Bowfin (Amia calva) are bony fish related to gars in the infraclass Holostei. Common names include mudfish, mud pike, dogfish, griddle, grinnel, swamp trout, and choupique. They are regarded as taxonomic relicts, being the sole surviving species of the order Amiiformes, which dates from the Jurassic to the Eocene, persisting to the present. Although bowfin are highly evolved, they are often referred to as "primitive fish" because they have retained some morphological characteristics of their early ancestors.
Bowfin are demersal freshwater piscivores native to North America, and commonly found throughout much of the eastern United States, and in southern Ontario and Quebec. Fossil deposits indicate Amiiformes were once widespread in both freshwater and marine environments with a range that spanned across North and South America, Europe, Asia and Africa. Now their range is limited to much of the eastern United States and adjacent southern Canada, including the drainage basins of the Mississippi River, Great Lakes and various rivers exiting in the Eastern Seaboard or Gulf of Mexico. Their preferred habitat includes vegetated sloughs, lowland rivers and lakes, swamps and backwater areas; they are also occasionally found in brackish water. They are stalking, ambush predators known to move into the shallows at night to prey on fish and aquatic invertebrates such as crawfish, mollusks, and aquatic insects.
Like gars, bowfin are bimodal breathers which means they have the capacity to breathe both water and air. Their gills exchange gases in the water allowing them to exploit oxygen for breathing, but they also have a gas bladder that serves to maintain buoyancy, and also allows them to breathe air by means of a small pneumatic duct connected from the foregut to the gas bladder. They can break the surface to gulp air, which allows them to survive conditions of aquatic hypoxia that would be lethal to most other species.
Local Names:
Mudfish, Dogfish, Grindle, Grinnel, Cyprus trout, Blackfish
Average Size:
18 to 28 inches, 5 to 9 pounds, Hmmmmm, not bad!
Distinguishing Field Marks:
1. Thick, robust body, nearly cylindrical in cross-section
2. A single long, soft dorsal fin
3. Distinctly rounded, broad tail fin
4. Two short barbels at the tip of the snout
5. Males usually have a nearly black spot haloed in yellow or orange at the upper base of the tail
6. In adult females the black spot is not haloed, or it may be absent.
Fly Fishing for Bowfin
I can well imagine many of you reading this and thinking, “BOWFIN?!?!? What the hell is a Bowfin, and why is this guy posting it on a fly fishing site?” Well, there are three answers to that question: 1. I’m going to organize this column in what is usually referred to as “scientific” or “taxonomic” order. That order begins with the most primitive species/families and continues forward to more complex ones, and that puts the Bowfin first of the species included in my book, Freshwater Game Fish of North America and, first on this list. (There are a bunch of more primitive freshwater fish species swimming around in our waters!) 2. More and more of us fly-rodders are seeking Largemouth bass (and other “warm-water” species. Bowfin and Largemouth bass share the same habitat preferences, so there’s a good chance that you might hook a Bowfin when you’re fishing for bass. 3. You NEED TO KNOW that, when taking a hook out of the mouth of a Bowfin, you must use serious caution to avoid being bitten by this species’ large, strong teeth.
Now that that’s out of the way; expect to hook the occasional Bowfin anywhere you might be shallow water fly fishing for Largemouth bass. Probably no one will make a special fishing trip just for Bowfin, but, they are actually very good game fish. They hit hard, make powerful runs, and will also jump clear of the water (maybe that’s why some folks call ‘em Cyprus trout).
Oh yeah, don’t go fishing for Largemouth bass (or Bowfin) with your 5 weight outfit. An 8 or 9 weight rig is just right, not so much because the fish are so big, but because the flies are and you’ll need some power in your hand to cast them.
