gone_fishin Posted July 1, 2009 Report Share Posted July 1, 2009 First off, My buddy Josh and I have the same birthday (June 25), and oddly enough, we were even born the same year... so for our birthday we went up to his cottage with a few friends. fishing wasn't the main focus of the trip, but we planned on putting in at least a few hours each day. we headed up to Sparrow Lake on Friday a little later than expected, but we were at the marina by about 10pm... the cool part about the cottage is that there is no road access to their property, so we had to get there by boat. so we got my boat launched and packed up their boat and mine, and we were off. we didn't even wet a line that night, mainly because we got up there so late, and because we got into too many beers. the next day started out late also... sometime in the afternoon, lol. but Josh and i got out for the evening to do some frog fishing in some thick weeds. we got into a few small bass and small pike. i got one semi-decent largemouth... when we got back to shore we got a camp fire going and got our catfish gear ready. set them up with sliding egg weights and baited up with big suckers and chubs that we had bought from the bait shop... they were dead by the time we used them, but dead baits work just as good, if not better for cats. we didn't get anything that night, but something bit off my 65 lb power pro, and my buddy Jake's line was also bit off... the next morning Jake was watching my set line when the clicker started going off. then he reels in the first Bowfin of the weekend... go figure, he catches it on my rod and i've never caught a Bowfin before, lol. after that Josh and I went out to look for some bass, but all we found was a small deer... the rest of that day we had pretty steady action off the dock. Josh caught a nice Channel Cat which was later released after we got a couple nice double header photos... he also caught another Bowfin. by this point i've had 3 fish on my line and missed all of them, 2 of them straightened my hook and the other bit through my 65 lb braid again! then i finally get on the board with my first ever Channel Cat, and i also got a nice pike shortly after as well. we got into a couple more cats that night... this one is a pretty cool picture, lol. then the next morning i got the first and only solid bass of the weekend. only 3.5 lbs, but not bad for just casting off the dock... later that night we put the set lines back out for cats and as we played cards we would periodically check them for fish, then check to make sure we still had bait on the hooks... after i don't know how many drinks, we went back down to check the lines, and my rod was suspended between the dock and the chair that we supported the rods on. i quickly grabbed the rod and landed another decent cat. the next morning we went out in the rain and explored the lake a bit, only got a few small pike and 1 baby bass... no pictures of the fish, but we saw a small family of loons, which was kinda cool... we came back to the cottage for breakfast, and before the food was ready Josh got another catfish... ended up being the biggest fish of the weekend weighing in at 10 lb 2 oz. and a picture of the big one side by side with the one that i kept... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
backbay Posted July 1, 2009 Report Share Posted July 1, 2009 Noice! I sure hope you were able to do up some of those catfish for dinner.... Cajin style, anyone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musky or Specks Posted July 1, 2009 Report Share Posted July 1, 2009 Umm blackened catfish is yummy. Sparrow is always a good bet for hooking into fish. I am glad you and your buddy had a good time on your birthdays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alphaalpha Posted July 1, 2009 Report Share Posted July 1, 2009 Happy Birthday's and nice work on the lake, some good looking fish there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gone_fishin Posted July 1, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 1, 2009 Noice! I sure hope you were able to do up some of those catfish for dinner.... Cajin style, anyone? i kept one catfish... cookin it up tonight! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bly Posted July 1, 2009 Report Share Posted July 1, 2009 Happy Belated Birthday to you both! Looks like a great way to spend a weekend. Nice cats as well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ciceri Posted July 1, 2009 Report Share Posted July 1, 2009 LOL at your buddy in his guitar hero boxers. Nice catfish man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oxcowboy Posted July 1, 2009 Report Share Posted July 1, 2009 thats a heck of a report right there! awsome job on those kitty cats. im gonna try to hook into some this weekend as well. you should have kept more, nothing like a good catfish feed cajun style with some boiled crawdads and corn on the cob. dang gettting hungry right now. jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leecher Posted July 2, 2009 Report Share Posted July 2, 2009 Great report and pics gone_fishin You guys got into some purdy cats!!! Congratulations to both of you Thanks for sharing Leechman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bucktail Posted July 2, 2009 Report Share Posted July 2, 2009 Great pictures and report. Never realized Sparrow had so many nice channels in it!! Way to go! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NAW Posted July 2, 2009 Report Share Posted July 2, 2009 Nice report. Some decent sized cats you guys cought there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rattletrap2 Posted July 2, 2009 Report Share Posted July 2, 2009 WOW! Awesome report and some real nice fish. I'm partial to the nice Bucketmouth, but those cats look like beauties too! Glad to hear that you are going to cook one up. They are the "sirloin of the south". I had no idea that Sparrow holds Channel Catfish like that. Sure beats "Mud cats". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homer Is King Posted July 9, 2009 Report Share Posted July 9, 2009 As always G_F, Great report! Happy belated! Looks like you guys had a great weekend. Cheers, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCTFisher9120 Posted July 9, 2009 Report Share Posted July 9, 2009 Great report, nice catches...those bowfin are there only to disappoint lol, but fun to fight. Thanks for sharing, MTBF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnyb Posted July 9, 2009 Report Share Posted July 9, 2009 Gotta love the multi-species action...nicely done. Believe it or not, but Bowfin is DELICIOUS! Had some deep fried, wrapped in wontons, and it was off the charts...very firm...like eating roasted pork. I would eat it again in an artery clogged heartbeat Is the set-line thing allowed, or just in certain areas? I always thought it was a no-no to leave your lines unattended/overnight? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gone_fishin Posted July 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 9, 2009 we didn't leave them out overnight... at night, while we were playing cards, we would go out and check on them every 20 minutes or so, then bring them in before we went to bed. we had a visual on the rods at all times... there was a light shining on them from the deck. if we were breaking the law, then the laws should be changed, LOL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishermccann Posted July 9, 2009 Report Share Posted July 9, 2009 (edited) I think that there is a distance that you have to be close to your rod. I know a guy who in winter set his tip-ups on Scugog off shore and went and sat in his car on shore, Ministry pulled up and he was hit with a fine. He could see his tip-ups but was told he was not close enough, having a visual on the rod-bobber is not good enough. Edited July 9, 2009 by fishermccann Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gone_fishin Posted July 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 9, 2009 i would say we were probably within 50 feet, maybe less... the cottage is a stone's throw from the water... as you can see from the pictures... we all had only 1 line in each, and we all had licenses... i don't see any harm in what we did... all but 1 fish was released. the one that i kept was delicious. and if we go back up there, we'll do it all again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishermccann Posted July 9, 2009 Report Share Posted July 9, 2009 (edited) Even if your set-up does not meet fishing regulation standards? I would check the regs first. Edited July 9, 2009 by fishermccann Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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