Everything You Need To Know About Bass Fishing On The Thames River, Ontario

The Thames river is 273 kilometers of fishing heaven. Depending on location, you will find it loaded with bass, pike, walleye, drum, catfish, panfish, carp and trout. Located in southwestern Ontario it stretches from Tavistock to Lake St. Clair and passes through large cities like Woodstock, London and Chatham on it’s way.  

Originally called Deshkan Ziibi(Antler River) by the native Anishnaabe people to this land, it has been a source of plentiful aquatic protein since man first began his hunt for fish. Accessing the river now is much easier, but the fish still remain. With recent removal and shutdown of several dams along it’s length, the fish are only increasing in numbers and size. 

What Fish Are In The Thames?

Throughout the river network you will find quantities of smallmouth bass and pike. Many areas also have large quantities of walleye, with those numbers increasing as you get close to Lake St. Clair, especially in the early spring. Drum are also native to the river, but in less numbers than other listed fish. The most prolific species in the entire river network is the invasive Common Carp (Asian Carp). If this is your target species, you will find no shortage of them. 

Seeing as you’ve landed yourself on a bass angling blog post, I’ll spare you the painful details of targeting species that are not bass, or their counterparts in bait chopping.  

Where are they hiding?

While bass in the Thames can be found anywhere the water is wet, there are some finer points on locating fish. This varies with time of year, weather and location on the river itself.  

In spring, shortly after ice off bass are spawning, not only are they in the shallows and ferociously hungry for whatever you throw at them – they are also out of season until the last weekend in June, so go target some walleye in the meantime. 

It’s early summer and bass is finally open. Torrential rains the came with may and april have subsided and river levels have stabilized – it’s time to get to business! Bass right now are hungry and active, with cool mornings and evenings bringing on feeding frenzies. Hiding around large rocks in areas just to the edges and tails of rapids, smallmouth lay in wait for a drifting crayfish or wounded baitfish/fry to come within the strikezone. This is your job, to mimic the smallmouth’s natural forage of river crustaceans and smaller fish.  

The season grades on and as time perpetually marches past us, the days get long and hotter as the river grows narrower. Once ripping currents slow to a trickle and now the bass seek refuge from the bright sun and soaring temperatures. A smart angler will have made mental note of the deeper river holes the overflowed their wadders in the early season. Those spots are now essentially sardine cans of bass. With nowhere else to go, and very limited means to travel, “local” bass become isolated in deep river holes between rapids sections and on the backside of river bends. You’ve heard the term “shooting fish in a barrel”? Well this is as close as it gets on the Thames. Once again, early mornings and late evenings pay off in dividends, not only for fish in numbers, but for the comfort of the angler as well. 

Now let’s talk about what’s going to get them out of the hole, and onto the bank… 

So What Should I Use?

Early season, a suspending jerk bait is king. Bass and pike won’t know the difference between a husky jerk and the dying bait fish they are so voraciously craving. Patient anglers will be rewarded as most hits happen during the long tense pauses between tugs. Fish it with a “tug-tug-pause” and wait for the big smash! 

Our next option is the crayfish imitating tube. Typically fished with a tube jig specifically for tubes it can be bottom bounced. While fishing this bait, try to imagine what a crayfish looks like in water, moving in short bursts and hops. 

The tried and true combo of a ball-head jig and Mister Twister curly tail grab is a hard one to beat. There isn’t a fish in the river that can’t be caught with this combination. With one of the cheapest price tags out of any fishable bait, it also is the least painful to lose to an inevitable break off from snagging up on the bottom or being bitten off by a pike. Try ticking one across the rocky bottom of deep pools, or cast into fasting moving waters, swimming it to the slower edges. 

When the fish get finicky in the heat of summer, some alternative tactics must be brought into play. Early morning and late evenings spent ripping surface disruption baits like Whopper Ploppers and buzz baits can work even the laziest summer bass into a pissed river shark. Finesse technicians shine through the blinding heat of late august, with weightless stick baits and even drop shotting.    

Fall’s cooler temperature are a signal to the river’s inhabitants of tough times ahead, cueing what my father likes to refer to as “them bass puttin’ the feed bag on”. Rain and cooler temperatures help bass out of the summer slump, back into active feeding and can be caught on all prior mentions. Enjoy the onslaught until November 30, or ice. 

In closing, the mighty Thames is far too vast to be condensed to one article, and is something that needs to be learned through experience, area to area. I hope these points help get you on to some quality fish, or at the very least get you out on the river – Now go crush em’!