I REACHED MY GOAL! ... of catching 100 bowfin on a fly. I needed 4 today to reach that goal, and I caught 6. From the first to the last, it took less than a year. In fact, not including the first one I caught in AR last June, I caught 101 in MO over a span of just 2.5 months...or about 10 weeks. I caught them from August 28 to October 9 (less than 1.5 months) last Fall, and then March 12-April 15 (just over a month) this year. I'm blown away... this was a crazy goal I never expected to reach, but am really excited I did. Bowfin are a flat out amazing, fun, and interesting fish to catch! I really love these fish!
As there are now 2 recognized species of Bowfin, these are all Eyetail Bowfin (Amia ocellicauda). Here's some of the ones caught on the 15th.:
I also caught a Black Bullhead:
I tossed a fly into a pod of Grass Carp. The fly sank. Then my line started to move... a Common Carp had eaten the fly!
Bro!!!!
ReplyDeleteA year ago I wouldn't have believed 100 bowfin on fly in a couple months was even possible. You have truly thrown open the door and shown it can be done. And you're so right about how cool they are, and the places they inhabit seem to always throw up some sort of challenge, whether it's a flood or drought or mayfly hatch or duckweed explosion, there's always something you have to adapt to. I wish I could spend more time on the Mississippi and associated waterways, but just seeing you post fish after awesome fish is the next best thing.
I'm surprised how successful you've been in fairly muddy water. Are you still using scent at all? Seems like you're still mostly using dark colored flies with a fair amount of weight in the head. Any particular cover/structure you're targeting, or just methodically working whatever shallow cover is available? Do you have a full write up on your technique posted anywhere?
I'm doing a little better and have been out a couple times, just on foot and slowed way down from normal but it's something anyway. I posted a video from the Steamboat Rock area - changed the name of the YouTube channel to "Scrawny Life" and put some stuff on the homepage so it's easier to see a list of all the videos.
I didn't use scent for the first 10 bowfin of the year... and here and there I've caught some without. But I often do use it just/only for Bowfin. I often catch one soon after applying scent, so I do feel it helps significantly much of the time in this muddy water. I've caught them on black, rusty orange, white, yellow, silver. I haven't tried much chartreuse for them. But black does seem to produce pretty well in these stained waters. I try to keep away from most of the submerged structures, I just end up losing too many flies. I'm targeting fish cruising or resting on flats 5' deep or less MOST of the time. I'll just fancast across those flats. And sometimes I'll walk along vertical banks and just work the fly slowly along it, however far out my rod will reach... 2'-5' from shore, say...and pick up some fish basically almost vertical jigging. In some spots at certain times, the water clears up enough where I can spot individual mud clouds being kicked up, which I used to attribute mainly to carp... but it turns out there's often a bowfin there in these waters. I'll stop and work around any culverts or flood control gates to see if any bowfin might be there. I'm glad your on the mend and getting out fishing!
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