Jos, Lily and I decided to head to Fork to try to find the big bowfin that had eluded us for the most part over the last year. Yes, we'd found a few, but nowhere near the numbers we'd landed in years past. Unfortunately I'm afraid we found out why... WARNING: At the end of the video I lose my temper, and lay down a few less than savory words... Sorry if my stance offends you, but the killing of these incredible prehistoric species for no reason is unacceptable IMHO. There is absolutely no proof that they have negatively affected the habitat of any other species of fish over the 100 million years they have inhabited this planet. Frankly reducing the numbers of catfish would be a positive at Fork, where stunted growth is apparent, and it's obvious after 34 years of outstanding largemouth fishing, they've had zero effect on them.

https://vimeo.com/91857952

We did hook three 'fins, one of which may have been a state record... Peeled line like my drag was set too loose, fought her for five minutes only to have her give one last thrashing effort, and she was gone. Far stronger than any other bowfin I've landed to date, many of which were over 30". Hopefully she remains in the water to continue producing her progeny.

I hope you reported to tpwd. The lack of respect by those fishermen is absolutely unreal. These incredible fish are a true American treasure. I grew up bass fishing in Pennsylvania and Canada listening to my grandfather talk horror stories about this horrible fish that fights like heck and won't stop fighting, even when it gets in the boat. He had caught two bowfins early in his life, and his theory was if we ever catch another one we're taking the boat to shore to take the hook out of its mouth there (and release it back to the lake) because he never wanted to be stuck in a confined boat with an angry bowfin again! Since then I've been dying to hook into one, every large pike I caught I hoped was a bowfin. I was going to pm you after seeing your post on bowfin fishing fork about any advice you'd have for me trying to find them (I live in Sulphur Springs just above Fork) so you can imagine my anger in seeing your video. People like that are every bit as horrible as poachers.

Yep, I did contact TPWD... Now, we'll see if they have time to investigate. I guarantee you they would, if it were largemouth bass littering the shore, but I'm not sure how they'll feel about gar and bowfin.

Good to know I'm not the only one who values ALL species swimming in Fork.

Very sad indeed

Looks like the bowfishers,an are at it again. Wantonly wasted.

Bow fishing at its finest. Like you said, had they been bass TPWD would be out there in force. Sadly the native "trash" fish dont get the same attention.

What a lot of folks don't realize is that the native species that have been designated "trash" fish were here long before a lot of us and are very important part of the ecosystem to ensure healthy balance.
Perhaps their destruction may be part of the reason we're seeing an explosion of Tilapia population and other invasive none natives....

Might not be bowfishing. There are no empty beer cans laying around them.

You should post this in the open freshwater fishing discussion as well.

Ya know, dmunsie, I thought about that, but decided not to, because of the potential for a very heated confrontation between those who consider these fish "trash", and those who possess a reasonable level of intelligence. There is no convincing the "haters", and these discussions usually just end with a buncha namecalling and abuse, and eventually are deleted by moderators.

Call operation game thief and then ask them for the email of the responsible game warden to send photos to.
Send him or her photos along with GPS coordinates where you found them. I know many of you have
this picture in your mind of game wardens being stretched thing or "not wanting to mess with this"
That could not be father from the truth. I have a close family friend that is the game warden on
a large North Texas lake. She is literally waiting for your call to go bust these suckers. It's a lot
more exciting than counting PFD's and chasing rat snakes out of little old ladies houses.
These poachers operate in deliberate patterns. By their very nature they are not smart people, many of them
are just bad people in general and need to be put away. Seemingly insignificant info from you can go a long way towards helping making a bust. You ARE THE EYES AND EARS for TPW . If you see something illegal that ticks you off, get off your duff and call it in. 800-792-GAME (4263)

Yep, it does devolve pretty fast. The personal attacks are a sure sign they have run plumb out of logical arguments.
Just keep on reporting them to the game warden and encouraging all your friends to do the same. No use trying to convince them here.

I feel your pain highcountry, i sure hope those stupid people WHO did that get caught pretty soon

Sorry to see that fish kill highcountry.Hard to say who did it,could have been Ma Kettle and friends for all we know. Hang in there and stay crunchy cause the day is coming that the native roughfish will get the respect they deserve!

I totally agree it will run it's course quickly...BUT...it ALWAYS seems to educate a few noobs new to angling, this forum, etc, etc. We can't change those who've been doing this for years and years, but we can hopefully educate, bring awareness, etc, etc, to the next generation of anglers.