I caught it in NE Arkansas today in a farm pond. I thought it might be a Bowfin (grinnel) but they are usually darker than this right? It was 25 inches long.
Please help if you can identify the fish pictured below:
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Below are a couple of other fish I caught today. I caught a Gar and about 6 Largemouth Bass on a Buzzbait. I released all the fish I caught today.
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we used to catch/see/hear of a mystery fish called a grunnel? or grennel? not sure what they were, but i remember them being eel like.
This would be way way way above the odds, but it resembles an African Lung fish.
Could it be a burbot?
hard to tell with only one angle... need to see the face.
did you keep it and eat it?
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Na I only usually keep and eat Bream, Crappie, and Blue Cats. I will Occasionally keep a couple of bass if my freezer is empty.
I've been looking around the internet and the closest fish I can find that has the same appearance of the fish I caught is a Bowfin. They aren't considered a trash fish in Arkansas. They are considered a sport fish but from what I've read about them are aren't very good eating unless you catch one the size I did or larger.
Mostly they are prepared like fish patties. The way Salmon patties are made.
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Here's a photo I took of the pond I caught it at. It's a great crappie and bass pond about 1/8 of a mile from my apt and I usually ride my mountain bike there to fish. I'm pretty lucky to have about 7 ponds like this within 1 mile of my apt and the St. Francis River is 200 yards from me. There are 2 ditches that we call the Twin Ditches that run into 3 of the ponds so they have the big blue cats, crappie and bass in them too. The Twin ditches run through Mark Tree where I live and are part of the Wildlife Sanctuary of the Sunken lands area here and are off shoots of the St. Francis River.
It's pretty much fishing paradise where I live. All within walking or Biking distance. Here is the photo:
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yea pretty sure it's a Bowfin now. Wish I had know when I caught it alot of people I talked to here today like to clean them and make fish patties for frying with them. They are considered a Sport fish here in Arkansas but I never knew that because this is the first one I have ever caught.
I caught it while fishing for blues in that pond using pork chops cut into strips and marinaded with garlic salt in a plastic bag for two days. I usually catch my best blue cats on that bait.
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Looks like a bowfin to me, a snakehead has a crazy snake pattern on the side of it so i dont think it is a snakehead.
Did this fish have a fin running most of the way down its back? And did it have 2 little antenna looking things sticking st8 up from its nose that are no more than and inch long? if so this is def a bowfin.
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It's a Bowfin. I've been researching a lot about them, I've been dying for a chance to find and catch one here in MA. There's been a couple of reports, but I believe there may be a some in a small pond that I frequent. It used to be feed by a streem years ago. I've heard it used to have carp and american eels. Now it's primarily all bass and sunnies. Any new species is exiting for me, and a bowfin is an ancient preditor, one that I want to meet.
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it fought like a bass ... it was a great fight to get in...
its a bowfin... CONFIRMED.
12 lbs ... 25in fish.
was one of my best catches this spring. I catch alot of blues and bass... but that was a great catch.
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Yeah i managed to catch a few here in PA at a local lake that has them. They pull like a truck lol.
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yep, bowfin or more commonly known as a Dowg Fish.
the thing that throws it off is the lack of the darker colors normaly associated with the bow fins and more noticibly missing is the eye patern that is normaly its trade mark on its tail
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