Bassin' Report - Great start but I ended the day very angry!

[007]

Hi all.

 

At the last minute today I decided to take a day off work to go fishing and enjoy a beautiful day down at the Toronto Islands.

 

The day started out great - had a really peaceful morning of fishing and photography on Centre Island. Got some beautiful shots of the Toronto skyline and caught a few fish - the biggest being a hard fighting largemouth bass of just over 3lbs. Also tried for carp as there were plenty around but no takers. Here's some pics..

 

 

 

 

 

I then decided to try my luck at a few of my usual spots towards Hanlans. As I walked over the main Centre Island bridge I noticed a juvenile Green Heron fishing in one of OFNer dsn's carp holes! He had smaller fish on his mind though - successfully helping out with the goby problem! I should say that as I walked around the islands the problem of really low water levels in Lake O was very noticeable. The water was at least 2ft lower than normal.

 

 

When I arrived at one of 'my' spots at Trout pond I found a small tent and a young couple fishing. I was a bit annoyed as I had hoped the spot would be free on a weekday. I was also surprised that they had been camping overnight at this is not permitted at the islands. Anyway I thought I would be friendly and ask how they were doing. The guy told me that he had just had a follow from a big pike. He then asked me if Bowfin were edible as he had caught one last night. I told him that I had never heard of anyone eating one. As I couldn't see the fish anywhere I assumed he had decided to put the fish back so I wished them luck.

 

However, as I was leaving I noticed a rope tied to a tree leading to the water, and at the end of it was a rather unhappy looking Bowfin - a big one at that - easily 5-6lbs. This made me sad and unhappy. Coming from the UK where 95% of freshwater fishing is catch and release and with me being a keen conservationist I was rather saddened that such a big fish had been tied up through the gills and mouth and kept in about 6 inches of water in full sun on a scorcher of a day and since last night (some 18 or so hours probably). However I didn't say anything as in the back of my mind I could hear many of you OFNcers saying that it is not against the law to keep a bowfin (assuming they had fishing licences that is).

 

So I moved on round Trout Pond. As I was having lunch I noticed the young couple across the pond taking pictures of themselves with the bowfin. Lifting it up by the rope, which must have really hurt the fish's gills as it kept flapping around, which made the guy drop it at least three times from quite a height. They then threw it back in with rope attached. I couldn't bear to watch so I moved on - I just hoped they would put it out of it's misery soon.

 

I fished a few more spots but without much luck. I then stumbled upon an area of weeds with lots of sunfish, perch and small bass so had half an hour of fun catching them before I noticed a large bass swim into the area. For the next few minutes I twitched a worm in front of him until he took the bait. This largie was huge and put up a really good fight, taking line, jumping and really pulling hard - unfortunately too hard! As I put more pressure on and steered it towards the net the hook pulled out of what I'm sure would have been my first 5lber!

 

I moved on again and noticed that the young couple must have packed up and moved from their original spot as they were now fishing near Hanlan's Point - almost 1km from where they had been camping and caught the bowfin. They were now fishing another one of my other favourite spots so I decided to go back to Trout Pond. As I got to the spot I noticed that the couple had indeed packed up all their stuff and gone. However they had left one thing behind - the Bowfin, still tied to the tree! I couldn't believe it - how can people be so cruel? To just pack up and leave a fish that has been tied to a tree in very little water in full sunshine for a whole day to die is a disgrace. What is wrong with some people? There are so many folks out there that need educating about fish welfare, conservation and ethics. This kind of behaviour is shameful and gives all anglers a bad name. So I pulled the fish in and cut the rope and took it out of its gills and released it, hopefully to fight another day! I believe I did the right thing by doing this as it didn't look like they were coming back and it was being left there to die. Here's a couple of quick snaps of the fish as I released it..

 

 

That incident got my blood boiling, and I could no longer enjoy my fishing, so I packed up and left early.

 

Sorry for the rant.

 

007

Edited October 9, 2007 by OO7

[fatherof3]

nice report,too bad your day ended badly but good for you.

[Muskieman]

SOME PEOPLES KIDS!!! >>> I sure hope he's not a member of this board.

[Mike the Pike]

Great report man and that was great of you to release that fish.Sure going to miss your reports when you return to the UK.The morons who left the Bowfin need to be kicked in the ass

 

Thanks for the pics.MTP

[tbayboy]

I love that pic of the young heron. Too bad to see a great day smeared by the ignorance of others.

[POLLIWOGG]

Bowfin are edible, there is a market for them in the commercial fishery. WE see them in the creek here when they come in and gobble up the walleye hatch.

[irishfield]

You better not go releasing that 52" Muskie we left chained to the channel can on the Larry !

[Rich]

To be fair, bowfin thrive in extremely warm and shallow water. Warmer than largemouth can stand. But I dont think that rope through his gill helped much. He will undoubtedly live though.

 

Other than that, looks like a great day. Nice work!

 

Unethical anglers and downright law breakers seem to be thriving these days. The MNR does what they can but it's obviously not enough. What are we to do? Take the law into our own hands? We're being forced to have no choice.

[Sinker]

Are you sure they had left for good?

 

Maybe those people had intentions on coming back for thier fish after a bit of fishing close by?

 

I know if that was my fish, and I came back to find it released, I'd be hunting you down for some choice words!! Its their right to keep it if they want.

 

If, in fact, they did leave the island without that fish, I appologize.

[007]

I hope people think I did the right thing by releasing it - I believe I did as it would certainly have died if I had just left it as they had. They had packed up all their stuff and last I saw of them (about 2 hours later) they were fishing about 1-2km away near the ferry. I'm pretty sure they had left that spot for the day. I would do the same again regardless of species. Would it have been better to leave it to die or for a member of the public to see it and report it and put pressure for fishing to be prohibited at the islands because of reckless anglers?!

 

Who is going to look after our fishing resource otherwise? (I have never had my license checked at the Islands in almost three years of fairly regular fishing there). Problem is I can't be down there checking other folks every day - who says these people won't do the same thing to a pike or bass they catch. There needs to be widespread education of anglers (from all communities) to respect the fish and look after the resource not abuse it.

 

I realise that Bowfin are quite tolerant of warm water but this fish had been tied up for 18 or so hours and half of that time in the bright sun with no shade - needless to say it swam off slowly - hope it survives.

 

Have a good weekend one and all.

 

007

Edited October 6, 2007 by OO7

[Hookset]

Are you sure they had left for good?

 

Maybe those people had intentions on coming back for thier fish after a bit of fishing close by?

 

I know if that was my fish, and I came back to find it released, I'd be hunting you down for some choice words!! Its their right to keep it if they want.

 

If, in fact, they did leave the island without that fish, I appologize.

 

 

Pretty sure they'd be in violation of fish possession regulations if they were as far away from their still live fish as 007 stated. Correct me if I'm wrong please members.

 

I think you did right 007.

 

 

Hookset.

Edited October 6, 2007 by Hookset

[ccmtcanada]

Great report man and that was great of you to release that fish.Sure going to miss your reports when you return to the UK.The morons who left the Bowfin need to be kicked in the ass

 

Thanks for the pics.MTP

 

007....you are moving back to the UK? When is this happening? I had no idea. I too will miss your reports and reading about your quest!!!

 

Anyhow, sorry to hear that your outing boiled your blood the way it did. Fishing should always be relaxing and fun. Bly and I have been out a few times, where something/someone has really ticked us off and it really puts and end to the outing. That's one of the reasons we like to fish at night so much...we are usually out there alone...or with just a few other anglers.

 

Nice pics as usual...both the scenery and fish. Hope the rest of your Thanksgiving weekend is a great one!!!

[fishindevil]

Well hopefully the bowfin lived as they are a very hardy fish....but if the rope was doing damage to hil gills he might not make it.....but yes that kind of crap gives us fishermen a bad rap,and we should be thankfull that its only a few who ruin it....well he can be charged for that even if its a course fish,they can still lay charges its too bad you couldnt have followed him and called the MNR...and they could arrest them....

[JohnF]

I hope people think I did the right thing by releasing it -

 

Ya got my vote. I really don't care if they had any intention of coming back for it. They'd had more than enough "fun" abusing it for too long already and had abdicated any further claims in my mind. So screw 'em and their rights.

 

Of course I'm pretty much just C&R. My fishing buddy OTOH usually keeps at least one of the fish we get for a meal. He breaks their necks immediately when caught, strings the carcass (on long grass or a twig if necessary) and leaves it in flowing water till he's done fishing, then cleans and gets the meat into a cooler bag asap back at the car. If he's releasing his catch he treats them like babies. He's appalled at the idea of live fish being strung up. When he first started taking me out to the rivers he railed about this. To him hunting for meat is natural, but there's no justification for cruelty to dumb critters that can't defend themselves against us. He even hates live wells but then he's never been a deep water fisherman. He's been a wader and kayak guy for over 50 years.

 

If he wasn't such a luddite and used a computer for amusement and edification like the rest of us he'd be on here commending you too.

 

I agree that we have to respect the rights of others to their catch, but we also have to be true to our own convictions.

 

SOMMVOT (Some others' mileage may vary on this)

JF

[bucktail]

The only good thing about the story other then you releasing it is that a bowfin maybe the toghest freshwater fish in North America.

They have a simple lung that they can use to breathe air like a gar.

I am 100% sure that grinnel is swimming around laughing at them right now!

[dsn]

If the tent is a blue color then they hav been sleeping there through out the entire summer month cause I saw one there long ago.

[DMASSE]

HEY 007

 

Was it a couple, and the women looked pregnant, South american or mexican decent, if so they are a customer at the store and they were askinmg me if its ok to camp at the islands....

 

anyway dont let some actions of some reck it for you

 

Dave

[007]

Hey all. Back from the weekend away and happy to see some positive feedback and support for my actions.

 

dsn - it was blue and yes I've seen it before in recent weeks. You'll be pleased to know that the young heron managed to clear a few of those gobies from your carp spot by the bridge! But the water level was really low. Also lots of carp in that channel that you and MJL fished a month or so ago and did a report on.

 

DMASSE - possibly!

 

ccmtcanada - Unfortunately, my time in Canada is up and I will be returning to London, England in mid-December. Though I was offered a position here I got an even better offer back home, plus we miss our family! I sure will miss the bass fishing here though as there aren't any of those in the UK. The good thing is I get almost twice as much holiday/vacation time in the UK so, you never know I might be back on a plane to catch some more Bucketmouths! Plus... maybe when I'm settled on the other side of the pond I will do some fishing English style and send you guys some fishing reports and pics of a few different species that even you and Bly can't catch!

 

007

[Zib]

Nice bass.

 

As for the dogfish, I see those all the time on shore. There’s a small impoundment that I fish that is loaded with them. There isn’t a day that goes by where you won’t see a dogfish on the shore. The fisherman there cry about the dogfish eating the other game fish. That logic for killing them is twisted. Musky, pike, bass, & walleye eat other game fish but I don’t see people going around & throwing 25 LB musky on the shore to die.

 

There have been some lakes in Michigan that the DNR had to kill off a lot of the bowfin because there were just too many of them & it was hurting the population of other fish. They’ve also done it to carp as well. It’s a good thing Lake St. Clair musky eat a lot of sheephead else that lake wouldn’t be so great to fish.

[Rizzo]

I don’t see people going around & throwing 25 LB musky on the shore to die.

 

unfortunately you just aren't looking closely enough. I've heard of people (usually walleye fisherman) cutting a muskies gills. I know JohnnyBass came across some people at a kawartha lake earlier this year who were trying to "fish out" all the muskies. They were actually surprised to hear he had caught one, thinking they had already put a very large dent in the population.

[irishfield]

I'm just gonna play the devils advocate here and say I wouldn't be too impressed if I was living in a tent...had no fridge/cooler and someone let my supper go.... that I was keeping fresh for the day end meal. No different than someone letting your stringer of Pickeral go, that you've left on the back of your boat while you go to get the cutting board, etc all ready.

Edited October 9, 2007 by irishfield

[Sinker]

I'm just gonna play the devils advocate here and say I wouldn't be too impressed if I was living in a tent...had no fridge/cooler and someone let my supper go.... that I was keeping fresh for the day end meal.

 

Thats the way I felt. What if these people were just going for a walk, or to get supplies.....and you just released their only food for dinner? I would have at least asked first.

 

But, who knows.....they could have just been leaving it to die, but for some reason, I don't get that feeling from people who are living in a tent on the islands......

 

Sinker

[007]

Just to clarify. I don't think they are 'living' at the islands (plus camping is not permitted) as there have been days when they have not been there. The other thing that I forgot to mention in my original post was that when I spoke to them the first time and he asked if the bowfin was edible he told me that he didn't want the fish for himself but that he might give it to a friend back in T.O if they wanted it.

 

Given the fact that they had packed up and were a long way (1-2 km) from that location to near the ferry, then I think it is unlikely that they were coming back and therefore I made a judgement call and I believe I acted reasonably. I just couldn't turn a blind eye and leave a fish to die - my conscience is clear, if I had left the fish it wouldn't have been.

 

However, if in fact they were coming back for it then it is unfortunate and I apologise to them.

 

What needs to be remembered that the islands are a very public place and frequented by huge numbers of the general public and tourists, as well as island residents (many of whom are against fishing as many board members can attest from their own conversations) - and I don't think they would like to take a walk and see big fish in distress tied to trees - while the person responsible goes AWOL. I don't think it would be too long before shore fishing at the islands would be history.

 

I wouldn't want that for the anglers in Toronto (even if I'm not here) so I stepped up but in the future, perhaps I and others should just look the other way just in case...?

[007]

I understand that it would be wrong to go releasing people's catches whenever I felt like it and would understand if someone was unhappy if I did so. In this case, I thought about the pros and cons of my actions for quite some time and made a decision rather than take the easy option and look the other way.

 

Irishfield - I'm not sure my actions can be compared with

someone letting your stringer of Pickeral go, that you've left on the back of your boat while you go to get the cutting board, etc all ready.

By the fact that you've left them tied to the back of your boat you have taken ownership of them (in which case I wouldn't let them go) - this fish was tied to a tree in a public place with no angler or equipment in sight. Edited October 9, 2007 by OO7

[Zib]

unfortunately you just aren't looking closely enough. I've heard of people (usually walleye fisherman) cutting a muskies gills. I know JohnnyBass came across some people at a kawartha lake earlier this year who were trying to "fish out" all the muskies. They were actually surprised to hear he had caught one, thinking they had already put a very large dent in the population.

 

 

Ya I used to know a couple of guys like that. They wanted all pike & musky dead. They think that they eat nothing but walleye & perch. A member of this site, Musky Bob Brunner, who has been a guide on LSC for over 50 years, told me that back in the day when they kept musky that their stomachs were usually filled with sheephead & shad. I know some guys that have been catching a lot of walleye in the St. Clair River the last few weeks & those walleye's bellies have been filled with smallmouth bass.