In Search of Monster Fish: Angling for a More Sustainable Planet, Book Review by Don Orth

Mark Spitzer’s latest book, In Search for Monster Fish: Angling for a More Sustainable Planet, will appeal to all types of anglers and adventurers. Mark Spitzer is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Central Arkansas and author of over twenty-five books.  His previous forays into fish writing include three non-fiction books: Season of the Gar: Adventures in Pursuit of America’s Most Misunderstood Fish (2010, Return of the Gar (2015), and Beautifully Grotesque Fish of the American West (2017).  He has also written fishy fiction, e.g., Garapaima: A Monster Fish Novel (2015).     

In Search of Monster Fish is a series of stories in which Spitzer seeks out a new monster fish.   Although he doesn’t formally define “monster” fish, it is apparent that size matters and big teeth add to the mystique. The term was popularized by National Geographic’s Monster Fish show.  But there are so many monster-fish stories to tell, we cannot get enough. The author’s purpose goes beyond showing off his fishing skills.  It’s more about the search. 

Book cover of In Search of Monster Fish shows Mark Spitzer with a Doitsu variety koi carp. 

Fishing is often a never-ending series of quests. Many serious observers have identified 5 stages of an angler’s life, stated simply as Any Fish, Many Fish, Big Fish, No Fish, and finally Give Back Fish (McKenna 2013).  Each monster fish was something new for Spitzer to pursue.  Each quest required new skills and a new place. Every story contains some daily conversation with himself about why he's here. He asks "What was I put here to do?"  This is a deep and difficult philosophical question to pose in a book entitled In Search of Monster Fish. It is those daily conversations that make this book most interesting.  In the first chapter, “Demythologizing Demonologies,” we join Spitzer, guide Wilson, and Lea the fun-loving poetry professor, in the Amazon in pursuit of monster fish myths. Their first fish, which the guide called dormelinas, was captured by swinging a machete. He begins the conversation about the monster fish mystique as they learn to catch and eat local fish (piranha fritta) from their guide. 
  

In “Catfishalonia,” Spitzer seeks to catch a Wels Catfish, Siluro or Silurus glanis.  This is the biggest freshwater catfish which can exceed 200 pounds and 7 feet. It is an opportunistic catfish and in the Ebro River it’s referred to as "The Ebro Monster.”  Like other catfish, it feeds at night on fish, ducks, voles, and the misplaced American red crayfish (Procambarus clarkii).   In 1974, a German fisheries biologist named Roland Lorkowsky introduced young Wels Catfish to the Ebro River to create a recreational fishery. The Ebro is no pristine river; rather, it’s a working river with hydroelectric dams, nuclear plants, chemical plants, orchards, and animal agriculture. By the late 1980s, anglers were boasting of catches of catfish over 90 pounds, which led to guiding industry for tourist anglers. While I was reading this book, a British angler caught an 8-foot albino catfish that weighed 194 pounds. Spitzer does not exaggerate about monster fish. Watch Spitzer vs Wels Catfish to see the outcome.
   

In “Cuda Chaos in the Dominican Republic,” Spitzer and his now fiancée are beaten by ocean waves in search of barracuda, in particular small ones because the largest Barracuda have toxic levels of the ciguatoxin. Nothing prepares one for rough waters, but Lea and Mark eventually catch and eat Barracuda in a Cuda creole. In “Sportfishing Gar,” Spitzer explores his local fishing water, Lake Conway, which contains three species of gar. Spitzer is experienced catching them with jug lines and trot lines, but this adventure represents his very first efforts at catching gar with a rope lure.  See Doug Jeffries YouTube video for instruction on making a rope lure.  After initial success, his next trial is to catch a gar on a fly.   But this quest becomes a lesson in learning to fly cast like an experienced fly fisher—not a goal for amateur.

Mark Spitzer with Alligator Gar.  (c) Mark Spitzer

After a honeymoon in Borneo, he is jet-lagged while “Monster-fishing shark off Montauk,” the eastern end of the Long Island peninsula in New York.  He solicits the help of Captain John Krol aboard the Let’s Go Fishin. Captain John has been fishing these waters since the 1980s.  Montauk is the site of an annual shark tournament with big money prizes and donation of shark meat to food pantries. Spitzer opens a brand new bucket of chum, and raises questions about shark hunting. Captain Krol tells him “it used to be all about tuna out here, but when the tuna thinned due to the mushrooming markets, something else had to take its place.  Shark then became the thing.” According to the experienced Krol, everything is down compared to the past.  Before tuna were completed fished out, “there was only shark hunter in these waters...Frank Mundus. After trying to kill everything in the ocean, he became a conservationist…then tried to save everything in it.”   True, “Monster Man” Mundus is well-known in the region and was the inspiration for the character Quint in the book and movie, Jaws. 
     

After a Great White Shark terrorized a New England town in the movie, Jaws,  the interest in shark fishing grew and shark tournaments incentivized shark harvest.  Shark are extremely vulnerable to overfishing due to low reproductive output, high extinction risk, and intrinsic vulnerabilities to overexploitation.  Recreational fishing for sharks is a global management concern (Babcock 2009; Shiffman 2014; Gallagher et al. 2017).  Frank Mundus was responsible for calling shark fishing “monster fishing,” which gained notoriety when he harpoon-captured a massive white shark off Montauk that he estimated at ~2000 kg in 1964 (4500 pounds) (Mundus and Wisner 1971). It’s true that Mundus became a shark hunter turned conservationist.  He was promoted circle hooks, initiated a shark tagging program, and advocated for catch and release. Today there is a one shark per day limit with 54-inch minimum regulation. 
  

Shark hunting is very controversial, and Spitzer gets his facts straight.  Worm et al. (2013) estimated that the total number of sharks killed by fisheries each year is between 63 and 273 million, with an average of approximately 100 million. The problem is overfishing and as Spitzer writes “monster fish have a lot to teach us, but to learn from them we need to keep them around.” While chumming for sharks, he observes large fishing trawlers and reflects on his fishing quests for monster fish.   Spitzer writes “…I was heading in the right direction, but if this monster-fish thing is really more than just an excuse for me to go fishing, then I need to look even harder. Way harder!” 
 

In Monster carp in France, Spitzer tries a week of extreme carp angling.  Carp know no borders and the Itkus fishing lake is designed to make carp anglers respect their borders.  Each section of the fishing lake is called a ‘swim’ and anglers reserve their swims. If you get skunked in your assigned swim, no wandering to other areas of the lake is permitted.  Spitzer must admit his ignorance in order to catch a monster carp. Specialized carp rigs include hair rigs, boilies, long carp rods, and pop-up rod alarms. These are extreme carp anglers who drive and survive during a long week of carp angling. Fish are caught, photographed, and released to bite again—but only after the extreme angler applies first-aid cream to damaged carp lips.  Anything that helps reduce the ingress of bacteria into open wounds is likely to benefit the carp.  However, this technique has not been transferred to North America.  Carp are a learned preference for monster fishing.  Clearly, in managed waters they can reach monster sizes, as long as one practices catch and release.  Mirror carp, a genetic mutation with scattered scales covering only part of the body, were a target here. Spitzer was skunked on some days, but did land the Doitsu variety Koi which is pictured on the book's cover. It remains a great paradox that carp are such a highly desired species in some places while reviled for its dominance and damages in lake ecosystems in other places. 
    

“Bananas from Tarpon” is Switzer’s quest to catch tarpon and supersize stingrays in Gambia.  With his “boss lady” Lea, his guides Farmara, Junior, and Fabu, he eats his first stingray, complete with gelatinous skin and cartilage.  Although he was thrilled to catch a “large” tarpon, it was barely large enough to qualify as an adult specimen.  His conversation gets back to his development as an angler and what he can put back. Food security in Gambia depends on catching and keeping fish.  The old saw “Game fish are too valuable to only by caught once” really doesn’t make sense here. Humans are a species that looks out for itself first. His thinking is turning as he travels to Senegal with thoughts of monster billfishes, Zane Grey, and Ernest Hemingway.  Here near the heart of the world’s richest fishing areas, the local fishers were harvesting Skipjack Tuna Katsuwonus pelamis with handlines from small boats, called pirogues.  But larger vessels and foreign trawlers are threatening the livelihoods of Senegalese artisinal fishers. Spitzer casted for small tuna and used them as bait for his pursuit of billfishes including the Blue Marlin Makaira nigricans, a species threatened by overfishing.  Before long, he switches his target to the Dorado, or Mahi Mahi Coryphaena hippurus, and he reflects again on putting back.

In the “Italian Zander” the conversation continues with twenty ways to put back more. His interest in Monster Zander peaked after a story of monster fish terrorizing swimmers in a Swiss lake. It’s very unusual for Zander Sander lucioperca to attack humans, but the strange story initiated his quest. The Zander is closely related to the Walleye Sander vitreus. In fact the world record Zander at 25.3 pounds, is only slightly larger than the world record Walleye at 22.7 pounds, from Greer’s Ferry Lake in Arkansas. With his guide, Fabrizio, he fishes Lake Como in northern Italy.  This natural lake has a fish fauna that is altered by widespread stocking of non-native fishes (Volta et al. 2018).  After catching a Zander, European chub, European Perch, Northern Pike, and a North American favorite—a Largemouth Bass, he returns to the conversation before traveling to the boot heel of Italy to pursue Conger Eel.   You see there is a myth about a 130 pound Conger Eel landed off the coast of Devon. The European Conger Conger conger reaches a maximum size of 3 meters though more typical big ones are 1.5 m. I suspect this trip was more about the seafood. His guide, Antonio, had a mis-shapened finger from a Moray Eel encounter and spoke only Italian.  The longline they fished encountered several species, including some Conger, but mostly the longline caught immature fish.  While his reward was buona murena fritta, the reminder of overfishing immature fish troubled him.

The concluding chapter is “Solutions for  Disenlightenment” where Spitzer finishes his conversation about giving back.  Without giving away the ending, he examines why monster fish are so sacred to him.  What is a man without monster fish?  What are reasonable solutions?  We need scientists and discovery and more types of FishLove.  No single, simple answer exists “to sustain the terrifying beauty of this mind boggling, mind blowing, and mind altering monster fish world.” (Spitzer 2019, p. 180).  I recommend that you join Mark Spitzer on his expeditions in this fun- and monster-filled book and plan your next fishing quest.

References

Babcock, E.A. 2009. Recreational fishing for pelagic sharks worldwide.   Pages 193-204 in I.-M.D. Camhi, E.K. Pikitch, and E.A. Babcock, editors. Sharks of the open ocean: Biology, fisheries, and conservation.  Blackwell Publishing, Oxford.

Gallagher, A.J., N. Hammerschlag, A.J. Danylchuk, and S.J. Cooke. 2017 Shark recreational fisheries: Status, challenges, and research needs. Ambio 46(4):385-398. doi: 10.1007/s13280-016-0856-8

McKenna, M. 2013.  Five stages of a fisherman’s life.  Sun Valley Magazine   March 18, 2013.  Accessed 7 February 2019 from https://sunvalleymag.com/five-stages-of-a-fishermans-life/

Mundus, F., and W.L. Wisner.  1971. Sportfishing for sharks. Collier Books, New York.

Shiffman, D.S. 2014. More large sharks were killed by recreational anglers than commercial fishermen in the US last year. Retrieved November 3, 2019. Available: www.southernfriedscience.com/?p=17834.

Spitzer, M. 2019. In Search of Monster Fish: Angling for a More Sustainable Planet. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, Nebraska. 189 pp

Volta, P., E. Jeppesen, P. Sala, S. Galafassi, C. Foglini, C. Puzzi, and I.J. Winfield. 2018.  Fish assemblages in deep Italian subalpine lakes: history and present status with emphasis on non-native species.  Hydrobiologia 824:255-270    Worm, B., B. Davis, L. Kettemer, C. Ward-Paige, D. Chapman, M. Heithaus, S. Kessel, and S. Gruber.  2013. Global catches, exploitation rates, and rebuilding options for sharks. Marine Policy 40: 194-204.

Season of the Gar, by Mark Spitzer. Book Review by Don Orth

Mark Spitzer is a professor, angler, explorer, and writer.  His recent books about fishing include Return of the Gar (2015), Beautifully Grotesque Fish of the American West (2017), and In Search of Monster Fish: Angling for a More Sustainable Planet (2019).  In his first book about fishing, Season of the Gar,  Spitzer chronicles his adventures in catching and releasing the monster gator gar, or Alligator Gar Atractosteus spatula. Since he was a child, Mark Spitzer dreamed of catching a monster gator gar or le poisson armé (the armored fish), as the French explorers referred to it.  

 

Season of the Gar book cover.  (c) University of Arkansas Press.

The book is written for a general audience interested in a romp through the world of gar and his pursuit of the monster gator gar. There are fishing stories, photos, and more. His personal quest weaves through stories that reflect on ongoing change in human perspectives on the gar. Catching an Alligator Gar is not so easy. They are not abundant today and occur in large floodplain rivers of the delta region of Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Texas.  We learn just how hard those toothy jaws can be when Mark attempts to impale them with a barbed hook.  

Most gar are caught by accident by commercial fisheries or targeted by bowhunters. Unfortunately, those who learn to catch gator gar with bowfishing, trot lines and heavy-duty equipment often leave them dumped by the truckload or turned into fertilizer.  I was, of course, intrigued by his quest and enjoyed his writing which gave me a surreptitious view of gator gar fishing.  He does not capture a gar until chapter 5, "The Existential Fish-Life Crisis."  When he hooked his second monster gar it was just as Jack Harper described in Outdoor Life (1950) “They call him gar.  His mother is a hurricane and his father is a ring-tailed tornado, and when he’s mad he’s one fish wave of destruction.” But this gar was not landed. 

Alligator Gar. Illustration by Duane Raver  Public Domain Source

In addition to sharing in Spitzer’s many quests to catch a gator gar, we learn the many sad stories of misinformation about the Alligator Gar, gar attacks, and much more.  Alligator Gar are second only to the Lake Sturgeon as true freshwater leviathans.  During the twentieth century, gars were viewed as harmful by most anglers and even fisheries managers.  Richardson (1914, p 407) in a paper on breeding habits of fishes in the Illinois River warned that "Certainly if our commercial fisheries are to be properly conserved, stringent measures will have to be taken against these 'weeds' and 'wolves' among fishes."   This sentiment was based only on visual observations of adult Shortnose Gar Lepisosteus platostomus and -- not based on any scientific evidence of harm.  Fish and Fishing in Louisiana labeled the gars as voracious pests that “are responsible for the destruction of great numbers of useful and valuable fishes.” Yet this warning went unchallenged for nearly a century and numerous populations of Alligator Gar were depleted.  Mark Spitzer reveals the many instances of directed efforts to exterminate gars, including a description of the Electrical Gar Destroyer deployed by the Texas Game Fish and Oyster Commission.  Up until recently most states had no limits on harvesting gars.  Scarnecchia (1992) reported that even by late 1980s it was not even legal to release gar alive in Iowa. Section 109.114 stated that "It shall be unlawful for any person to place any gar pike in any waters of the state, and such fish when taken shall be destroyed."  Tarzwell (1945) explored the possibility of commercial fishing for rough fish in TVA reservoirs. Too often the gars were simply thought of as a rough fish problem to be solved and not a resource to protect and conserve. Spitzer writes of fish markets in Arkansas that cannot supply the demand for gar meat which fetches a prices higher than catfish fillets.  Researchers investigating feeding habits of gar support the view that consumption of game fishes is minimal.   Texas is now the leader in implementing management plans for the Alligator Gar and other states are following.     

In Spitzer’s chapter on “Gar and Loathing in Texahoma” we first meet Capt Kirk, the Alligator Gar catch-and-release guide (he hates stupid bow hunters who dump their kill). Capt Kirk eventually assisted with Spitzer’s first landing of a monster gar, six feet and five inches.    In "When Gars Attack," we learn about questionable stories about gar attacks. In "Messy Nessy Gar Myths" we learn of reports all across North America, but especially in the South where gar are most plentiful, of long, serpentine, land-locked leviathans often posted on Chamber of Commerce websites. Spitzer even explores the evolutionary relation with the fossil fishapod Tiktaalik roseae and the gar.  The reader will also learn a bit about policy -- the Lacey Act, care and feeding of young gar in "Frankengar," Jeremy Wade and Bubba the bowhunter guide from Garzilla in "Gar in the Balance," "Gar Wrangling in Arkansas," and Arkansas’ difficult history with the Alligator Gar.   Alligator Gar is now officially the State Primitive Fish of Arkansas. And Illinois passed a resolution to protect gars in Illinois.  

Alligator Gar caught from Moon Lake, Mississippi, in 1910. Spitzer notes that experts challenge the legitimacy of this photograph because the stomach seems to be more slack than usual (for its size) and the fins and tail are unnaturally flared. Photo by D. Franklin. Courtesy of the American Museum of Natural History, image # 117075.

If you like books about unusual fishing, you’ll love this book. You’ll learn many gar facts and appreciate how long it takes to change human perceptions about rough fish.   You’ll appreciate the message of the ecological importance of gars as apex predators -- watch this short video.   You too will want to pursue a monster gator gar and realize why a guide helps.  You’ll learn how large Alligator Gar really get in modern times and that the biggest gar are always female fish.  Finally, you’ll learn how to clean and prepare a gar with one of Spitzer’s favorite recipes.  

Solomon David, in the #GarLab, Nicholls State University, is one of the gar's biggest advocates.  Here pictured with Alligator Gar skull that measures over 25 inches long and 11 inches wide.  

Mark Spitzer writes “Gar still don’t register on the mainstem radar as a creature worth preserving.”  Unfortunately, that is true. We’ve come a long way from describing Alligator Gar as ugly, mean, and loathsome and long-needing scientific findings are emerging. Reading the final chapter "Long Live the Gar" reinforced my belief that Alligator Gar need protection so that future generations can marvel at this fascinating ancient fish.  A special issue of Transactions of the American Fisheries Society was devoted to studies of these and other ancient fishes last year.   When you finish reading Season of the Gar, you will find the latest scientific findings there.   Or perhaps you'll come back for more of Mark Spitzer's adventures in Return of the Gar.

References

Buckmeier, D.L. 2008. Life history and status of the Alligator Gar Atractosteus spatula, with recommendations for management.  Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.  Accessed 10 July, 2019 from https://tpwd.texas.gov/publications/nonpwdpubs/media/gar_status_073108.pdf.

Richardson, R. E. 1914. Observations on the breeding habits of fishes at Havana, Illinois, 1910 and 1911. Bulletin of the Illinois State Laboratory of Natural History Article 8, Urbana.   Accessed 10 July, 2019 from  https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/35136#page/471/mode/1up

Scarnecchia, D.L. 1992.  A reappraisal of gars and bowfins in fisheries management.  Fisheries 17(5):6-12.

Spitzer, M. 2010.   Season of the Gar: Adventures in Pursuit of America's Most Misunderstood Fish. The University of Arkansas Press, Fayetteville.  167 pp.  

Tarzwell, C. 1945. The possibilities of a commercial fishery in the TVA impoundments and its value in solving the sport and rough fish problems.  Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 73:137-157.  

Bowfishing for "Rough" Fish, by Don Orth

Only a small fraction of our fishes are sport fish (or game fish).  Yet these game fish require a very large part of the modern fisheries agency’s time and talent. In Virginia,  "game fish" means trout (including all Salmonidae), all of the sunfish family (including largemouth bass, smallmouth bass and spotted bass, rock bass, bream, bluegill and crappie), walleye or pike perch, white bass, chain pickerel or jackfish, muskellunge, and northern pike, wherever such fish are found in the waters of this Commonwealth and rockfish or striped bass where found above tidewaters or in streams which are blocked from access from tidewaters by dams." VA Code § 29.1-100 (2014)    Recreational fisheries are managed with many strategies, including creel limits, seasons, size regulations, stocking, restrictive use of baitfish, and limitations on competitive fishing tournaments.  However, what about all the other fishes? To use the terms “nongame” or "aquatic wildlife" is nondescript, and “rough” fish has negative connotations.    What we call the others is as important as how we manage them. Bowfishing for large non-traditional “rough” fish is a growing activity that raises important challenges. Not the least of which is what to call these fish.

Fishing license sales and fishing participation are not growing  and declines in ifishing are a threat to the future of freshwater fishing and fish conservation. Activities such as fish stocking are important, however, stocking alone does not necessarily lead to increases in participation.   Angler motivations have been well studied and they revolve around catching something (anything), catching big fish, catching many fish, and keeping fish.   These motivations have so shaped agencies, that they have shown little imagination for facilitating other fish-related activities, such as snorkeling, fish watching, and native fish keeping.   

Bowfishing at dusk.  Photo from Indian Head Ranch.

In 100 Weird Ways to Catch Fish, Waldman (2005) described bowfishing as “a blood sport, a shoot-and-release is not an option, at least not legally or morally.” Bowfishing is practiced in many regions of the world to harvest fish for food.  In North America, it is legal in many states and common carp is a frequent target.  Many other large fish are targeted by bowfishers and the sport is growing. In 2005 Bowfishing Association of America (BAA) had only 500 members (Waldman 2005), but today BAA has around 4,000 members (Jason Emmelm, What is Bowfishing).    Bowfishing may never reach the popularity of trout fishing or black bass fishing.  However, numerous guides may be found to help the novice to enjoy this new sport.  

Hae Kim with Virginia state record common carp, 45 pounds, 7 ounces. Photo by Jason Emmel.

Bowfishing has grown as more states support recognition of trophy fish captured by this method.   Associations sponsor local tournaments to provide further validation to the skilled archer.  Each year new bowfishing records are set and more bowfishers enter the sport.  In March 22, 2017 a 258 pound, 7 feet 11 inch Alligator Gar set a new bowfishing record at Toledo Bend Reservoir.  In January, 2017, Tom Sheram shot a 81.3 pound Smallmouth Buffalo fish in Lake Athens, Texas.  Jerrime Tucker caught the biggest Spotted Gar with bowfishing in Arkansas, a 41.3 inches 12 pounds 5 oz.   Bowfisherman Robb Kemper shattered the previous Illinois state record bighead Asian carp with a 59 lb. 4 oz fish caught in Illinois in 2011. 

Winning TKO team at the 2016 US Open Bowfishing tournament.

Two trends, tournaments and invasive fish, suggest that growth in bowfishing is likely to continue. From small regional tournaments (e.g., Gar Bananza), the sport of bowfishing has expanded to national events such as the US Open Bowfishing Championship  (See album here). At the 2016 championship, held in Memphis, Tennessee, the first place team took 1,001.4 pounds, while second place was 963.20 pounds of “rough” fish. Most states allow bowfishing but each state has different restrictions for locations, time of day, and species that may be taken via bowfishing.  In most cases, the restrictions are developed to allow harvest of underutilized fish species while protecting other fishes.  Tournament bowfishers in Arkansas harvested 3.8 fish per hour, most of which were carp and gars (Quinn 2010).   Tournament rules often do not allow harvest of catfishes.

Robb Kemper with a 59 pound, 4 ounce Bighead Carp.  Source

Quinn (2010) and others suggested that bowfishing tournaments may help reduce abundant non-native common and Asian carps.   Consequently, bowfishing has been promoted as one approach to facilitate carp removal.    Many state agencies are grappling with policy implications of the growing interest in bowfishing.  Regulations will have to change and adapt to changing conditions.   For example, in Delaware it is now lawful to take invasive fish with bow and arrow.   Until recently, Maryland permitted the take of Cownose Ray (Rhinoptera bonasus) with bowfishing until concerns about cownose rays annihilating oysters was de-bunked.  In the Midwest, where Asian carps are increasing in abundance and distribution, bowfishing is the most effective selective capture technique (Conover et al. 2007).  It is often the only way to collect unwanted grass carp (Morrow et al. 1997). In the Potomac River, bowfishing is a very effective technique for taking the Northern Snakehead because this air breathing fish is often very near the water surface.

Rough fish (or the slang trash fish) is a term used in the U.S to describe fish that are less desirable to sport anglers.  Harriet Carlander, in History of Fish and Fishing, explained that the term "rough" was a term used for lower valued fish that had only been partly processed during a busy day of fishing.  These fish could not be sold for full price. In northern Europe the term is coarse fish. Today, the term persists but many types of  rough fish (roughfish.com) are pursued by anglers interested in capturing the wide variety of species that exist in US waters.  The negative connotations of the term “rough” fish are unfortunate and the term must be abandoned. Putting Buffalo fish, carp, and gar in the same category for management makes no sense.

T shirt marketed by roughfish.com laments "so many species, so little time."

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose, By any other name would smell as sweet." These rough fish have values and the terms we use should reflect that value. For example, the common carp and the four Asian carps all have demonstrated a high probability of causing ecological and economic effects where populations become established (Conover et al. 2007).  Regulations on bowfishing should be liberal to encourage the take of these species rather they are turned into food or fertilizer.  Bowfishing tournaments have partnered with organic fertilizer companies to utilize the harvest.   Carpbusters Inc., a non-profit, created the EcoCarp® project that take carp and make nutritious, affordable food for zoos, sanctuaries, and other applications.

The 2016 US Open bowfishing tournament partnered with SF Organics to create healthy organic fertilizer products.

The growing group of bowfishers have not been well studied.  One target, the gars (Lepisosteide) are also very understudied and susceptible to overfishing.  States badly need to estimate bowfishing effort and population characteristics of gars in order to develop fair, protective, and rational bowfishing regulations.   Typically, creel surveys do not encounter night-time bowfishers.  One survey of Texas bowfishers indicated that the bowfishers were younger than traditional anglers (Bennett et al. 2015).  Bowfishers are a new and dedicated constituency with spe­cialized boats and equipment. US agencies must adapt to this new user group and study these anglers and their targets. New regulations may be needed to influence the emerging bowfishers. Regulations have the potential to influence participation and fishing license sales.  Bowfishing may not solve the invasive fish problems, but bowfishers can participate in their sport while removing unwanted fish.   The specialized bowfishers have a stake in freshwater conservation and we need to provide a name for the fish that are bowfished.

Specialized bowfishing gear and boats are used, such as the bowfishing equipped airboat.  Photo by William Sikes

References

Bennett, D.L., R.A. Ott, and C.C. Bonds.  2014.  Surveys of Texas bow anglers, with implications for managing Alligator Gar. Journal of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies 2:8-14.

Conover, G., R. Simmonds, and M. Whalen, editors. 2007. Management and control plan for bighead, black, grass, and silver carps in the United States. Asian Carp Working Group, Aquatic Nuisance Species Task Force, Washington, D. C. Available: http://www.asiancarp.org/Documents/Carps_Management_Plan.pdf.  Accessed May 30, 2017. 

Morrow, J.V., Jr, J. P. Kirk, and J. Killgore. 1997. Collection, age, growth, and population attributes of triploid Grass Carp stocked into the Santee-Cooper Reservoirs, South Carolina. North American Journal of Fisheries Management 17: 38-43.  

Quinn, J.W. 2010. A survey of bowfishing tournaments in Arkansas. North American Journal of Fisheries Management 30: 1376-1384.  

Waldman, J. 2005. 100 weird ways to catch fish.  Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.

Watch That Fish Move! By Don Orth

Fishes have an amazing variety of body forms, each of which is uniquely adaptive. In many cases, the best way to understand the significance of the adaptation is to watch the fish in action. Here are a few video clips that demonstrate that form follows function.

The Tangerine Darter Percina aurantiaca  is a large darter that is common in the Tennessee River drainage.   It darts among the spaces between boulders and cobbles that form the streambed.  Watch as the Tangerine Darter makes short darting movements in this underwater video (video courtesy of  Ed Scott).  

Tangerine darter Percina aurantiaca Photo by Brett Albanese.  Source

The tail-slap

Thresher sharks (Alopias spp) use their long tail to daze, smash, or kill schooling prey fish, such as sardines.  Watch this Thresher shark hunt with its tail!   Click here for the video.  Simon Oliver and his co-investigators at the School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University, videotaped thresher sharks and discovered that the tail-slap can be administered either sideways or overhead, depending on the alignment of the sardine bait ball.  After the tail-slap, the thresher shark turned 180 degrees and consumed the dead and/or stunned sardines.  The sequence occurs quickly, lasting only 1.13 to 3.40 seconds.  During the strike, the average speed of the tip of the thresher shark tail was 14 meters per second!

Sequence of still images of thresher shark body movements throughout the tail-slap. Photos from Oliver et al. (2013).

The Ambush

In contrast to the active tail-slap hunting strategy, gars (Lepisosteidae) are sit-and-wait predators that passively wait and then ambush prey.  This video from the clear springs of Florida show the coloration of the Florida Gar Lepisosteus platyrhincus and its dominant behavior, the sit and wait posture.   Most of the time the gar lies motionless near the water surface.  When a prey fish is nearby it will slowly stalk until its head is positioned laterally to the prey fish.  They then use a rapid sideways lunge of the head during the strike and impale the prey on the numerous sharp teeth. . This lateral lunge lasts only 25-40 milliseconds (Porter and Moto 2004). 

Florida Gar Lepisosteus platyrhincus  Source

The Jump

Fish have both a sustained and burst swimming mode. One unusual behavior is the jump, where a fish uses the burst swimming mode to leap clear from the water.  Many times I have seen the jumping behavior of Common Carp Cyprinus carpio.  However, I have no satisfactory answer to “why do carp jump?”  My favorite hypothesis is that the jumping behavior forces more oxygen over the gills. But no one really knows.  But look at that carp jump! 

Tambaqui Colossoma macropomum jump for a different reason.  In the flooded forest of the Amazon the Tambaqui jumps to eat tree fruits and nuts.  The Tamaqui deposits the tree seed after passage through the gut, thereby dispersing the seed.  Watch the Tamaqui jump to capture a fruit from a tree. 

The Camouflage Carpet

Wobegong, or carpet sharks (family Orectolobidae), are named for the ornate pattern that resembles a carpet.  Like a swimming carpet, the well-camouflaged Wobegong Carpet Shark moves along the bottom.  Watch the slow swimming camouflaged carpet shark! When it holds a single position the wobegong becomes an ambush predator and swallows prey whole.  Watch the swallower.

The Mimick

Ornate Ghost pipefish Solenostomus paradoxusmimicks soft corals, hydroids, whip corals and gorgonian corals.  The small protrusions that cover the animal's body help break outline so it blends with its complex microhabitat. Watch that pipefish!  It’s not so much the movement as the mimicry.

Ornate Ghost pipefish Solenostomus paradoxus  Source

The Beach Burrower

California grunion, Leuresthes tenuis, and the Gulf grunion Leurestheses sardinas provide a easy-to-observe beach burrowing behavior at high tide during their breeding.  You have to watch that fish.  Watch as the female grunions burrow into the sand to deposit their eggs. 

 

Grunion life cycle is synchronized by the lunar cycle where breeding occurs at high tides.  Illustration by Greg Martin

So watch the fish and learn more about their unique adaptations.   Share your observations and videos with others.

References

Oliver SP, Turner JR, Gann K, Silvosa M and D'Urban Jackson T  2013.  Thresher sharks use tail-slaps as a hunting strategy. PLoS ONE, 8 (7): e67380.http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0067380

Porter, H.T. and P.J. Moto 2004. A comparison of strike and prey capture kinematics of three species of piscivorous fishes: Florida gar (Lepisosteus platyrhincus), redfin needlefish (Strongylura notata), and great barracuda (Sphyraena barracuda). Marine Biology 145:989-1000.  http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00227-004-1380-0