In an old Jean Shepherd broadcast from 1962 which I was listening to yesterday Shep relates a fishing story from his youth. He caught a monster fish in a Michigan lake which an old timer called a golden dogfish. I can’t find anything online about an American freshwater fish called a “golden dogfish”. It must be known by some other name.
Could be that Shep just made it up though.
Anyone know about this animal?
It was probably a Golden Gar, a fish that can grow to massive size and resembles a shark to to casual observer (a dogfish is a small type of shark).
In this link below there is a picture of a small golden gar, and several pictures of large Alligator Gar.
http://www.fishingfury.com/categories/freshwater-species/alligator-gar/
Check out this one:
Actually they might have said “garfish” and you misheard it. A garfish (saltwater) and a gar pike (freshwater) are not the same thing, but you can see how confusion arises.
The term “dogfish” usually references sharks, which are salt and brackish water fish. The term “golden dogfish” usually means an Australian species, Centroscymnus crepidater.
However, in the Great Lakes states, “dogfish” means the bowfin, Amia calva. I’m wondering if there is a golden variety found in the Michigan area.
The bowfin doesn’t get all that big though – the largest caught on record in the U.S. was only 21 lbs. I hear they are vicious so maybe it was a monster in behavior but I don’t think most fisherman would call it a “monster” in size.
Either of these could be it, though based on the size and scary description, I’d say an alligator gar. Problem is: Michigan would be too far north, right?
These dudes caught a 44 inch Northern Pike just a couple weeks ago in Michigan. Warning: video contains extreme fishing exuberance and graphic gutting footage 
The record for Northern Pike is 51" (39 lbs). Note how the fishermen call it a “monster fish.”
Another theory is that it was a Lake Sturgeon, another extremely large sharklike fish. (I thought Alligator Gar could get up into Michigan, but Ohio is furthest North anyone has seemed to see one, so I’m sort of discarding the Alligator Gar theory). in 1974 an 87" 193 lb Lake Sturgeon set the Michigan state record.
Also, it was in 1962, that the world-record Lake Stugeon was caught in Saskatchewan, 270 lbs!!! Could that be your fish?
Point taken. I was smiply mentioning local usage of the term “dogfish” against such help as it might be to deciphering what the OP was referencing.
Don’t know many fishermen, do we?
haha, yeah I was thinking it might be a bit of a big fish story. But there was that 270 lb sturgeon that same year…
Awesome username/thread combo!
BTW, I have this freakish horror/fascination with extremely large fish. I recommend “River Monsters” on Animal Planet.
SOM - 404 - Page Not Found I have heard of these being called dog fish. They are big ugly salamanders , with external gills.
By coincidence, I was looking up sarcopterygian fish for something completely different, and came across a link to this.