A salute to the grinnel

The grinnel, more properly known as the bowfin, is often caught accidentally by Arkansas anglers fishing for crappie or bass. But, despite the fact that this prehistoric fish is an incomparable fighter, few people fish purposely for this underwater outlaw.

Some say it isn’t fit to eat. Others curse it as being a gluttonous scourge of sportfish. Still others are put off by the grinnel’s ominous appearance. Examine a grinnel up close and you get the definite impression that, given a chance, it would chew your arm off, and if it were the size of an alligator, people wouldn’t be safe in the water.

Grinnels do have their good points, however. Five- to 10-pounders are common in many Arkansas waters, and a hooked grinnel puts on a dazzling show of aerobatics unrivaled by the sportiest freshwater gamefish. During summer, when many gamefish are sulking in the depths and hard to catch, the grinnel is active and ready to strike. It takes bait with a tremendous rush and is extraordinarily strong on the hook—a game opponent for any angler with a healthy heart, a stout rod and leather gloves (watch out for its teeth!). For pure ol’ rock-’em, sock-’em fishing fun, it’s without compare. It eagerly hits live baits and a variety of artificials and is readily available in waters throughout The Natural State.

The grinnel is a living fossil, the last surviving member of a family that swam the earth with the dinosaurs. It looks strange, because, as compared to more modern fishes, it is strange. The long, cylindrical body is crowned with an unbroken dorsal fin extending two-thirds its length. The wide mouth thickly studded with razor-sharp teeth fits it for the predatory role it thoroughly fulfills. The olive body color looks like it was issued for World War II combat, and the nose sports two short, tube-like whiskers. Adult males have an ocellus—a black spot haloed in bright green or yellow—at the base of the round tail fin.

These relics range throughout the lowlands of the South and north through the Mississippi River watershed to the Great Lakes. They typically inhabit the warm, sluggish waters of swamps, oxbow lakes and river backwaters. Clear, weedy waters are preferred, but grinnels tolerate hot, muddy conditions. Like gars, they can use their air bladder as a lung, and during summer, grinnels often rise to the surface and gulp air to supplement oxygen taken by the gills. This adaptation enables them to survive where most other fish cannot.

Fish for grinnels like you fish for largemouth bass. They’re usually found around timber, weedbeds and other cover, just like bass, and they eat the same foods (baitfish, crawfish, frogs and other small animals). A good fishing outfit is a 5- to 6-foot, medium- to heavy-action bass rod and a sturdy bait-casting or spinning reel spooled with 15- to 25-pound-test line.

Grinnel lures run the gamut from surface plugs to bottom-bumpers, but it’s hard to beat a plastic worm fished around stickups, cypress trees, buckbrush and beds of green water plants. Keep the retrieve slow, and maintain a firm grip on your rod. When a grinnel strikes a worm, it’s akin to hooking a passing freight train. If you relax your grip at the instant it makes its lunge, you can kiss your rod and reel goodbye.

Fishing topwater plugs is the ultimate form of grinnel fun. A grinnel hooked in deep water usually stays deep, jumping only when he’s fought to the surface. But a grinnel hooked at the surface immediately takes to the air, showing as much razzmatazz as a tail-hooked tarpon. A propeller plug or stickbait worked with a twitch-and-stop retrieve is irresistible to these aggressive fish.

Grinnel also will hit spoons, spinnerbaits, crankbaits and jigs. Live offerings work well, too, especially minnows, crawfish and frogs fished beneath a bobber. In fact, grinnels are so aggressive, they’ll hit practically anything you carry in your tackle box or bait bucket.

The biggest problem anglers face is landing one. The grinnel’s mouth is extremely tough, making needle-sharp hooks and smashing hook sets a must. Even if you do drive the hook home, the grinnel’s sharp teeth and violent thrashing may cleave your line. Ten-pound-plus grinnels are relatively common, but you’ll do good to land one of every five that hit. That’s part of the exciting challenge confronting grinnel fishermen.

One advantage of grinnel fishing is that they are active through the middle of the day, even during the hottest part of summer. Anglers can fish for bass, crappie or other fish early in the day, then switch to grinnels when the other fish slack off.

This is how many grinnel anglers get hooked. They start out fishing for them for fun when other fish aren’t active, then find out that for pure sport, catching a grinnel is better than equal to other types of fishing.

Grinnels won’t ever be a popular as largemouth bass or crappie, but they’re certainly due a measure of respect that is presently lacking. As one grinnel fan so aptly put it: “If the mudfish could hire himself a good PR man, he’d have the best sportfish reputation in the country.”

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