niagarangler89

Wow, that's a huge one ff! Awesome catch! Any idea which species of redhorse that is?

This has to go down as the most inspiring story I've heard for quite some time. Irishfield, I know I don't have to tell you this, but your daughter is an incredibly strong woman. Thank you for sharing your family's experiences with us (the good and the bad). Your daughter's story, spoken through your words, has probably changed more lives (for the better) than you might ever be aware of. If I could say anything to Jen, I would reiterate Ralph Waldo Emerson's famous words: "What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you" May your future hold nothing but good Karma, Steve

Thanks again for the tips man; they've already paid off! My girlfriend wanted to go for a walk this evening, so I decided to bring along my fishing rod and last slice of bread. We found a nice calm area not too far from the sucker hole and after seeing a couple of air bubbles and small fish break the surface, we decided this was the spot to try. Sure enough, a couple of minutes after the second cast, while we were distracted watching a pair of ducks cross the river, I hear that unmistakable scream of drag. Before I even had time to react, my rod was ripped from it's make-shift rock holder. Luckily we were on a shallow stretch of rocks, and I was able to quickly run over and grab the rod before it made its way further into the drink. I tightened up the drag, set the hook, and enjoyed a well fought battle (one which was completely unexpected, and, oh so satisfying). Here's the aftermath

Thanks for the insight Mike! Makes sense to me. Congrats on the redhorse, looks like a beaut! Hopefully it brought back some good memories

To tell you the truth, I'd only be guessing if I said where they came from. I do know that the Thames flows into Lake St. Clair--the biggest body of water it's connected to. The three main dams (Fanshawe, Wildwood, and Pittock) on the Thames are all upstream from where I fish, so I guess it's theoretically possible for them to make it all the way into London, but that'd be one hell of a journey! I'm sure there are other downstream barriers that I'm unaware of, but I'm guessing they probably have ladders or some other way for fish to pass through. I know there is a smaller dam downstream in London called Springbank Dam, but they open it up during the fall and winter, allowing the migratory fish to move upstream. I guess I never really put much thought into it, but now you've got me thinking! Possibly just some really big residents?

Lol.....hmmmmmm...brrr, Am I cold..or hot?

Haha no kidding eh! Well I really do appreciate it! My girlfriend loves to get out fishing with me, so I'm sure we'll have a blast hauling in some carp! Hopefully our paths cross sometime Cheers, Steve

Appreciate all that info man! I guess the Thames is one of the few rivers you can actually get away with posting specific information like that eh? In the past year I've only seen a whopping total of four guys fishing (and half of them were fly fishermen who were only practicing casting). I'm not complaining though--having the river to yourself all day everyday is hardly a bad thing! I have three exams coming up this week, but then I have a week until my last one. Hopefully I'll be able to get out sometime in that stretch and have another go at those carp. What was the average size you'd catch?

Since nothing else is open around here, I figured I'd give some of the 'non-game fish' a shot. After a couple fun experiences, I'm going to have a hard time not referring to them as game fish lol. Those must've been a blast on the fly! Even those little guys are super scrappy; very ignorant of their size!

Thanks everyone! I live right beside the university, so I've only fished the section of river between the Richmond St. bridge and Gibbons Park. In the summer and fall I crushedd the smallies with small inline spinners. Also caught the odd walleye, largie, and white bass. I made the trip to Springbank Park early last November and did alright for walleye and white bass as well. I'm absolutely blown away at the diversity of fish in this system. For the most part, all the ones I've caught seem to be in fairly good shape, so it leads me to believe that this is a healthy fishery (not to mention the abundance of non-fish wildlife).

Congrats man, that's awesome!!

It's that dreaded time of the year--final exam season. Stress is at it's peak and sleep at it's trough. I was desperately in need of some R&R, so I headed out to the Thames River for a couple of hours on Thursday in search of (what has proven to be) the elusive carp. The water is probably the lowest I've ever seen it, so it made searching for those 'honey holes' much easier than usual. I walked the shoreline until I found a deeper pool without too much current and I decided to set up shop. I chummed the area with some leftover corn and proceeded to tie up my hair rig. After close to an hour of no action and a couple of snags, I decided to switch things up and throw on a juicy dew worm with a lighter sinker. Within the first couple minutes of my first cast with that set up, my rod tip started quivering. I tightened up the drag on my spinning reel and slowly applied upward pressure--FISH ON! Just by the way this fish fought, I assumed I had achieved my goal of hooking into a Thames River carp. It wasn't until I brought the fish to the surface that I realized it wasn't a carp...it was a GIANT redhorse (not sure which species). Common name = sucker. This first one I landed was just over 6 pounds. After figuring out the pattern to these giant suckers (whole worm on bottom), it made for a fun hour. Landed another two shortly after the first. The second one was my biggest--8 pounds and 26 inches. The third (and most colourful) was a respectable 6 and a half pounds. I made it out again yesterday for a couple more hours, but the bite was not the same. I ended up landing four more, with the largest being roughly 3 pounds (didn't bother weighing/measuring any of them). I did hook into another giant, but it was on my last worm, and I had grown complacent over the day: I forgot to loosen my drag and the fish broke me off as it took a powerful run. That's fishin' for ya! I didn't end up achieving my goal of getting my first Thames River carp, but these brutes definitely filled the void! They fought exactly how I'd expect a carp to fight, except with lake-trout-style rolls. As I mentioned earlier, I'm not sure which species of redhorse these are (river, golden, black, shorthead etc?). If I had to guess, I'd say I've been catching a mixed bag of river and shorthead redhorse. I'll include some pictures and hopefully some of you folks will have a better idea. Enjoy! Day 1: #1 #2 #3 Day 2: #1 #2 #3 #4

Really interesting read! I'm left with a couple of unanswered questions though. "...studies have shown that lake trout natural reproduction has begun to increase with the changing diet of adult lake trout." What exactly are the adult lake trout now foraging on? Young warm water species like perch and walleye? I doubt it, but if so, won't that keep those populations in check? Also, what happens when the perch and walleye populations start to crash from overfishing and/or some other unforeseen invasive? It seems like this water system has been in disequilibrium for the past century, and shows no sign of levelling out any time soon.

Great collection of memories, pikeslayer. Thanks for sharing them with us! I'm really itching to get out there...the weekend can't come soon enough!

From what I've been hearing, rainbow spawn has been the go-to bait down there recently. I haven't fished it for a couple of weeks, but when I was down there last, I had a couple good takes on streamers. I was float fishing (from shore), but I imagine they're gorging on the same stuff further out as well Water should be crystal clear for the foreseeable future; no SW winds in the forecast. Another point to keep in mind is that the daytime water levels are now back to the summertime average. The bows should be stacking up pretty good in there right now, so best of luck Roy!