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!!!
