Seriously people

I was going to post this a while back but didn't get to doing it, but then just last week I came across a similar act and now I just have to post.
 
I see this way too often on this specific waterway and a nearby one.  It is not hard to tell the difference between a bowfin and a snakehead, and if you do know the difference yet still do this then you shouldn't be allowed to fish, or do anything for that matter. 
 
Last week I came across a dead bullhead on the bank.  And it's not like it died from natural causes and just washed up on shore, it was a good 10ft from the water. I've seen other fish(even "gamefish") mistreated at this place though.  People just letting the fish flop around on the cement and rocks and whatnot. 
 
Just had to let it out.  I don't get people who just throw fish on the bank.  I know people do this on lake Erie with drum too.  It makes more sense to kill a steelhead or some other non native fish.  Sick. 
 

i came across a guy with that sort of attitude towards bowfin on french creek a few years back.  he said he wanted to catch a bowfin just so he could kill it.  it was an uncomfortable situation

It just really irritates me, as it does nothing but harm to the fishery and is just flat out stupid/pointless. 
 
And I agree TheBlueLagoon.  For a project for school I actually decided to do litter pickup along some of the lakes/rivers I frequent because of all the trash.  Well a week after a couple of friends and I cleaned up a small section of river, the trash came back(as expected). People are just slobs. 
 
And Accountant, that's just messed up. 

People just don't give a #hit...I've hunted out west and your 10 miles deep in the mountains and you look down and see an old pop can and some other garbage that some stupid slob left behind for guys like us to pick up and put it in our pack to carry out.....

if u kill jus to kill(goes with hunting and fishing) then u are no sporstman more like a murderer in my book....good post troutguy

Really??? I'm actually surprised, even though I don't know you I have pretty much come to the assumption you are a pretty good, well-natured fisherman from reading posts on here. 
 
#1...the killing/wasting of ANY fish(especially native, non-invasive species) for no reason is just wrong(as many on here would agree).  What if I caught a musky and just tossed it on the bank to die? Or a bass? Or a sucker? You get the point.  Now an asian carp or a snakehead would be a different story.  
 
#2...bowfin cause no harm to the fishery.  In fact they were here much longer than pretty much any other gamefish.
 
I'm not trying to start a whole "save the bowfin(or insert whatever other species)" thing, but I(and a lot of other fishermen who care about our fisheries) get irratated at the pointless killing of native fish that are supposed to be here and don't cause any harm.  Does nothing to help a fishery, and even though the killing of one or two fish won't destroy the population(obviously, most of us keep some fish here and there), it's just flat out wrong imounless of course you are putting it to good use, ex. for food.  Like I mentioned, this also happens with bullhead, drum, and I'm sure other native fish.  And as other people said it happens in hunting also.  People are uneducated, or just don't care.  I think it's both. 

I am so glad my Dad instilled good etiquette in me when it came to killing things i dont eat whether was fishing or hunting. Even when I was a small boy fishing with him if he or I saw trash in our wilds, he'd tell me to pick it up....lol. At 1st I was like why?? Its not ours, then a lecture would ensue and id be picking up the trash. :)

wade alexander

so why dont you start a save the bowfin organization?

seriously **** these fish

 
And this, boys and girls, is what happens when your mom is your sister.

gymi03

I am so glad my Dad instilled good etiquette in me when it came to killing things i dont eat whether was fishing or hunting. Even when I was a small boy fishing with him if he or I saw trash in our wilds, he'd tell me to pick it up....lol. At 1st I was like why?? Its not ours, then a lecture would ensue and id be picking up the trash. :)

 
 

BoroMusky
 
That's sick. Honestly, why do they have a bad reputation? They're bigger than a bass, they fight harder than a bass... yet so many ppl hate them. You can say they smell... but so do muskies...
 

 
Never caught a bowfin but seen one hooked and fought and would love to try it sometime lol...  And touche about the muskies Boro...

Glad I have a boat so I don't have to be around other people, and see that kind of filth.

 
Yeah, it's a good thing that nobody else has a boat.

?

The wanton and wasteful killling of natural, native fish species [or any species] is often based on prejudice and hatred. As one example, northern pike are revered as a gamefish in many parts of America while they are mutilated and left to die in parts of Canada. I won't even bother to go into the reasoning that I've heard. That's only one example. People display their ignorance by their actions and beliefs. Re: the freshwater drum on Lake Erie, I 've witnessed that before too and got the answer that the people were "trying to control their numbers because all they do is silt up the bottom and ruin potential future fish populations and besides that, they're ugly!". I'm stopping with what little I wrote because some people demonstrate their stupidity every time they open their mouth and the best part about it is that they are too stupid to know it.

My girlfriend and I were out Yesterday (7/5) fishing at Woodcock and my girlfriend ended up hooking and landing one a bowfin, and some guy had the nerve to say we should take a knife and drive it into it's skull and throw it in the bushes...  Saying it's an Invasive Species like the Snakehead and does too much harm and there's too high of a population.  I said buddy it's a Bowfin and it's to be released like every other native species in the state unless you are within rights to take it.  He was pretty ****ed when I said I'm putting it back and he shot back with "Well if it makes you feel better to throw it back when it shouldn't be there then by all means."  I replied I do what I'm supposed to within the law set by the PFBC if you have a problem take it up with them."  He scoffed and said fine but I know they are bad...  I seriously don't understand how miss informed or ignorant people can be...

Ignorance will always reign in matters such as... I've seen people poked by catfish drive pliers into them twist and throw back... I can't stand people... One thing signage may do is help some but, I think people doing their part educating themselves and passing on knowledge as well as some responsible angler characteristics would be best... Oh and if the PFBC wasn't stretched so thin may help a bit as well...

Retrieved from the PAFBC website:
This section cited in 7 Pa. Code §  128.102 (relating to protected designated areas).

§ 75.3. Candidate species.

 (a)  General. The species listed in subsections (b) and (c) are considered candidate species which could achieve endangered or threatened status in the future. They are subject to seasons, size, creel—bag—and possession limits specified in this subpart. A person who catches these species is encouraged to release them immediately and unharmed to the waters or other area from which they were taken.
 (b)  Fishes. 
    (3)  Bowfin, Amia calva.