagged my line and I'm reeling in the fish now, and just as it's within a few feet of the dock, it was free. I caught a glimpse of it and it definitly was pretty big, most likely another bowfin.

At the end of the night, I was taking some stuff back to the car and on the way back I saw my Shimano Scimitar make an "upside down J" shape. Quickly ran to the dock as my drag is singing. Reeled in a nice bowfin this time. It didn't seem any longer than the ones I caught before, but this one had a big belly. It weighed at 6 LB which makes it my personal best bowfin so far.

Species: Bowfin
Weight: 6 lb
Bait: cut shad

Bowfin and Warmouth - Two-Day Fishing Report

Fishing Report for 2/24/11: Fished off the boat dock at Mullet Lake Park at night, and got a few bites here and there. I didn't catch anything until late in the evening just before I was about to leave. I was packing up my gear and saw my rod tip slightly, so I reeled in and had a fish that looked like a bass at first. It was a Warmouth fish. These fish have a stout, deep body that is similar to a bluegill but also have a large bass-like mouth. They are not strong fighters at all, and they're normally not active at night. They are capable of living up to eight years and reaching a weight of approximately one pound. The Florida state record is only 2-1/2 lb.

Species: Warmouth
Bait: cut shad
Rig: Carolina rig with 5/0 circle hook

Fishing Report for 2/25/11: This night was much better than the previous night. I was getting consistant bites throughout the night, some runners and some nibbles. I caught a total of (3) fish in about 3 hours, biggest was a 26" bowfin that weighed close to six pounds. I also caught two bluegills with small pieces of cut shad fished on the bottom. The bluegills I took home to freeze for bait another time, but everything else was released. Here's a breakdown of the night catch.

Species: Bowfin
Weight: 3 lb 9 oz
Bait: cut shad

Species: Warmouth
Bait: cut shad

Species: Bowfin
Weight: 5 lb 10 oz
Bait: cut shad

Monster Bowfin @ Mullet Lake Park

Another night at Mullet Lake Park for some night fishing with my friends Kyle and Zack. A few nights ago the line action was consistant with alot of bowfins biting in the area off the boat dock. Tonight started out good then really slowed down to nothing towards the end of the night. I brought some frozen cut shad for bait. Within an hour, I had caught the first fish again. It was a bigger bowfin than the one I caught before. I reeled him in on my Wild Cat rod and landed it pretty easily. Once I confirmed it was a bowfin, I used my fish grips to lock on its jaw and grabbed my scale. The scale read 5 lb 11 oz on this one! Shortly after releasing this monster, Zack almost had one but it broke his line and got free. The action shut down after that with no bites from then on.

Catch: Bowfin "Mudfish"
Weight: 5 lb 11 oz
Bait: cut shad

Bowfin "Mudfish" @ Mullet Lake Park

Last night it was Kyle, Zack, and myself fishing at Mullet Lake Park. This time I had thawed some frozen cut shad that evening for bait. Cut shad is one of the best baits for catfish, or so I'm told. This is my first attempt with cut shad.
We fished off the boat dock. I was the first one to catch a fish that night, and it was a strange looking fish. One I have never seen before. I thought it was a channel catfish at first, but then I looked at it's dorsal fin, which was very long and extended all the way to the tail. It had a very boney jaw too, which was full of small sharp teeth. The next day I had to know what type of fish it was, so I looked through my book "Sport Fish of Florida" by Vic Dunaway. This an excellent book by the way, has everything you could possibly catch in Florida. It didn't take long to identify the fish we had caught, a Bowfin or commonly known as Mudfish. Here's a drawing of the bowfin:



I ended up only catching one bowfin that night, but there was alot of activity on the lines. Just like the Longnose Gar, the boney jaw makes it difficult to set a hook. The one bowfin I caught was 3 lb 9 oz. Kyle caught one too that was 2 lb 9 oz. I learned something interesting about the Bowfin as well. It has an air-bladder that functions somewhat like a lung. They are often seen gulping air when they are out of water. I didn't notice this myself, but thought that was interesting.

Here's a picture of the 3 lb 9 oz Bowfin I caught that night. The poor lighting at the dock makes it difficult to get a good picture. I used the Carolina Rig which cut shad as bait.

Bowfin - 3 lb - Mullet Lake Park

Another night trip to Mullet Lake Park fishing for catfish. I had Kyle and Tara with me this time. Tara was very busy pulling bluegills out of the water, so there wasn't a lack of baitfish. Me and Kyle were using cut bluegills as bait for our catfishing rods. Using a 3-way rig and circle hooks, we casted out and waited. We were about to call it a night, then around 1:30 AM I hooked this 3 lb Bowfin.

Rig: 3-way rig
Bait: cut bluegill
Tackle: 1 oz bank sinker, 4/0 circle hook