Classing Up the Choupique

When I was a tournament angler, I was not a fan of the prehistoric bowfin – they often eat the same lures as bass, strike hard, and when they first flash you assume you’ve got your kicker on the line. Once you realize that it’s a “trash fish,” though, you’re left with a mangled lure and the task of getting the slimy toothy critter back in the water.

What I have always liked about bowfin, however, is their plethora of regional names. I enjoy stories about how the “Patagonian Toothfish” became the “Chilean Sea Bass,” and no fish seemed to have more nicknames than old amia calva. In addition to “Bowfin,” I’ve heard them called:

• Mudfish

• Dogfish

• Grinnel

• Grindle

Per some other sites, I’ve learned they’re also sometimes called:

• Cottonfish

• Swamp Bass

• Swamp Trout

• Posisson Castor

• Speckled Cat

• Beaver Fish

• Cypress Trout

• Mud Pike

• Lawyer

I was discussing this loudly in 2001 at a crawfish boil hosted by Dennis Tietje at Toledo Bend, when from across the room the late Ken Cook shouted out what sounded like, “Shoe Pick.”

I had fished with Cook four years earlier at Lake Ferguson in Mississippi, but I’m pretty sure he had no recollection of that day or of me more generally.

“Excuse me?” I asked.

“Shoe Pick,” he said again.

I must have looked dumbfounded, because he quickly followed with, “It’s what people here in Louisiana call bowfin.” Indeed, I later found out, it was not the phonetic spelling that I had inferred, but rather the French-derived “Choupique.” I now think of that story, and of Ken (with whom we vacationed in Escanaba, Michigan in 2013) every time I catch a grinnel. Fortunately, we don’t seem to have them in my home waters of the Potomac, or at least I’ve never heard of one being caught here. Unfortunately, they are like finned rats on many of the other rivers in Virginia – the James, Chickahominy, Mattaponi, Pamunkey and Rappahannock, among others.

I always assumed that choupique had no value as food for people. I’m sure that the meat is tough and gamy, and I’m unlikely to take seriously any indication to the contrary from my Louisiana friends, because most of them will eat anything. Nevertheless, if you absolutely must try them there are plenty of YouTube instructionals on how to clean and cook them.

If their meat is likewise unappealing to you, you might still want to try some “Cajun Caviar” from the Louisiana Caviar Company. You’ll be happy to know that “[T]he natural black color and delicate taste of the roe is not compromised by artificial additives, colorings or preservatives. With less than 5% salt content CAJUN CAVIAR® ranks among the finest Malossol caviars in the world.”

If you’re still not convinced that bowfin belongs in your body, perhaps it belongs on your body. We’ve already featured Predator Fly Gear, which makes multiple bowfin products, including UPF shirts and hoodies.

Predator also has several bowfin hats, both mesh-backed baseball hats and a killer straw version perfect for chasing them deep in the bayou from your pirogue on the hottest days of the year.

Gill McFinn’s also offers a variety of bowfin shirts in both male and female versions – a perfect gift for your loved one if you missed Valentine’s Day. They even have a onesie for your bowfin-loving baby.

And while some of you may think they’re ugly, artist Rachel Laundon has some  folk art that actually makes them appear quite fetching.

Not surprisingly, there’s also a company called “Choupique Accordions” because the only thing our Cajun friends like better than wild-caught dinner is their music. Naturally they’re affiliated with the Baton Rouge-based Choupique Band.