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!

Way to go man! That guy's a brute! Something tells me that we'll be seeing many more to come!

Thanks Bill! Yeah that last one is definitely my favourite...when the conditions all come together like that, you don't need to be the best photographer to get a great shot....just point and shoot! Thanks for the comment! Steve

Lol! Couldn't help but be reminded of this clip from the Simpsons: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Y_KNYNzN6A Thanks again folks! As for the OFC tourny, I'd be happy to join any team! I think I have signed up...does anyone know if they're adding the newcomers onto existing teams or are they making a whole new team? G, it's nice to see a familiar face! How's everything in Brighton holding up? Have you had a chance to get out fishing yet?

Thanks again everyone, I appreciate the warm reception! And thanks for bringing some of those old videos out of the archives. I think I'm going to have the melody of that anthem stuck in my head for a while now. Glad to hear some of you can relate to my story/life. That's the great thing about fishing; having one thing in common often brings others 'to the surface'. @wormdunker...Nice to meet a fellow OFNer who was also born&raised in St. Kitts! Luckily a couple of buddies are boat owners, so chances are good that I'll be able to get out on Erie this summer. Still have to get through this last month of school before I'll be able to get any Niagara fishing in though. Summer can't come soon enough!

This sounds way too cool and I'd love to join, that is, if you're willing to take on an OFC rookie . The only species on the list I won't be able to target very often is whitefish, other than that, bring it on!

Some of the pictures on here are truly of professional quality. Thanks for sharing everyone! Here's my contribution to this section so far; a couple favourites from last summer:

Haha thanks everyone! I'm already loving it here! @Misfish..Lol! I also have a bone to pick: there's too much info on here! If some of you folks don't slow down with the posts, I stand no chance of ever catching up!

Hey fellow OFCers, I've been following the forums for a couple of weeks now, and have finally decided to do my introductory post. I apologize in advance for the length, but I felt compelled to try and meet the high standard for posts evident here on OFC. Here goes nothing. First of all, let me say, I'm absolutely blown away by the number of members, topics, and posts here on OFC! It's not only the quantity of information found here, but also the quality that is truly impressive. I've read some great fishing reports, life stories, and discussions about important issues over the past two weeks, and am now eager to start contributing to this amazing community. I'll start off by telling you guys and gals a little bit about who I am, how I got into fishing, and then finish off with some pictures from the past year because I've been told you people love your pictures (I was really just looking for an excuse to use that emoticon). My name is Steve, I'm 22, and I'm from St. Catharines. I've had a unique passion for the outdoors ever since I was a child; probably stemming from the countless hours my sister, neighbourhood friends, and I would spend exploring the Niagara Escarpment, which happened to be right across the street from our house. As can be expected, I was a huge fan of fishing when I was young. I cherished the times my grandfather and I would walk down his driveway, across the Niagara Parkway, and over to his next-door-neighbour's dock to fish for perch. Unfortunately, as I grew older and into my teenage years, my passion for fishing and the outdoors slowly started to fade. I became a typical hedonistic teenager, acting solely out of self-interest and in the pursuit of pleasure. It's funny looking back on it now; three years of university did little to change that. I was that same teenage boy come the start of last summer (nearly eight years later), which is where my fishing story really begins. It was the beginning of May and the start of summer. I had just finished my third year of university and was about to start my third summer of full-time employment. Apart from working a full-time job the previous two summers, I'd done nothing but drink and party; the typical kind of stuff a university student does with four months of freedom. One night, as I sat on the swing in my backyard enjoying an unusually warm evening and reminiscing over the prior week's same old summer routine of working and partying, I came to the long-time overdue realization that I wanted more fulfillment out of life. I was perfectly happy (I had a good job and education, great girlfriend, amazing family), yet there was something missing; something little, but oddly enough, at the same time, something big. It was at that moment I decided I would make it my goal to find a hobby for the summer; one that didn't involve shooting a ping-pong ball into a red plastic cup. At this point in the story, it was a toss up between two possible new hobbies: golf and fishing. I was looking for economically viable options that weren't too far away, and luckily, I live fairly close to a cheap 9-hole golf course, which also happens to be within the vicinity of several fishing ponds locally renowned for the good shore fishing. A good friend of mine, who also decided it was time to pursue a different hobby, accompanied me on virtually every 'fins and skins' adventure I partook in that summer. My friend and I decided we'd start with golf and go from there, so for the next couple of weeks we struggled to hone our skills, but it quickly became apparent neither of us was going to be the next Rory McIlroy. Thankfully, we were only a short drive away from relieving our golfing frustrations at the nearby fishing ponds; and that we did. It was truly amazing experiencing such a drastic transition in our fishing confidence levels that summer (although, when you start with a negligible amount of something, any gain seems like a lot). In this case, we both started fishing with absolutely no confidence in our ability to actually catch fish. However, slowly but surely, one fish at a time, our confidence started to grow. In the weeks to follow, my friend and I began having multiple fish days, catching an ever-expanding variety of species, and were successful at almost any new spot we tried. Our confidence was growing exponentially. All the while, my golf clubs slowly started to get pushed to the back of the garage, where they eventually disappeared behind all my new fishing gear—now that I think of it, I haven't picked up a club since June. To say that I blew away my expectations for fishing that summer is, believe it or not, an understatement. We enjoyed success with whomever we fished with, whether it was my sister, my girlfriend, my friend's nephew, or one of my neighbourhood friends I used to explore the Escarpment with when I was a child. Throughout that summer, fishing became more than just a hobby; it became a way of life; a reconnection with the outdoors and nature, family, old friends, and my true self. My entire philosophy about life and outlook on it changed that summer. I began to appreciate the simple things we tend to neglect in our everyday lives—waking up early to see the golden rays of the rising sun penetrate the dark horizon; or sustained and meaningful conversation through no medium other than the fresh summer air. Coincidently, suffering a similar fate as the golf clubs in my garage that summer, the hedonistic and materialistic values that I once held so dearly in highschool and the first three years of university were pushed to the back of my mind's 'garage', and replaced by more simplistic and selfless ones. The best part of this whole experience is that it's only in its infancy. Fishing, in less than a year, has already had such a profoundly positive impact on my life; I can't help but get excited for what the future has in store. And now as promised at the beginning of my (I apologize) lengthy introduction; the pictures! I've targeted a wide variety of fresh water species we're so privileged to fish for here in the Niagara region, so It's extremely hard to say (at this point) which species I prefer to fish for. I'm confident the countless years of enjoying this amazing 'hobby' that lie ahead will help reveal a clearer answer. I look forward to the many more posts (and fish) to come! Enjoy!