Home Forums Fishing Freshwater The Joy of Trash Fish

Anyone enjoy "trash fish?"

Some of the hardest fighting, most aggressive fish I've ever caught are Bowfin. I have no idea why these aren't more popular. I don't eat largemouths so not being edible is no reason not to target Bowfin. I've heard their meat is so nasty even dogs won't eat them. But nothing, and I mean nothing, in the lakes and rivers I fish attack for fight like Bowfin. In the summer, they come up twisting back and forth to the point their tails are hitting their own noses. And they will try and bite you. They have a rock hard head and many many sharp teeth. Snakeheads have nothing on these native fish. I picked this one slowly up boucing a jig along a dam for winter bass some years ago.

Don’t have much experience with bowfin
But man in my neck of the woods bow fishing has never been more popular
My Son in Law is a good example
But here on the Saginaw Bay the Riggs just keep getting bigger and more pricey
So a different twist but..
Lots of people around here really into shooting trash fish
Hank

I can always tell I have a Bowfin hit a lure when I reel up a Space Monkey with no legs or a swimming Senko that's been bitten in half.



I watched a Bowfin furiously attack a school of minnows at the base of a cyrpess tree such that the minnows were trying to swim up the tree. I flipped 4 senkos to that fish and he bit all 4 in half and I never hooked him. They have really hard mouths.


Another fish around here people think is a trash fish, a chain pickerel. I love 'em. The fight like hell and when the bass slow down in the winter the pickerel are still hitting anything that flashes.

Always liked catching a good chain pickerel. Bowfins, not so much, we used to shoot them before we brought them on board, and yeah, they fight!

Out west, we have a fish called the “Squawfish”
The politically correct name is pike minnow.

I have caught them anywhere from 1 to 6 lbs while fishing for trout and bass.
The strike like a ton of bricks and fight like crazy for a minuet or two, then just give up.

Some places have a bounty on them, I guess they eat a lot of baby salmon.

I like unexpected catches. Always makes fishing interesting.

Not a trash fish if big enough.


Blue cats will take anything you throw for bass, including fast cranks. Caught this one on a slow deep diving crank.


Dropped a space monkey through a hole in the weed mat and immediately pulled up a Green Sunfish.


Pickerel all the time. They'll hit anything. Just about any with any size have scars on their backs from osprey attacks.


None of these are really trach fish if they're big enough. All of them are mighty fine eating.

I'm pretty much a "trash" fisherman from the boat. My usual targets are carp, redhorse, and drum, with the occasional outing for bowfin and bass. They're all easy to catch on the rivers around here, and good fighters.

Some bycatches are pretty good fighters. I occasionally hook Hickory Shad and they are true aerialists. They jump a lot. So do Fallfish that inhabit the rapids of the James River. I hook them occasionally fishing for smallmouth and longear sunfish. Those big minnows are good sport on light tackle.

My bycatch is mostly catfish with the occasional sunfish, walleye, or white bass.

If we had bowfin's here I'd fish for them in a heartbeat!

I'll mail you one. They can breathe air so no doubt it would survive the trip.

I don't know why more people don't fish for them. Most people catch and release anyway. They're pretty easy to catch. It only has to be present and you just need something on your hook. Bringing them in is another story. Watching them attack a top water is extremely fun.

I mostly use Beetle Spins when I'm after them, since those are super cheap, and they have a terrible habit of destroying tackle.

We used to catch Bowfin pretty regularly down at Chickahominy lake. They do fight well.

All those pics were taken on Chickahominy Lake. That's my haunt. Been fishing it for decades.

We have bowfins here but we call them "Dogfish". I kill them every chance I get as they are a terrible predator for other species here. In the early summer the females will swim around the large school of their own fry and keep the school packed together tight for protection. Anyone that swims outside of the school she eats. I took the whole top off my left thumb with a fillet knife cutting one prior to release.

Bluegills and perch will wipe out other fish faster out of a body of water than bowfin ever will. I can't think of a single water body overpopulated with bowfin, but I can rattle off several off the top of my head around here overrun with stunted bluegills.

I thought it might be . Hadn't fished there in probably 10 years. Im about 2 hours west of that

Agreed. Bowfin are native. If they exist and haven't damaged a population, they never will.

They sure will damage tackle, though 😂 I got tired of buying Johnson Silver Minnows, that's why I mostly use beetle spins for them now. The silver minnows only get used in spots too weedy or full of sticks and junk for the spins.

Tougher wading the shallows with a fly rod for carp than tackling bonefish on the flats. Also, a lot less expensive.