Bowfin Blogged by The Outer Edge

The Most Underrated Freshwater Fish is an interesting read, for instance, I learned bowfin are prolific carp eaters.

Whitefish Fin!

This bowfin was caught by Clint Lanzen's cousin Kyle in the Whitefish Chain earlier this year in May. He got it on jig with red plastic worm.

Dennis Lothspeich 2011 MBC Grand Champion

Dennis Lothspeich is now the third 2-Time Minnesota Bowfin Club Grand Champion. He previously won the title in 2008. His big fin was caught during the Baxter Bass Snatcher Bass Club tournament on Platte/Sullivan Lakes. He caught the 27.75" bowfin in Platte lake. He was to busy trying to catch bass to get a picture. Platte Lake is a big dogfish factory and produced the 2004 Champion fish for me, Dave Maas.

Originally Dennis reported to me that his fish was 27 inches long. However, the next day Dennis informed me that he had miscalculated the fish's length. The fish was a good 3 inches longer than the measuring board Dennis was using. Originally he thought his board was 24 inches long, thus the 27" total he originally gave me. Dennis subsequently took another look at his measuring board and it is actually 24.75 inches long, thus the fish was actually at 3/4 of an inch bigger than his original measurement given. Had Dennis had a long enough measuring board, the fish may have been 28" or longer as he was conservative with the 3" past the end of his measuring board.

In 2nd Place was 2007 Grand Champion Chuck Steinbauer with this 27.5" fin.

In 3rd Place there was a tie between 2002 Grand Champion Tom Swanson and new club member Clint Lanzen with a 26" fish. The picture is of Clint's fish, which was caught on the Whitefish chain on a jig with a red plastic worm.

This year there was a total of 9 bowfin's registered in the tournament. I myself have yet to catch a bowfin this year, though I have had at least one on and have seen a few.

Thank You to all our participants!!!

And The Grand Champion Is...

Your going to have to wait until at least Monday. Here is a hint. This years Grand Champion was a Grand Champion before and the win comes with a little controversy.

Until then here is a picture taken by Mike Thompson.

The fish was caught by Jack Halverson, no doubt on panfish tackle. Mike said it was around 5lbs, with no official measurement taken.

Grand Championship Deadline Midnight Tonight

If you've got em. Let me know about em now or forever hold your peace!!!

This is one of this years fish:


email those dogfish lengths to basspastor@hotmail.com

Some Of This Years Fish!

Some of the guys in the Club have been out fining. As you can see, no monsters. If you have or do catch a bowfin this Spring, email me pictures basspastor@hotmail.com
Here Guy Henkensiefken and Tom Swanson show off what I believe is Tom's fish.

Here is Guy, I presume he caught the fish.

Chuck Steinbauer with a nice little guy.

Word is these fish were taken sight fishing. No word on where or with what.

Bowfin Photo's (Not from this year)

These photo's were all submitted at AnglerInsider.com forums.

Bowfin Files

I have lost my first fin of the year, actually I very well might have missed more than one. The one I know for sure was a bowfin bit at night and I was using a minnow so it wouldn't have been tournament eligible. It wasn't very big either, maybe 20 inches.

Last night a reader of my blog Bass Pundit had a fin on at the Grumpy Old Man Hole, but it broke his line as he tried to bring it up on shore.

I'm going to be adding some Bowfin Pictures over the next few weeks. Here is the 1st:
This fish was caught by Brett Vegoe from Minnetonka obviously. It was caught 4/28/1987 and was 10lbs 5ozs and caught on 2lb line which tied it for that line class in the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame.

The Bowfin Anglers Group has a page with the Bowfin World Records.

Bowfin Fishing Article

Bowfin Wrangling It starts on Page 53. (Don't click on picture click on Bowfin Wrangling link)

Annual Tournament Time

Now that the ice is getting off the lakes it's time to get after those Bowfin.

I think I might have had a shot at one already, but I just couldn't hook it. It bit my black/red Berkley Havoc Pit Boss 4 times. I got a good feel for it a couple of times and it felt like a big fish. I know it wasn't a bass because it was fraying my line. I don't think it was a pike because I couldn't hook it.

Take a second to review the Annual Tournament Rules.

Bit By A Bowfin

FLW Pro Chad Morganthaler:

"I did catch a few bass, and Glenn and I laughed and enjoyed the day, even when I set the hook and my flipping rig went one way and the fish went flying the other. I did catch a three to four pound mud fish while I was flipping, and while I was trying to get the TroKar Flipping hook out of its head the phone rang. It was a writer looking for a story and while I was talking to him the dang thing bit me and made me bleed; I’m gonna have to learn when to answer the phone."