Thames river in London

[hotsky]

My parents live in London and I go to see them every few weeks if I can, I lived there for 5 years myself till '07 (before I started fishing) and used to go biking and walking my dog at the upper branch between highboury and adelide. I remember seeing a bunch of decent size fish right off the bank just sitting there and thought it was pretty cool. I didn't know much fish species then and don't quite remember enough now to know what what they were...I've been to the same spots in the last few months, saw a lot of carp but they managed to elude me and only caught a few smaller bass. I know there supposed to be pike in Thames river in London but where do I look for them? I also tried fishing under Wonderland bridge and again only got small bass. Any tips would be appreciated!

 

PM me if you don't want to post on here.

 

Thanks.

Edited September 24, 2012 by Gray_Wolf

[Rich]

Anywhere there is a slack pool, no matter how small the pool. I did well on the thames this summer with spinnerbaits for pike. Seemed every little dip had one. I was a little east of london in some real skinny water.

[hotsky]

Doorchester? I've heard there was pike there, but when I tried it (just before the mills pond) it didn't get me anywhere.

[northernpike56]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the Thames is more well known for it's walleye fishery. I don't know if I'd be eating the fish out of there, though..

 

Matt.

[JCRG]

My parents live in London and I go to see them every few weeks if I can, I lived there for 5 years myself till '07 (before I started fishing) and used to go biking and walking my dog at the upper branch between highboury and adelide. I remember seeing a bunch of decent size fish right off the bank just sitting there and thought it was pretty cool. I didn't know much fish species then and don't quite remember enough now to know what what they were...I've been to the same spots in the last few months, saw a lot of carp but they managed to elude me and only caught a few smaller bass. I know there supposed to be pike in Thames river in London but where do I look for them? I also tried fishing under Wonderland bridge and again only got small bass. Any tips would be appreciated!

 

PM me if you don't want to post on here.

 

Thanks.

 

Lots of pike to be had in the thames, some big ones too. I used to catch them accidentally while bass fishing, i even had a giant one attack a hook full of corn once while carp fishing.

[hotsky]

^ Was that in London? I don't go there often enough or have enough time to explore entire length of both branches so more specific locations would help a lot.

[Rich]

If they are in dorchester, thamesford, woodstock and they bite the aforementioned techniques, then common sense would have us think they also exist in the london stretch and maybe the techniques mentioned would work there too.

 

For instance, nobody told me specific spots or cheat codes when I went this summer. I just fished it as if I was fishing the grand. Lo and behold, a river is a river and a pikes a pike.

Edited September 24, 2012 by Rich

[hotsky]

I'm asking because there are two branches one flows from the Fanshawe lake and the other thru Woodstock, Doorchester etc. The first (north branch) is more convenient for me and I know it better but I haven't came across any reports of pike being there, and I don't want to waste time casting lures for fish that doesn't exit there.

[Ainsley]

I went to UWO for a few years and would fish the Thames a few times a week in the summer. My favorite stretch was from downstream of the Richmond bridge to Adelaide. Caught alot of different fish in there.

[mepps]

Ivey Park is the place to be IMO. I lived in London 6 years ago and caught pike, walleye, white bass, smallmouth, rockbass, catfish and loads of carp just down stream from the Riverside Drive bridge. There is a nice pool there (). Bring corn for carp if you are getting bass or pike!

 

 

This pic should give you a good idea where to fish, if this was a current photo you would see the fountain in the background!

 

 

The carp dont get huge in this area (rarely over 15 pounds) but they are still a blast to catch! This one is in the same spot as the pike, just a different angle.

 

[hotsky]

Thanks, nice pics Fishing Fury!

 

So is there pike in the North branch, can anyone confirm? Ainsley, did you catch any pike by the UWO?

Edited September 24, 2012 by Gray_Wolf

[aplumma]

Gray wolf the reason you will not get a specific spot description is here in the OFC rules. It is to prevent all of our guest and members from showing up all at once.

 

Please do not post VERY SPECIFIC information on fishing spots, ie pinpoint locations and maps. It is our belief that sharing this type of knowledge to the general public is not at all good for the resource itself. When communicating info on spots, please keep it to email or a PM.

 

 

Art

[hotsky]

I knew that some don't want to post info on here (thats why I mentioned sending a PM) but didn't know about the rules.

[JCRG]

yes, there are pike on the north, south, east, west (whatever other branch of the thames you can think of) Just find some calmer water with cover and cast away, I also caught a couple with jigs and soft plastics while bass fishing. I caught them from highbury all the way down to springbank on the other side of the city. You can also find pretty decent size gars in the thames.

[Rich]

If the rivers connect, the pike are in every branch. Slack pools is what you need to remember, not specific areas. Cuz they are everywhere in that system.

[bare foot wader]

if you spend some time fishing below springbank dam you will catch everthing that swims in that river, waders help, fish behind the 2 litle islands

[hotsky]

Was in London again today so spend some time fishing around the Wonerland bridge. Had a lot of hits mostly from small fish closer to shore but only caught 3 smallies, and a minnow in a small pool off a drainage tunnel. The bass were caught in the margins in slacks maybe a foot deep.

 

got this one on a large mr.twister

This one went for Rebel bee. love that little crankbait!

 

This little guy surprised me; it went for a crandbait (shown in the pic) that got me a few pike.

 

 

On the advice given here I found a few pools, tried different lures from mr twister to spinners, spoons even crank-baits. Nothing...not even a hit. I thought even if there's no pike in the area at least other larger fish would be hiding there.

Edited October 2, 2012 by Gray_Wolf

[Cam Aspden]

Hey try checking out WFN and searching Thames River or Woodstock. This is from the Thames near Woodstock.

I've been getting 10lb plus up to 15 pound pike during the winter in there.

Edited October 10, 2012 by Cam Aspden