Round Lake (6/11/10)
Today’s plan was to go to Sleepy Hollow State Park, rent a boat and fish Lake Ovid. Things changed, tough, when I found that the boat rentals at the park were being handled by a party store on Round Lake in Laingsburg. Once I drove back down to Round Lake to rent the boat, a 12 ft. aluminum rowboat, I figured I might as well just fish there.
Round Lake is fairly small and lined with houses on about three sides. There scenery from the boat was not very pretty. I rented the boat from Don’s Party Store (sign says “beer, boats, bait and pizza”) and also bought some red worms. I liked this store a great deal, it reminded me of the markets in central Maine where I grew up. The weather was a bit grim, hot and humid and threatening to rain. I was on the water for two hours, fished worms, spoons, spinners, and twisters, and caught three fish, each on worms.
Bowfin
I wasn’t fishing for long when I hooked something large. I was using a worm and bobber rig, and after it hit the worm the fish surfaced. I had to work it for several minutes before I could get a look at it, at which point I realized I had no idea what kind of fish it was. It was about twenty inches long and had a very long dorsal fin. It fought pretty hard; when I had it close to the boat it would dive deep under the boat. As I was working it in, two guys in a Lund pulled alongside, offered to net it for me, got it under control and then gave me some education.
They said it was a dogfish. This was interesting to me, since in Maine a dogfish is a small shark. I think they call it a dogfish as a variant on catfish. They pointed out to me that there were no barbs like a catfish has on this fish. They also said it was an undesirable fish in the lake, as it outcompetes popular gamefish like bass and pike. Once home I found that a more accurate name is bowfin, and that it’s a prehistoric species, not generally valued as a gamefish. After the bowfin I caught the smallest bluegill I’ve ever seen, and then a good-sized largemouth. I decided to keep and eat the bass.
Tags: bass, bluegill, bowfin, dogfish, ovid, round lake, sleepy hollow, store
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