Frank Hubert Jr. had been watching the New Jersey weather carefully in mid-December. It had been unseasonably warm for several days, with temperatures rising into the mid-50s.
“I knew that warm weather would heat up tidal creeks feeding the Delaware River, and that would draw big bowfins into shallow water to feed,” Hubert tells Outdoor Life. “So, on December 17 I took my kayak over to Mantua Creek, launched it, and started fishing.
Hubert says the water temperature in Mantua Creek had jumped from somewhere in the 40s to 52 degrees in just a few days. He’s been fishing the Mantua and other tidal feeder creeks that flow into the Delaware for many years. Most of the streams he fishes in New Jersey are just an hour’s drive from his home in Wilmington.
“I like fishing the last day or so of a warming trend, because fish get active and move out of deep water to shallow, backwater areas to feed,” says the 55-year-old angler. “That winter day was perfect, and I was pretty confident in catching fish that afternoon.”
Hubert’s strategy that day was to focus on shallow areas with dark, muddy bottoms that were out of the main tidal flow. His small kayak was ideal for probing the flats as well as the deeper parts of the creek that were closer to 6-feet in depth. His first fish of the day was a small, 2-pound bass that he promptly released.
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Around 2 p.m., he made a cast with a shallow-running lure called a “Dragon Destroyer” that was invented and made by his nephew, Jesse James.
“A big fish exploded on it, and I was pretty sure it was a double-digit weight bowfin. Bowfins are very active, even in cool water, and that fish put up a great fight. It swirled the surface and pulled like a freight train.”
Hubert battled the fish for several minutes using a 7-foot spinning rod. He had 30-pound test braided line on his reel, with an 18-inch leader of 50-pound braid. When he saw the bowfin near the surface, he knew it was a possible state record. But working the big fish close to his kayak so he could net it solo wasn’t easy.
“It was chaos for a while there,” he says.
After eventually netting the fish and hauling it aboard his kayak, Hubert weighed it on his Boga grip. He immediately called his nephew to let him know he’d caught a potential state-record on one of his custom-made lures.
“Bowfin like lots of lure vibration and flash,” Hubert explains. “We worked on that lure design for shallow water, and it’s deadly for bowfins and snakehead fish.”
It was a 30-minute paddle back to Hubert’s car, and he still wanted to release the fish after weighing it on a certified scale. This would be a delicate task for many fish species, but not bowfin.
“They can breathe air, and the temperature was still cool. I just kept the fish at my feet in the kayak and stopped regularly to put it back in the water with my Boga grip to revive [the fish] and keep it wet.”
After making the paddle back, Hubert called the fisheries folks with New Jersey Fish and Wildlife and arranged to meet with a state biologist at the Blackwater Sports Center in Vineland, which was an hour’s drive away. Still intent on keeping the fish alive, Hubert transported it in a large cooler full of water.
The state fisheries officer and Hubert’s nephew, James, were already there when he arrived. They weighed the bowfin on a certified scale, which showed 12 pounds, 10 ounces, and they taped the fish at 33 inches with a 14.5-inch girth.
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Hubert’s fish tops the previous New Jersey record bowfin caught in 2017. That fish weighed 11-pounds, 8.5 ounces, and it was also caught from Mantua Creek.
After all the weighing and measuring, Hubert and James drove back to the creek and released the record bowfin back into the tidewater where it was caught. Hubert says it took a few weeks for the state to confirm all the paperwork, but his bowfin has been officially verified as the new state record.
“I’ve caught plenty of huge bowfins in those creeks, and I believe I can get an even bigger one soon.”
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