niagarangler89 Posted April 12, 2012 Report Share Posted April 12, 2012 I headed out to the Thames for a couple of hours in search of some carp. The water is probably the lowest I've ever seen it, so it made searching for those 'honey holes' a lot easier. 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 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, etc?). I'll include some pictures and hopefully some of you folks have a better idea. Enjoy! The sucker hole Number 1 Mugshot of #1 Number 2--biggun' of the day Number 3 Mugshot of #3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dunder Posted April 12, 2012 Report Share Posted April 12, 2012 Some great looking fish. Nice size. Thanks for the write up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cplummer Posted April 12, 2012 Report Share Posted April 12, 2012 Nice.. bet those were fun to bring in..thanks for the report Steve Cliff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ainsley Posted April 12, 2012 Report Share Posted April 12, 2012 I used to fish the Thames quite a bit when I was living in London, there is a huge variety of fish in there. Never got into suckers or carp tho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niagarangler89 Posted April 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 12, 2012 No prob guys. Cliff, they were a blast! Especially with light gear! I used to fish the Thames quite a bit when I was living in London, there is a huge variety of fish in there. Never got into suckers or carp tho. I've been totally blown away by the diversity of fish in this system. The winter can be a bit slow, although I probably just haven't found the good winter holes. I'm still trying to find the pike and carp. I've also heard there are some resident trout and musky, but the numbers are few and far between. Unreal fishery though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niagarangler89 Posted April 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 12, 2012 Well it turns out.... if that last one is a shorthead redhorse, I potentially released an Ontario record fish! LOL...dang! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerritt Posted April 12, 2012 Report Share Posted April 12, 2012 dont care what they are.... they are UGLY! Nice pics Steve G Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammercarp Posted April 12, 2012 Report Share Posted April 12, 2012 Wow those are dandies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davincan Posted April 12, 2012 Report Share Posted April 12, 2012 Very nice fish. I think they have gorgeous coloring...but those lips! They really are the 'Butterface' of Ontario Fish! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niagarangler89 Posted April 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 12, 2012 Lol they may be ugly, but it's hard not to love them! Thanks guys! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slevin Posted April 12, 2012 Report Share Posted April 12, 2012 nice pic, BUT that hand will be slimeeeeee or fish smell for a while Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smerchly Posted April 13, 2012 Report Share Posted April 13, 2012 Those suckers are huge Steve ! I catch them in the 12 mile often , but not that large and not with lips like those blunt headed ones , and they are very good fighters . Their bodies are hard and they are strong fish , and the meat is sweet . I'm glad they don't have red lips though .....they're almost kissable Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted April 13, 2012 Report Share Posted April 13, 2012 Awesome fish, I always look at and want to try out that river when i'm droping off my GF in London.. Good job with those fish! Weird lips on them... Too bad about not getting that record... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted April 13, 2012 Report Share Posted April 13, 2012 http://www.ontariofishing.net/fishrecords.html Is it a "River Redhorse" or a "Shorthead Redhorse"? the current record holder caught his "river redhorse" in the same river as you were in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niagarangler89 Posted April 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2012 I think I've been catching a mix of rivers and shortheads...not positive though. Here are some more from today (average size was half of yesterday). Lost what would've been my biggest to date, but it broke me off with my last worm! Probably a good thing...now I can actually start studying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snags Posted April 13, 2012 Report Share Posted April 13, 2012 There are a few great places in the Thames for the carp ... Never got shutout when I brought a bag of bread with me and fished breadballs. Always did well on the carp and bass. Saw one trout once but thats about it. If the dam is back up at Springbank park ... there always were "rumors" of rainbows and salmon making their way all the way up there. Once of the best places was the Labbats Dam. Fanshawe Lake supposedly has walleye in it, but never fished there. Id be surprised if a muskie got caught through the majority of the thames with how low and dirty the water gets to be ... plus the temps get fairly warm into the summer and fall, used to wade into it to unhook the carp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niagarangler89 Posted April 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2012 There are a few great places in the Thames for the carp ... Never got shutout when I brought a bag of bread with me and fished breadballs. Always did well on the carp and bass. Saw one trout once but thats about it. If the dam is back up at Springbank park ... there always were "rumors" of rainbows and salmon making their way all the way up there. Once of the best places was the Labbats Dam. Fanshawe Lake supposedly has walleye in it, but never fished there. Id be surprised if a muskie got caught through the majority of the thames with how low and dirty the water gets to be ... plus the temps get fairly warm into the summer and fall, used to wade into it to unhook the carp. I'll try the breadballs out, thanks for the tip man! I crusheddd the smallies this past summer/fall...virtually every cast with a small inline spinner. I've only fished Springbank once this past November and we did alright for walleye and white bass. I mostly fish the stretch of river between the Richmond St. bridge and Gibbons Park. There are some extremely productive holes along that stretch. I can only imagine what other sections of the river hold. The depth actually varies quite dramatically...in some spots only an inch, others I've heard it can get as deep as 20 ft (where the north/west section of the river meets). I've seen pictures of 26 inch plus pike caught in London, so it wouldn't surprise me if there was a musky lurking around somewhere. Who knows. I'll keep fishin' it and keep showin' you guys what I get! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horrorshowrot Posted April 14, 2012 Report Share Posted April 14, 2012 Nice fish! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
multispecies1 Posted April 14, 2012 Report Share Posted April 14, 2012 Nice work, those are huge suckers!!! That is a monster 8lb 26 incher!! The biggest I ever saw caught was 7.2lbs, congrats on the fish, they are definetly a blast on ultra light/light tackle, and the Thames is and incredible fishery. It was a banner year for walleye all through Deleware south past Giles bridge, guys were saying it was the best it has been in over 9 years, alot of fish caught!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ainsley Posted April 14, 2012 Report Share Posted April 14, 2012 I mostly fished between the university and Adelaide and caught lots of smallmouth, silver bass, a few pike and walleye. My fav bait in that section was a tiny white spinnerbait. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niagarangler89 Posted April 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2012 Nice work, those are huge suckers!!! That is a monster 8lb 26 incher!! The biggest I ever saw caught was 7.2lbs, congrats on the fish, they are definetly a blast on ultra light/light tackle, and the Thames is and incredible fishery. It was a banner year for walleye all through Deleware south past Giles bridge, guys were saying it was the best it has been in over 9 years, alot of fish caught!! Wicked to hear! I hope these low water levels right now don't have too negative of an impact on wildlife around the river I mostly fished between the university and Adelaide and caught lots of smallmouth, silver bass, a few pike and walleye. My fav bait in that section was a tiny white spinnerbait. I can see a small white spinnerbait crushinn! I'll give it a try in the summer, thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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