When most people think of fishing, they usually think of bass, crappie, bluegill, or even catfish. Some may think of trout, salmon, or even ocean fishing, but when you mention grinnel it’s a different story. And if you admit to eating them you are put in a different class.

After all, the bowfin, of dogfish as some call them, are about as low as you can go, except for maybe a gar (whose eggs are poisonous). It is even considered honorable to catch and eat snapping turtles, or to shoot carp with a bow, but not to keep a grinnel.

Most who catch the bowfin and eat them rarely announce it. Most who catch one will throw it back, as I did long ago. My first experience at eating one wasn’t too pleasant. I’d caught a small one of a couple pounds and scaled it.

Thinking I would save it for future use, I froze it along with some other fish. When I thawed it out, the flesh was nothing but mush. I later learning this was because of a gas the cells contain. When the fish is frozen, the gas escapes and the cell walls collapse. The next one I caught I fried whole, along with the bluegill and bass I had caught. As I began eating it (or trying to eat it), I soon found it tasted terrible. The flesh was soggy, sort of "waterlogged." Catfish taste something like this if the piece is too large and not cooked long enough; especially bullheads. After that day, I would throw back any grinnel I caught.

This went on for several years, and I guess I had forgotten how bad they tasted because I caught a nice sized one one day, was hungry for fish, and thought I’d try it one more time. (This also happened with a carp. I hadn’t eaten one for ten years and tried one again. After the first bite, I suddenly remembered why I hadn’t eaten one for ten years.)

Remembering how soggy it was, I tried to do it differently this time, and to my surprise it was good. I cut off fillets that had no bones, which were good for the kids to eat, and after they were cooked I learned it could be frozen and reheated.

A few years ago, I wrote down a recipe, which I am including in this article. I even wrote a poem that tells a little about this fish that is not held in very high esteem. And I have to tell you, it wasn’t easy to write a poem about a grinnel, but I did the best I could.

This is a tale of a fish who’s known among other things as a bowfin.

He swims in muddy waters and has a gar as his next of kin.

Some people say he’s good for nothing, but I tend to disagree.

After all, I’ve heard the same thing said about me.

The good Lord took the time to make him and put him on this earth.

And before the dinosaurs were wading in the swamps, he was there first.

You’ll find him in rivers; in lakes, creeks, streams, or even in a bog.

He’s a fish that’s long and slender, but very heavy because he’s waterlogged.

And if you look inside his mouth, you’ll see it’s as blue as autumn sky

Tiny sharp teeth are in front, and he has a rather evil-looking eye.

His flesh is not quite as fancy as caviar, which comes from his cousin, the sturgeon fish.

But if you know a couple of his secrets, an ol’ grinnel can make a tasty dish.

I’ll quit on the poem and go on to the recipe.

Obtain a bowfin by catching it or having one given to you, which is easy since most people assume they’re not fit to eat. I must caution you here, that, if you tell others how to prepare the fish, you will soon find that your bountiful sources of free fish have quickly disappeared.

So I repeat: Do not give out this information to the people who give you the fish; let them to on thinking you have a rather peculiar taste concerning the fish.

Next; skin the fish. You must do this because… You know I almost wrote down the entire recipe. If I did, I may lose my sources. I once was going to market my recipe and make a lot of money, but I suppose there’s not much interest in the lowly fish called the bowfin.

A Rebuttal by a Reader of Fishin.com added April 30, 2008 by Editor Jim Dicken

Hi,

 

Just read the article, and couldn't let it go without responding.  I am one of those lowlifes who catch and KEEP the lowly trashfish grinnel.  In fact, I have made two forays in the past week, expressly to catch grinnel.  I'm happy to say that the net catch was 26 fish ranging in weight from approx. 3 to 6 pounds. 

 

I am 63 years old at this writing, and have been eating grinnel since I was a kid and we lived (subsisted) on wild game and fish, since my dad worked in a factory and brought home just enough to keep our family alive and kicking.  As I was growing up, I remember my dad scaling the grinnel by slicing off long strips of the scales, and leaving the body of the fish intact.  After skinning, gutting, and removing the head, fins, and tail, the fish was cut into pieces and consumed down to the skeleton!  Grinnel was always deep-fried, and considered a choice staple since it contained only rib bones which could be easily eaten around.  After some 35 years of this hit and miss cleaning fish which sometime were dead when we arrived at home to clean them, we brought home a catch one day which was pretty much beyond salvage.  Cleaning these fish almost made me sick, and I knew there had to be a better way.  I began carrying with me a large cooler containing ice.  To this day, I still stick to the following practice:  As I catch the grinnel, I knock them in the head and fillet them before they have a chance to die a natural death.  I then bag the fillets (sans scales and containing only rib bones which are later removed at home) and keep them on ice until I can get them home.

 

Keeping the fillets cold until they arrive at home, and the preparation of the fillets after arrival, is the secret.  After the rib bones and any remaining attachments are removed, the fillets are placed on a cookie sheet, on top of a bed of fine white cornmeal, and thoroughly coated with same on both sides.  We have, at times, included seasoning of salt and pepper in the cornmeal coating if we intended to use the fillets before they are kept in cold storage for too long.  The fillets can be used immediately or frozen and kept for up to a full year.  If they are going into the freezer with intent of staying there for up to a year, we wrap the intact (cleaned and cornmealed) fillets, 2 to a freezer-wrapped package.  Prior to preparing them for deep frying or baking, the coated fillets are thawed, cut across the fillet in one-inch strips (or sandwich size 4-inch portions), patted down with additional white or yellow cornmeal, and either deepfried or baked (depending on how you view fried foods versus baked). 

 

The deepfried strips or sandwich portions, or baked sandwich portions, can be served with tartar sauce or any favorite dip or spread.   To my way of thinking, the sandwich portions on a bun with lettuce and tartar sauce, beat anything I can get from McDonalds!

 

I have eaten practically every type of fish (except gar) found in the waters of the U.S.  As shocking as it may sound, I much prefer properly cared for and prepared grinnel to most pond-raised catfish, bullhead, etc.  As for as a fighting fish, it doesn't get much better than having an 8 or 10 pound grinnel on the end of your line!

 

I hope you will pass this letter on to Ken Barnes, just to let him know there are still a few of us who still actually fish FOR grinnel and don't mind a bit when someone condescendingly asks if we would like to have a grinnel they have caught and are ready to throw out on the bank or back into the drink!

 

Happy fishing, and God bless, nick