The Catch of the Year

The Great Glendalough DogFish
It had been another great day of fishing on the lake and we were all nearly worn out from pulling in one giant sunfish after another.But the drama of the day was far from complete. During the previous season the Gilbertson boys had tried numerous times in vain to capture the elusive dog fish.It had teased all of us with its slow lazy runs under the boat. This year after hatching a well laid plan, they would not fail. To make it even more interesting, Grandpa had the boys convinced that the fish would bark if they ever landed him into the canoe.. The method of capture went something like this. Matthew found a dead sunfish and attached it to a treble hook. Knowing the dog fish was not biologically equipped to bite the hook he hoped he might at best latch onto the sunfish. Sure enough as the fish and the fisherman lay in wait, the bobber went down deep. The boys quickly grabbed the landing net and raced their canoe to the action. The hungry dog fish was holding tightly onto the sunfish when Matthew scooped the net down. This time the net came up filled with one surprised dog fish. Success. As the catch of the year was brought to shore for the requisite photo opportunity, we all listened for the barking noises Grandpa and Uncle Lyle had been telling us about. The only sounds we heard were laughter and excitement over a mission accomplished.

To learn more http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/snapshots/fish/bowfin.html