Bowfins are a different looking fish. The body is covered with heavy scales, and the head is covered with boney plates. Their color is olive green on their backs, and lighter and mottled on their sides, and they have a yellowish belly. A sinle, long, low dorsal fin extends over half the length of their body. It is light with stripes running lengthwise. The dorsal fin almost appears to connect with the their rounded tail. The tail has curving stripes. Bowfin can grow to several feet long and nearly ten pounds!
Bowfins spawn in the spring. The male uses his fins to clear a round depression in the weedy shallows, where the eggs of several females are deposited. The eggs hatch within 8 to 10 days while the male bowfin guards them. An average sized female bowfin of about 4 to 5 lbs. produces 23,000 to 64,000 eggs each year.
Bowfins are ready to spawn at the age of 2 to 4 years. The males then are about 18 inches long, while the females are about 2 feet long. Their lifespan is about ten years.
They eat mainly fish, but also eat crayfish, frogs, and insects. Bowfins are a sluggish fish, but it may strike at an anglers artificial lure or live bait.
Bowfins are commonly found in highly vegetated lakes, sluggish rivers, or swamps. They can tolerate very warm water, but they get more sluggish as water temperature rises.
Bowfins are also referred to as mudfish or dogfish.
The fish commision strongly advises anglers to release the bowfins back into the water unharmed.
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