The snakehead has spread to the Great Lakes!

[jtexas]

This thing is a real threat.<br />CNN news story <br /><br />More reading on the subject:<br />earlier post about the snakehead <br /><br />I still believe that the nation's bass fishermen, once mobilized, could fish this evil menace to extinction!

 

[JB]

Re: The snakehead has spread to the Great Lakes!

Clearly that was planted there by the left wing liberal conspiracy so they could blame it on Bush.

 

[roscoe]

Re: The snakehead has spread to the Great Lakes!

Sorry to disagree, but I think it was planted by eco-terrorists, to ruin the fishery and the economy linked to it.

 

[Barlow]

Re: The snakehead has spread to the Great Lakes!

Hey guys (-n- gals), if you want to read something really funny (pathetic), take a look at this - http://dnr.wi.gov/org/caer/ce/news/on/2003/on2003923.htm <br /><br />In September last year the WI Department of Natural Resources fisheries staff (over educated and under knowledged) was doing some Fyke netting in the Rock River (south central WI) and picked up one of these things..<br /><br />.. took a picture of it because they couldn't identify it. They stated that they wrongfully identified it as a Bowfin (!!BS!!)... <br /><br /><br />.. THEN RELEASED IT BACK INTO THE RIVER!!!

 

[Bowfin]

Re: The snakehead has spread to the Great Lakes!

i hope they don't endanger my beloved Bowfin <br />Pound for Pound grudge match, i wondeer which would win? i do hear the snakeheads taste better. <br /><br />Bowfin

 

[Capn Mike]

Re: The snakehead has spread to the Great Lakes!

Oh my....that bowfin is one ugly fish. I usually kiss a salmon or steelhead just before releasing it.... Just couldn't do it to a bowfin...

 

[thekingrancher]

Re: The snakehead has spread to the Great Lakes!

i catch mudfish from time to time, i don't eat them, but there's a guy who is less fortunate than me and my buddy, so me and him take him a few mudfish out of the swamp when we catch some.

 

[Bowfin]

Re: The snakehead has spread to the Great Lakes!

Where are you catching them at? I have a hard time locating them here in the upstate. i've seen some around the congaree area, but I'd love to find some a little closer to my home.<br /><br />B

 

[gsbodine]

Re: The snakehead has spread to the Great Lakes!

Originally posted by Bowfin:<br /> Where are you catching them at? I have a hard time locating them here in the upstate. [snip...]<br /><br />

Bowfin,<br />Where is Lancaster? I grew up in the Upstate, but don't think I've ever heard of Lancaster.

 

[thekingrancher]

Re: The snakehead has spread to the Great Lakes!

Bowfin, i catch them on a regular basis in the flats of pack's landing. and even more regular in the swamps around here in sumter...there's a small river running through one swamp which has a branch that goes into a small pond and we catch just about everything you can think of in that area.

 

[Bowfin]

Re: The snakehead has spread to the Great Lakes!

[/quote]Bowfin,<br />Where is Lancaster? I grew up in the Upstate, but don't think I've ever heard of Lancaster. [/QB][/quote]<br /><br />Right below Charlotte, NC. The Catawba River borders the left of the entire county. Good fishing, but haven't found any bowfins yet. Lots of gar, cats, and bait (brim. usually catch a few incidentals (Largemouths) while fishing for bowfin, gar, cats, and crappie. Pesky bass. Someone really needs to control them. They'll bite anything.<br /><br />Bowfin

 

[Queequeg]

Re: The snakehead has spread to the Great Lakes!

Cheers for this site! The bowfin does not need to be controlled. It is a great lake management tool, an exciting catch, even a thrilling animal to see in the water. I've taught my whole extended family to release them. My younger daughter, at age six, met with a school of baby bowfin, giving each a name and some encouragement before releasing them back to their father. What a great experience for a gentle child! Years later, the two of us watched--and heard!--a big bowfin crunch up a large dead bluegill that had floated near our boat. Wow.

 

[Queequeg]

Re: The snakehead has spread to the Great Lakes!

Gotta follow up: If you want to verify bowfin in your water, or if you want to get one where you can see it or even try to catch it, place two or three fish the size of average bluegills in your wire keeper net and hang it in about two feet of water overnight. The fish should be alive so they can thrash about. If they are in bad shape, it's best, but not necessary. Go out there early next morning, and if there's a bowfin around, it will be banging the heck out of your net trying to get at those tasty tidbits, which in turn will not be harmed, just panicked. Kids here tried it with a mesh net and next morning untangled a big bowfin and released it. It had a bluegill in its jaws and would not let go.

 

[CN Spots]

Re: The snakehead has spread to the Great Lakes!

Bowfin a lake management tool? Try a lake destruction tool. Maybe in MI there aren't that many of them (I honestly didn't know they were that far north) but down here they're a terror on a fishery. Several local lakes have been deemed useless for gamefishing due to their infestation. Nobody keeps them, they're voracious eaters, once over a few feet long, thay have no natural enemys, they'll cost ya plenty in tackle replacement and they hit anything moving (fun for kids but lousy in a bass tournament). I'm sure the big guy put 'em here for a reason, probably to punish me for all those Sunday fishing trips, so I give them their space.<br /><br />Intentionally distributing these fish to a non-infested waterway in this district will buy you the same fines and penaltys as would distributing snakehead or pirannah. <br /><br />If y'all like 'em, come get 'em. We've got plenty! <br /><br /><br />flame away<br /><br />spots

 

[Queequeg]

Re: The snakehead has spread to the Great Lakes!

spots: yeah, I understand. Up here, bowfins are not so numerous. I've fished a pond or two in the Florida Panhandle, and those bowfins are like the thing that ate R2D2. An old friend of mine catches 'em by the ton on trotlines, right along with 6 and 7 foot long alligators. The alligators are safer. And no, indeed, no one should ever transplant any fish. Somebody stocked crappies in our lake up here (220 acres) where they had never been before, and it has been the bluegills that suffered. The perpetrator is on everybody's hit list. Well, the fishing ain't as good as it used to be, and it never was. Keep plugging. By the way, here is EVERYTHING I know about fishing: "They're either bitin' or they ain't." -- Poor Richard

 

[kvwelch]

Re: The snakehead has spread to the Great Lakes!

If you want bowfin,you need to fish the upper Cooper River around the breaks in the rice fields. Fish texas style with a rubber worm,load the boat.