Carp and Bowfin in St Lawrence river.

We headed out to the St Lawrence river for some more carping, hoping those annoying gobies would be less aggressive than the carp due to the cooling water. We brought some live bait just in case. The morning started off pretty well, I landed a 34 inch / 23 lb carp. Minutes later, I cast a small minnow with my pike rig under a poping cork. Within minutes, it went down deep, I set the hook into what I figured would be a bass or catfish, turned out to be a bowfin. I was pleasantly surprised by the fight this fish can deliver, making hard, fast runs and powerful headshakes. I finally landed it, measured 26 inches and weighed 6.5 lbs. I decided to keep it, as I always like to try eating something I catch at least once. Big mistake! Once I opened and filleted the bowfin, I found out that the fish's flesh has a very mushy texture which is quite repulsive to me. I didn't bother deboning it, it's going straight into the garbage, which is sad, because the fish could have lived. I won't make that mistake again… I managed another 20 lb carp later in the afternoon, and although the gobies ate of some of the corn, they are less aggressive as the water has cooled down considerably. Fall is definitely starting off with a bang.