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[url]http://www.fishin.com/articles/wierdfish.htm[/url]
Check it out. I know there are a lot of exotics in Florida and some of you fish there a lot so I figure some scientist or fisherman can ID it for me.
Pictures contributed by Saleen90 an IM friend of mine in Florida.
Jim Dicken
It's a Bowfin. I've caught them out of the Ohio river and there native to Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana.
Here's a address with some more pictures of them.
[url]http://www.landbigfish.com/fish/fish.cfm?ID=71[/url]
[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Jun-24-06 AT 02:10AM (EST)[/font][p]Never seen a bowfin with an eye on its tail.. I mean a fake eye. I have seen them in Kentucky with just a plain grey color but I did not know they were different in Florida.
BUT it did not have whiskers which the Walking Catfish should have.. but the single fin is a Walking Catfish curiosity like the bowfin.. Not convinced yet but you are in the running. Find me a pic with the Eye on the tail.. fake eye.. and I am on your side.. LOL.
JIm
Found it I think..
[url]http://www1.nature.nps.gov/im/units/midn/Photo_galleries/pete/Bowfin.jpg[/url]
You are RIGHT.. bowfin.. at least this one is very close.. Not solid black but has the spot on the tail.
Jim
[url]http://www.cnr.vt.edu/efish/families/images/jpegs/bowfin.jpg[/url]
This is close.. and a bowfin..
Jim
I believe this is a bowfin. I caught some in Mississippi a few years back befor i knew what they were. It has to be one of the strongest fish pound for pound out there. It will woop any smallmouth twice its size. There fun to catch and you can catch them on just about anything. The ones I caught were on a 7in culprit worm.
[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Jun-24-06 AT 06:49AM (EST)[/font][p]I agree with CATCHEMALL about how hard Bowfins fight AND they can really mangle a lure, especially a spinnerbait.
Many years ago, when we were still using FLOPPIES in our computers, I played a computer fishing game from a floppy. It had a lot of different ways to lose points, time, baits, and otherwise get penalized. I remember one of them was: "Your bait was just mangled by a Bowfin, lose ten minutes while you retie." I had never seen a Bowfin and had no idea what they were talking about until later than year when I was in Michigan on the Au Sable River and caught a Bowfin. It did in fact mangle my spinnerbait and I understood what the game had been talking about. They are fun to catch but you need to use CHEAP lures if they are in the area.
Jim: I caught several of them this past Feb & Mar in the St John`s river area just below Lake George. They call them Mud fish. They will mangle your hand if not carefull. They stink so bad, I cut them loose at the side of the boat. They do fight as hard as most fish. Tom.
[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Jun-25-06 AT 08:50AM (EST)[/font][p]Bowfin for sure...a good friend of mine had one that lived in his big aquarium for years...it got pretty good size and it had a spot on its tail. It came back with him from Reelfoot Lake. Weird prehistoric looking thing.
Splitshot
[url]www.thecreekbank.com[/url]
Take a Fish Boating!
[url]http://www.carpecarpio.com/snakeheadfishing.html[/url]
This is a picture of a Snakehead that has the tail spot.. just like a Bowfin in Florida but with a catfish style head and no whiskers.. There apparently are over 5 kinds of snakeheads all that have similar appearance to a Bowfin.
Jim
It is similar to a dog fish (bowfin) but not sure. Caught alot of them in Florida and Reelfoot but not sure it it's the same fish.
Jim,
I don't know what that thing is you caught, but here is a picture of a bowfin that looks just like all the bowfin I have caught in Florida.
[url]http://www.dgif.state.va.us/fishing/srf-photos/State%20Record%20Bowfin%20and%20Angler.jpg[/url]
>[url]http://www.fishin.com/articles/wierdfish.htm[/url]
>
>Check it out. I know there
>are a lot of exotics
>in Florida and some of
>you fish there a lot
>so I figure some scientist
>or fisherman can ID it
>for me.
>Pictures contributed by Saleen90 an IM
>friend of mine in Florida.
>
>Jim Dicken
In Mississippi, they call the bowfin a "grinnel".
They put up an unbelievable fight. If you've ever caught a freshwater eel you're in the same ballpark.