Fishing Q&A

Can anyone tell me the U.S. record for largest amia calva (aka. bowfin, grennel), and where it was caught?

Please give weight and length if possible as well. My brothers and I used to sportfish for these in bar pits on the St.Francis River in Arkansas. They fight and jump like deep sea fish! We rarely caught any smaller than 10 pounds, and 10 fish days were the rule rather than the exception. We always practiced catch-and-release, but also weighed, measured and photographed these "living fossils" {Amia Calva are the oldest unchanged fish in North America} My 14lb6oz best was a kind-of stubby 29" long, but I saw one pipe in late summer that was 48" if it was an inch. Wonder what it weighed? The Ark. record, (which we were shooting to break, unsuccessfully) was 17lbs6oz at the time. We fished with tequila sunrise powerbait worms with a modified (bobber stop to keep the weight on the worms nose) texas-rig fished slow. Any bowfin stories appreciated.

Public Comments

1. Here is a site that will show you the record bowfins caught in each state. I'm sorry I couldnt find one that had all the lengths. I'm sure this will help though.
2. World record Bowfin weighed 21 lbs., 8 oz., from Forest Lake, SC., Jan. 29, 1980. That's a biggun'. I've seen some big grinnel while fishing Lake Fork in East Texas. Biggest was close to 3 ft. long. A real pre-historic looking fish. Tried to catch some but had no luck and since we were bed fishing Largemouth I didn't try too hard for the grinnel. Man those things can sure move out fast when you spook one. Happy fishing!
3. I'm not sure about ur question but thanks for telling me about those guns.Oh and i found a "metal" gun that shoots 400fps with the plastic parts you said was on real ones($200 M4).