A day on the Thames(london) that reminded me why i keep going back...

What a day, woke up early and went down to the good ole thames river in london. I had one of those days that keeps you going back time after time. By the end of the day i was catching a little small mouth on every cast, so many i actually got tired of taking pictures.
I have to keep this short because my wife is waiting for me to get ready to go out to diner.


Cue the pics..............


First(landed... lost another big one on video) fish of the day and she was a MONSTER 11.6 pound carp.......




Followed up by the biggest white bass i have caught in the thames so far.....



Relocated to a different hole and on the first cast i caught this MYSTERY(to me anyways) fish, good size nice purple shine on the side..... 2 pics....




Cue the smallies.........








and the "biggy smalls" small mouth of the day..........




What a great day. If anyone knows what the mystery fish is could you let me know, i have been fishing the thames for 20 years and never caught one before.

thanks and good luck on the water.


note: I have 13 pics of the small mouth alone, thats before i got tired of taking them. Just posted a couple to share.
** I also have video of landing the 11.6 lb carp, catching the mystery fish, carp i got to shore that snapped the line, white bass, and the biggest small mouth of the day if anyones interested. I swear alot so i didnt post them.

That mystery fish, you caught is called a fresh water drum, Dugger is our resident expert on these wonderful fish! Those are some great catches! Sounds like you had a great day! Those smallies must have put up a good fight! What is the name of the in line spinner bait shown in picture 8? Thanks for the report. Makes it up for having to work all weekend.

maybe freshwater drum?
check fish species here
http://www.thamesriver.on.ca/native_species/fish_poster.htm

nice fish by the way!

FishingNoob said:

That mystery fish, you caught is called a fresh water drum, Dugger is our resident expert on these wonderful fish! Those are some great catches! Sounds like you had a great day! Those smallies must have put up a good fight! What is the name of the in line spinner bait shown in picture 8? Thanks for the report. Makes it up for having to work all weekend.

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The spinner i was using was a mepps aglia i believe, came in a mepps bass 4 pack . Was crushing small mouth on spinners all day long.

blurred1 said:

The spinner i was using was a mepps aglia i believe, came in a mepps bass 4 pack . Was crushing small mouth on spinners all day long.

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It looks to be the more wide blade of a Mepps Comet Size 3. Agila is less wide and runns a bit deeper

CanadianAngler87 said:

It looks to be the more wide blade of a Mepps Comet Size 3. Agila is less wide and runns a bit deeper

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Could be right on that one, i ended up losing it to a snag, that was just my best guess. Have to pick up another one of those 4 packs though.

blurred1 said:

The spinner i was using was a mepps aglia i believe, came in a mepps bass 4 pack . Was crushing small mouth on spinners all day long.

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Thanks for the reply. I appreciate it.

Noobs is right it's a drum (sheephead) decent size too. They put up good fight for their size. To be absolute sure next time, look into it's mouth. No teeth, they only have "crushers" to crush clams and other mollusks. They also take worms, generally a bottom feeder. Nice catches I really like the white bass, they are good eating, good fighting too. They usually travel in schools. Did it hit the mepps also?

blurred1 said:

Could be right on that one, i ended up losing it to a snag, that was just my best guess. Have to pick up another one of those 4 packs though.

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Good lures, very virsatile. I have always told myself if I was stuck on an island and could have one lure, a mepps silver comet is what I would want. I have caught
Bucketmouths,Smallies,Perch,Sunfish,Walleye,Pike,and Rainbow on that lure. A must have

yea the mepps spinners are pretty much a necessity to have in the tackle box. I try to fish other lures but in the end I always find myself coming back to the mepps

grubman said:

Noobs is right it's a drum (sheephead) decent size too. They put up good fight for their size. To be absolute sure next time, look into it's mouth. No teeth, they only have "crushers" to crush clams and other mollusks. They also take worms, generally a bottom feeder. Nice catches I really like the white bass, they are good eating, good fighting too. They usually travel in schools. Did it hit the mepps also?

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Yes the white bass hit the meps too, i also had them hitting the baby bass pattern torpedo. They definately travel in schools, once i catch one i try to get the line back in asap because you are almost certain to catch another. White bass are fun fishing.

The great part is where i fish if im in one spot im catching white bass(also where i catch the big carp) and if i move like 25 yards im fishing small mouth. I love that because you are almost always certain to catch something, never leave skunked *knock on wood*

As for the drum(and i actually say in the video is that a sheephead) its an odd catch for where i was fishing. Never seen one caught there.

CanadianAngler87 said:

Good lures, very virsatile. I have always told myself if I was stuck on an island and could have one lure, a mepps silver comet is what I would want. I have caught
Bucketmouths,Smallies,Perch,Sunfish,Walleye,Pike,and Rainbow on that lure. A must have

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Its weird too because i have tried the cheaper spinners and they work for a while but then the hooks are bent or rusting out. With the mepps they pretty much work like they came out of the package unless i lose one.

Well done, thanks for sharing.

blurred1 said:

Its weird too because i have tried the cheaper spinners and they work for a while but then the hooks are bent or rusting out. With the mepps they pretty much work like they came out of the package unless i lose one.

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Can't go wrong with quality

I've never caught a white bass before

Nice sheepshead and carp. Sheepshead are always fun to catch, especially the big ones

Thanks for sharing that

The mystery fish you caught was a freshwater drum (oftenly called sheepshead). They deliver a nice fight. They are very commonly caught while fishing off peirs. The best technique is a sliding sinker rig fished on the bottom. Use a 1/4-1 once sliding sinker with a swivel hook or barrel swivel. Then put a size 4-8 hook on a leader that is attached to the swivel. The leader should be 6 inches-2 ft long. Happy fishing! :grin:

The best bait for frehwater drum is worms

Catfish04 said:

The best bait for frehwater drum is worms

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Dude, did you really have to make 5 posts? You know you can edit them, right? No offense intended, just makes it a little hard to read when viewed on the iphone.