June 2023

By Admin, 5th July 2023 | Catch Reports & Blogs

Throughout June we were thrilled to be bombarded with catch reports across all disciplines of angling. Despite the high temperatures and low,clear water there have been fish caught all acros the UK and beyond! Enjoy our June catch report below.

Fly Fishing

Before we get into this months Catch Report, a quick reminder that we will be in attendance at this years CLA Game Fair at Ragley Hall, Warwickshire. We will have a wide range of Fly Fishing gear, as well as a section for Coarse, sea & lure fishing. Click on the image below to take a closer look at what will be on show at the Fair. We hope to see you there!

Fortis Eyewear ambassador and Fly fishing fanatic Luke Gater is currently enjoying a magical adventure in South America, chasing some of Bolivia's finest predators on the fly. This is what he had to say about his experience whilst staying at Tsimane Pluma Lodge: “It's been an amazing week that runs much deeper than just fishing the whole adventure and culture is an experience like no other”

Take a look at this stunning bar of Bolivian Gold in the picture below, known as the Golden Dorado.

Our Fly Fishing expert Ceri has recently returned from an enjoyable trip to Northern Spain, hunting some stunning brown trout in some of the Countries wildest rivers and streams. Based in San Andres, Ceri and his friends fished the Trubia and Pilona on their doorstop, as well as the Luna and Porma in Leon.

The fishing was very technical and challenging at times, but immensely rewarding whilst surrounded by some spectacular scenery. To top it off, Ceri said the food and drink was not too shabby either!

A huge congratulions goes out to the Welsh Fly fishing team for bringing home the Gold medal in the home internationals. The fishing was tough but the Welsh boys were able to produce an incredible number of Fish, with all fish being returned safely. Well done guys!

Fishing in Wales visited Llyn y Dywarchen in Yr Eryri National Park (Snowdonia) where they talked to Dr Robbin Parry about the various angling oppurtunities provided by local clubs in the area, available on day or season ticket's.

Carp Fishing

Every angler making the journey to France dreams of catching a fish of a life time. For Ryan Hayes, that dream certainly came true. On a social a trip with his fellow Bailiffs Ryan landed this stunning mirror which tipped the scales at a whopping 72lb. He managed to land this monster whilst fishing Pro baits crustacean fished over a bed of chopped up Squid & Orange boilies.

Tench are a fantastic species to target, which are often caught during the warm summer months. Like most anglers who target the Tench, Our young employee Harrison headed out for an early morning session at one of his local commercial lakes.

After catching a few carp and bream, Harrison achieved his target species by fishing worm under a stick float, fished over a consistent feed of Sonubaits Bloodworm ground bait.

After spawning, the Carp in the Wharf Fishery were certainly keen to get on the feed. Callum Woodward hit the ground running once the lake re opened, landing this stunning linear on his first session back. Weighing 29lb 7oz, “Woodys Linear” was tempted by a 15mm pop up on a size 4 Gardner hook, fished on a Spinner rig set up. All terminal tackle can be purchased in one of our stores or over the phone.

Joel Biddle had a session to remember, landing 3 carp including a new personal best weighing 30lb 5oz, using a variety of hook baits fished up in the water on a zig rig set up due to the warm water temperatures causing the fish to feed higher up in the water and on the surface.

With the traditional opening date of the river season being June the 16th, anglers up and down the UK are eager to get on the river bank and enjoy their first sessions of the season.

Although the river levels were way below the ideal height due to a lack of rainfall, many anglers had great success during the opening weekend, like our dispatch manager Ryan Healey. Whilst trotting maggot, caster & hemp on a stick float method, Ryan landing numerous quality chub with the biggest reaching 6lb 10oz.

The Barbel anglers have also been out in full flow since June 16th, with plenty of fish being caught despite the high temperatures and low water levels. Both the feeder and stick float methods have been producing fish, with maggots and caster proving to be a productive bait of choice.

A Regular customer in our Cardiff store, Rhys Sullock is an angler who loves his river fishing and couldn't wait for the season to start as he had a week of fishing booked on the River Trent. Although the fishing was slow to begin with, the barbel certainly started to come on the feed once the feed was piled in.

Darren Park is a lake that we have mentioned in previous blogs as a fantastic water for targeting a variety of species from roach & tench to Pike and carp in excess of 20lb.

In the video below, Fishing in Wales are joined by the lake owners Dave & Rhian to give you a further insight into the water, whilst targeting carp and tench.

Sea Fishing

The Season fishing throughout July appeared to be relatively fruitful for the majority of anglers, however the warm temperatures didn't allow for ideal conditions at certain times. May weed was also a hinderance for anglers along parts of the British coast, caused by an algae bloom which tends to occur every year during the warmer months.

The Smooth hounds have certainly arrived in big numbers for both shore and boat anglers. As always, crab has been the most effective bait recently, however some anglers have also had success on squid, prawn and razor. Further up the Bristol channel has provided easier conditions with less weed effecting the fishing, so marks such as Newton Point (Porthcawl) have been extremely productive, as seen in the photos below.

As we have mentioned throughout our monthly reports, the Dongle rig has been a revelation when it comes to catching a wide range of species including rays, conger eels, bass and especially smooth hounds, with all the fish in the picture above falling victim to this deadly approach. The dongle allows for perfect bait presentation whilst nearly always hooking fish perfectly in the corner of the mouth.

If you're interested in learning more about the dongle, watch the video below as TronixPro ambassador Mario Asprou as takes you through how he makes his rigs. All items included in the video can purchased at Garry Evans.

The Bass were also around in good numbers, with both bait and lure anglers getting amongst them. Cardiff Barrage is a hot spot for bass, with convenient parking and a consistent food supply for predatory bass. With the barrage locks opening only a daily basis, baitfish re constantly being pushed in and out of Cardiff Bay, providing plenty of easy meals for hungry bass!

Like many anglers who target the Bass on the Barrage Ross Griffin fished a rag worm bait under a float and he was rewarded with this stunning bar of silver for his efforts.

The shark fishing has been fantastic this year, with plenty of Blue's and porbeagles being caught. Charter Boats heading out from The Pembrokeshire Coast have been seeing some great action out in the Celtic Deeps, an area that is situated around 30 miles off shore. Amongst the best charter boats in the Country is White water charters, skippered by Andrew Alsop. With countless Blue sharks and Porbeagles brought to the side of the boat, it is certainly worth getting booked on for a days fishing to remember.

Lure Fishing

Despite the conditions not being ideal throughout June, there have been plenty of catch reports from both salt water and fresh water lure anglers. Across the UK, salt water lure anglers have been enjoying some fantastic bass, pollock and wrasse fishing in recent weeks.

Joe Shaw, owner of Catch & Cook Kayak fishing has been using a variety of Soft plastic lures with great success, whilst guiding his clients around the Coast of Pembrokeshire, West Wales. Savage Gear weedless minnows, Fiish Black minnows and Joe's own range of soft plastics have been working wonders for both himself and his clients, especially in khaki and yellow patterns.

We hope you enjoyed reading this months review, for a chance to be featured in next months catch report, feel free to send in your catch reports with a brief description to our email or in the comments section for this blog. Make sure to keep yourself up to date on our social media platforms for daily content.