Interesting stuff fish5000. Hope snakeheads don't ever invade our watersheds over here, but if they ever do(along with silver and bighead carp) then hopefully we can get some use out of them. If I'm not mistaking I think I read somewhere that the non-native white perch in Lake Erie are actually being commercially fished for.
 
Back about the bowfin(and other native fish) scenario, a few days ago I got sucked into a lengthy discussion on another forum about freshwater drum on Erie.  It was my fault to begin with by budging in and giving my $0.02 (hey I was bored lol), but I was surprised by the amount of "fishermen" who kill the sheephead they catch while fishing for perch and walleye. It's truly sad, makes no sense and is just flat out wrong. Also discussed the issue at a relatives party a few weeks back. Both of our views were the same about these people. Like with everything, you always have bad apples involved in the sport.
 
 
 
 

I witnessed this firsthand while fishing with my brother, who is a novice fisherman, on French Creek. A guy on the other side of the creek was stomping on the fish and kicked it into the weeds, and my brother asked "Why is he just killing that fish?"
 
One of the few times in my life I was a little embarassed to be a fisherman, and all I could say was
"Some people aren't happy unless they are killing something."
Sad.

Came across this new sign on French. Good job PFBC! Last week I read they're going to put a bunch of these up throughout the state....
 
The sad part is though, as I already mentioned a lot of the people killing the bowfin know they're bowfin and not snakeheads.
 

Back then I was writing full time, both fishing and archery columns. I would do an article on the Pymatuning Carp-A-Thon every year. That was what I was told by who ever I interviewed each year, though I never did talk with the zoo.
I always tried to give them lots of press as the PFBC biologists felt strongly that the carp were adversely affecting the bass and walleye in the lake.

A couple weeks ago I actually saw this happen for the first time(instead of just seeing the aftermath...). Two guys were fishing off a bridge and instead of walking the fish along the shoreline, netting it, or whatever they just swung the fish out of the water and smack right on the concrete. After letting the fish sit there for a while they finally unhooked it and chucked it into the woods. I saw them do this to maybe 4 fish, but who knows how many they killed before my brother and I arrived. I shook my head at the one guy and he just replied "raccoon food." After I told him it was illegal he just kinda gave me a smirk and went about his business and kept doing it.
 
The next day I fished the same waterway(though at a different location) and ran into a PFBC officer. I gave him all the info I had on the incident, which included pics and license plate numbers, and he said it was very helpful and he seemed anxious to find these people. He told me a lot of other people have reported the same types of acts, but nobody ever seems to get any important info(type of vehicle, pics, etc..) to give to the PFBC. I gave him all my info but I haven't heard anything back yet......
 
If you guys see this happen, get some evidence! Or better yet if you have a cell phone report them! Unfortunately I didn't have mine at the time, I was so mad. Luckily I remembered the camera..