Use caution with this data as some extreme values can be erroneous due to unsuspected errors in synop reports. All data should be verified. Note that the values we listed here are from international released synop reports, and for certain there will be other extreme values not in this list.
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.erpetologist Wilfred T. Neill, reported in 1950 that he unearthed a bowfin aestivating in a chamber 4 inches (10 cm) below the ground surface, 8 inches (20 cm) in diameter, .25 miles (0.4 km) from a river.
Facetiously, that is the method where you nail a bowfin to a plank, roast it over an open fire, throw away the fish, and eat the plank. Bowfin are not real tasty according to my sources! Bowfin are also called mudfish, cypress trout, grinners, grindle, dogfish, and assorted unpleasant names. They will hit just about anything and can destroy a crankbait or spinnerbait. In a West Point tournament in the early 1980s I was catching bass on a white spinnerbait up the river.