Ted and I went out bowfishing for dogfish with his 12-year-old son over the weekend. I didn't know what to expect, but it turned out to be one of the coolest hunting experiences I've ever had!
We started by checking some streams, but didn't see any fish. Then we hopped in the fishing boat and paddled around some shallow, weedy areas. Dogfish tend to bury themselves in the mud, but once we figured out their game, we were seeing them all over the place.
It helps that they're relatively stupid and don't always retreat when an arrow narrowly misses them, providing several opportunities for success. The water throws off the visual perception of where the fish is actually located, so we needed to aim about 12 inches lower than we thought. This was a hard concept to get through my head. It took me six attempts to get my first dogfish. Ted was the Great Dogfish Hunter, shooting the largest fish and taking only 2 tries to do it. Great success! We each came home with one fish, and we saw close to 10.
2 comments:
ah, the old bowfin.. i have a story from way back in the mid-80s when i hooked onto what i thought was a very large (10 lb plus) northern.. when we got it close to shore we noticed it was a dogfish.. it was huge, gross.. we got close to landng it but it shook off the daredevil.. and squirmed away. we later found out at the time the state redord was around 9 pounds.. true story
Timmer after PUNKING us I am doubtful your dogfish was anywhere in this league.
Missed you at the track last night.
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