Bowfin

Where bowfin have been recorded

30 of the 1,347 Ontario lakes on this site with angler catch reports list bowfin, across 17 counties and districts. Tap a dot to open that lake’s depth map.

When and how anglers catch bowfin

From 63 trip reports naming bowfin on the lakes above, logged by anglers in Ontario’s Fish ON-Line app. These are self-reported trips, not a Ministry survey: they show when and how people fish for them, not how many fish a lake holds.

Lakes on this site with the most trips

1. Sparrow Lake, Simcoe 8
2. Charleston Lake, Leeds and Grenville 5
3. Dog Lake, Frontenac 3
4. Haliburton Lake, Haliburton 3
5. Killenbeck Lake, Leeds and Grenville 3
6. Lake Simcoe, York Region 3
7. Ottertail Lake, Algoma District 3
8. Canal Lake, Kawartha Lakes 2
9. Caribou Lake, Algoma District 2
10. Grand River section, Waterloo Region 2

Trips that logged this fish on each lake. A busy lake gets more trips; this is not a ranking of fishing quality. 11 of the 30 lakes are listed on a single trip, one angler’s report.

Often found with

Share of these lakes that also list each fish.

• Northern pike 83%
• Largemouth bass 73%
• Smallmouth bass 73%
• Yellow perch 67%
• Crappie 50%
• Rock bass 50%
• Pumpkinseed 43%
• Bluegill 40%

How to recognize it

A long, olive fish with one dorsal fin running most of its back, a bony plate under the lower jaw and no whiskers. Males and young fish have a dark eyespot near the base of the tail.

Don’t confuse it with

Up close

AI-generated close-ups, not photographs, drawn from the cited descriptions. They show what to look for; they are not a substitute for an expert identification (provenance).

Life in an Ontario lake

Bowfin live in the Great Lakes (except Superior) and their tributaries, the St. Lawrence River, Lake Nipissing, Lake Simcoe and Lake of the Woods. They favour warm, vegetated bays and backwaters and can gulp air at the surface, which lets them live in low-oxygen water that other game fish avoid. The Ontario Freshwater Fishes Life History Database now lists Ontario's fish as the emerald bowfin, Amia ocellicauda; older guides and the province's species pages use Amia calva.

In spring, males build nests in shallow water among stumps, logs and plants, and females may lay in several nests. The eggs hatch in under two weeks, and the young stay in a school guarded by the male for several weeks. Females grow larger than males, and bowfin can reach about 30 cm by age two. Anglers take them on bait or lures fished on the bottom in shallow weedy bays.

Source: the sources below.

Rules and eating

Before fishing, check the current Ontario Fishing Regulations Summary for your Fisheries Management Zone, any exceptions for the waterbody, and your licence type. Angler catch reports show what people logged, not what is legal to catch or keep. Fish ON-Line itself (how to use it) maps the zones and exceptions. Before eating fish from a particular lake, check the Guide to Eating Ontario Fish.

All 30 lakes with bowfin