July was pretty much a month of tough conditions, 30 degree heat and rivers on their bones all month.
My first trip was up to Scotland for the weekend chasing Tope, on the run up to the trip I was hearing reports of not a lot of fish about and not a lot of bait fish ie mackerel either but still it’s an adventure. Bait wise we drove further north to a pier we know produces plenty of mackerel and after a dawn raid and the cool boxes brimming we double backed south to where we would be tope fishing.

The couple of tides we did fish for the Tope we were harassed constantly by Dogfish and sometimes even winding in two at a time on a pennel setup. It was hard work and I even dropped down to one rod as I was needing to re-chuck every 20 or so minutes, Chris had the same outcome also. The highlight of the day was a nice Huss albeit still a dogfish, but one on steroids and was definitely worth a picture. It did raise spirits abit when the ratchet roared off out of the blue.

The plan was to lure fish for the Bass in the area around dusk but with the wind picking up it made it difficult, we ended up calling it and having a BBQ.

The rest of the month’s fishing was based around targeting specimen Roach on my local river. Hot weather and low river levels meant that most of my fishing was going to be based around the last 3 hours before dusk and an hour into dark, I’ve found these times to be the most productive for the larger Roach. My favoured tactic this time of year has to be fishing halibut pellets for them, it has a way of singling out the bigger fish and also stops you getting smashed up by the endless shoals for small dace in the river. But the key is to not feed to much, just dripping in 5-6 6mm pellets every few minutes rather than laying a bed of bait which draws the barbel in. They can become a menace when targeting the better Roach as I’m fishing fairly light.

My sessions went well with fish each evening and a handful of quality specimens mixed in. My best 3 fish this month were 1lb 10oz 1lb 11oz and 1lb 12oz

The stamp of these roach are incredible locally and to consistently get amongst them is special. I’ve shared the success with my fishing partner Chris and helped him along to a new PB and some other beauties aswell.

And with my friend Liam moving down to the area from the far north of Scotland it was only right to show him the ropes on the river and guide him to his first ever Barbel. Liam is a pretty well-accomplished angler especially in field of sea fishing and fly fishing but with not having these species where he used to live he was pretty keen to learn what was now on offer locally for him. We talked rigs watercraft and how to set a trap for them, which proved the winning way as on his first evening managed to catch what is a big specimen for the river and saw him hooked…

Towards the end of the month I decided to go and have an evening targeting big Chub, I know it’s a bit early and the crayfish activity was expected but it was worth a go. I fished dusk in to dark and was pleasantly surprised the crays weren’t all that bad. The night was pretty slow with minimal signs of fish, but 10mins before I was due to pack up I heard a decent fish roll about 20 metres down stream of my spot I decided to sit on my hands and have another hour. This paid off with the rod slamming over and a hairy battle ensued. I was fishing my tip rod down to 5lb fluorocarbon and it became squeaky bum time when what I had hooked decided it was heading down stream and nothing was going to stop it, I kept my cool and applied just enough pressure to slow the fish down. By now I knew it wasn’t a Chub but one of the very few Barbel on the stretch, it wasn’t long before it was safe in the net. The fish was immaculate not a mark on it or any torn fins which is really nice to see as up here as the Otters are a serious problem. A quick mat shot and on its way as it was still incredibly warm.

All in all a tough month’s fishing but the rewards have been there for the taking. Fingers crossed and pray for some rain for the coming weeks…