“When it’s too hot to fish...”
Bide your time and plan your next few trips
I’M WRITING this in my tackle den at 6.30am, just so I can get it done before the mercury gets up to the predicted 30°C later in the day.
In this eyeball-frying weather I’m often asked what fish to go for – well, bear in mind we’re in England, where a heatwave lasts a few days if we’re lucky. What I normally do is stay in the shade for the duration, having a cider or three and not fishing at all! I see that rain and cooler temperatures are on the way, so on that change of high air pressure to low, fish of all species will have a feed. If we don’t have silly amounts of rain like those poor beggars in Europe then the rivers should fish their heads off, given the extra colour in the water and raised oxygen levels.
Meanwhile, with that rain and low pressure, stillwater species will no longer be roaming around the surface. Instead they’ll be getting their heads down to feed.
So wait a couple of days, because to fish in 300C heat and bright sunshine is going to make you ill. The fishing will be very slow, too, and that won’t do your confidence a lot of good.
Why not think out of the box a little for species other than carp and barbel to target at this time of year? Can you believe that some of the best grayling fishing is in the summer? I know that for centuries we’ve been told to wait for the first frosts before the grayling will feed, but these were the same angling writers who told us that tench aren’t preyed upon because they’re the ‘doctor fish’ and other fish rub up against them to heal wounds. Yeah, the hell they do!
All of my best grayling were caught between June and September. So, if you know a good grayling venue, once the hot weather has passed and there’s enough well-oxygenated water in the river, break with tradition and trot a float down for them. You’ll be amazed at the numbers and size of fish you’ll catch.
And if you know a stillwater or canal that holds big chub, spraying maggots over a waggler fished shallow with more grubs on the hook will catch monsters. It’s also worth trying surface or shallow-diving lures for chub. Roving the canal early or late and chucking small lures under far-bank trees, bushes and structures is great fun.
A tip I learned from American anglers years ago is worth passing on – when fishing surface baits, don’t be too quick to start reeling in. Just let the lure sit still for up to 20 seconds. The chub will know immediately it hits the water, and sometimes just a surface ripple will give the lure enough movement to aggravate your quarry. As soon as you move the lure, bang! the water erupts as a chub hits it. It’s a bit like a cat with a ball of wool – you can see the cat waggling its bum, working itself up for the first movement. As soon as you move the wool, puss is on it!
This is a difficult time for us all in the heat, so just step back and have a think about your next session, rather than doing the same thing over and over again.