june9 toronto islands

[tangledline]

june 09 toronto islands
it rained the night b4 so the air ,grass,trees were all wet but you could sense the birds,animals and yes the fish had come out again and it was to be a beautiful day.....
for two weeks i have scarcely seen a bowfin....i saw 6 different ones today.
there are 10 times more carp around...and they are cruising as well as sunbathing
pike are deep in the weeds until 7:30 at night which i got a 3ft follow under a willow tree at hanlans pt...the pike kinda startled me at the speed in which it attacked....
the bass are nesting....the smallies are nesting and cruising around fighting each other...note the bass are very big this year so...after season opens i suggest our members have some bass fish'n fun out here....
the cat fish are plentiful and i learn't something about fishing for them....
i had believed that if you spotted one the best idea was to cast over them and present the lure or worm to them about a foot or two in front or beside them....
i have now realized that if you can land the lure or worm on top of them or directly beside them and suprise them the catfish have a built in automatic defense mechanism to bite and attack the suprise attacker...so you hook the biting cat fish...and it is as full of fight as it can get..
found out why the pike fishing was poor this year at the spadina queen's quay area...the port authority dredged the spawning weed beds at the foot of spadina and at the police and fire stations to make it easier for the emergency boats to get in and out weedless....fishing and pike spawning ruined....
here is todays bowfin catch...i was alone so no pics with fish...View attachment 7040View attachment 7041

 

[ec1]

awesome fish! Tangled, you and David K are getting to know the islands very well

 

[frozenfire]

I would love to hook into a bowfin!
Good job out there.

 

[Snypa]

Man they're a ugly fish, but they put up one hell of a fight still haven't caught one yet..

So the reliable old worm on a hook technique works well on these guys ? I've also heard some really weird "true stories" about them, for example I ran into a fisherman at the islands, he had caught plenty of them at a particular kawartha lake (not sure of the name), anyhow, one time he was canoeing with a couple of a buddies, and noticed a bowfin swimming alongside the canoe for a distance, which seemed cool at first. It swam with them as though it didn't even notice the canoe or them paddling for that matter. To see if they could get a reaction or get it to bite, they put a oar in front of it lol, the thing FREAKED out and jumped into their canoe !! Also heard stories of them going lock-jaw on lures, or having very strong jaws.

 

[frozenfire]

the jaw thing is true...but i highly doubt the story of following a canoe and jumping in.

 

[Snypa]

Lol, I thought he was joking too but he seemed quite honest. I think it was just a case of the fish being surprised, it jumped out of the way clear out of the water (probably a defens e mechanism) and they lucked out by the fish landing in their canoe.

 

[reefrunner]

Nice catch tangled lines, thanks for sharing it with us.

All the years I've lived here I've yet to take the time and head over to the islands. Mark that for the list this year

good stuff!

 

[efka]

i cant seem to open the map with the marked location
nice catch man, it seems bowfins are starting to get some pressure.

 

[tangledline]

thanks...
so june 10th kearney comes fishing....
we don't get out until 1pm...
kearney wants to fish for pike at the places he has caught this year...
useless cause its the wrong time of day....
eventually he agrees to go hunt bowfin and cat fish....
it became one hell of an exciting day....
i will let him tell you his new bowfin story....
but we got 5 cat fish in 1 hour
we checked out new spots....woah gonna get even better this year...
we decided to get a boat...the inflatible forum subject finalised the decision..also the new spots...hehe
canadian tire has a special on inflatibles 4 man coleman $96.00 ...yes this could be a risky venture but kearney and i will never be more than 30 meters from shore and life jackets will always be worn...we are accident prone as you have heard...oh the stories we will have by summer's end....
at days end...kearneys gotta go wife a calling him....i get not one but two different follows in different areas in 20 minutes...by...3 foot pikes...and they hang around...and hang around but we gotta go catch the ferry...argh!!!!!!
kearney now understands we gotta get permission to stay out fish'n until dark cause that's when those fish is biting
sundown.......look out next week when i get days off work...pike...bowfin and cat fish...we know where you live and what to bring you for supper... View attachment 7042View attachment 7044

 

[tangledline]

View attachment 7045
thought a few more photos of ugly june 09 bowfin will help prepare you for what kearney is gonna put you through
with his new bowfin story....must be seasoned fish person.....

 

[diggyj]

Nice reports, keep up the awsome fishing.

Dirk...