I always write about the weather a lot but this month is easy to summarise. It’s been sunny, every day, without fail, without rain, just sun, not clouds, warm, hot, warm again, lush. There’s that’s the weather in July done, now the fishing.
With the you know what being so good this year, I’ve been keen to make the most of everyday, much to the dismay of my family who are getting exhausted of the relentless adventures. It’s a very long winter, so I don’t want to miss a moment of the good stuff. At the end of June the shark reports started to filter through and it sounded like the numbers were good. In fact amongst the usual blue sharks there were a lot of porbeagle sharks being reported along the south coast, small ones but catches were being reported most days. I’ve never caught a porbeagle so the chance of one only made me want to get out there more.
With my work pattern being what it is, I finish at midday on a Friday which leaves the afternoon and evening to get out for a few hours. Either side of the holidays that means it’s possible to tow the boat to work, and then when I’m finished I can tow the boat to Fowey and be on the water within an hour of leaving work. This is only possible outside of the holidays though as trying to get a parking space for the car and the trailer after about 9am during peak season is just not worth the hassle of even trying. But in early July, it’s still just about doable, just. So with sharks in the area, I made plans, invited Mike and dug out the shark kit which hadn’t been used for a couple of years. The shark kit never came out in 2025 as all the boat fishing time went into the tuna. Wire traces and crimps were all checked, hooks sharpened and an extra rubbing leader or two were tied. Mike was keen and we put the last details of the plan in place. However, on paper, the plan was still a little sketchy, could we get two cars and the trailer sorted at peak time in early July, quite possibly not. Plan B, I’ll tow the boat to Mylor after work and we’ll go from there. It’s a bit of a tow from Lostwithiel but the parking won’t be a problem, it’ll be worth it, just got to get through Truro traffic. Plan C, Mike very kindly launched his boat in Mylor in the morning, enjoyed a quiet morning’s fishing on his own and then I raced to Mylor without having to tow my boat, where Mike and his fine vessel were waiting. Thanks mate!
After a morning of no wind and flat calm seas, I arrived and the wind picked up and the sea got choppy. Not so comfortable but in all honesty, a bit of chop on the water and a breeze helps the boat to drift and more importantly, encourages the rubby dubby slick to move away from the boat which in turn attracts the predators. Rubby dubby is the fish blood and guts we all watched Roy Scheider’s character Martin Brody, ladling over the side of the boat when Jaws himself arrived causing Brody to utter that famous line, “we’re gonna need a bigger boat”. In the States they call it, “chum”. With the rubby dubby mashed up, squashed into the buckets and hung over the side of the boat it was the next step of shark fishing; waiting, drinking tea and talking s#it. We’re actually very good at this bit and between us we had most of the world’s problems resolved in just a couple of hours. We were completely uninterrupted but to break things up we changed hook baits and added more rubby dubby to the buckets to keep the attracting smells good and strong. It’s said that a shark can detect one part of blood in a million parts of water. I’ve no idea if that’s true or not but they’ve definitely have a good sense of smell. After about three hours Mike declared an end game. It was 5.15pm, we’d give it until 5.30 then we’d head off to get back in time to recover the boat, get home, sort dinner, walk dogs, reunite with our worried families (I don’t think they noticed we had gone…) and of course, put those world problem resolutions into place. As the final words of Mike’s plan left his lips he finished with a message to the fish, “so just f#cking bite now!”. I wished I had it on film, he uttered the words and his rod screamed off! I do sometimes think he’s a bit of a fish whisperer. With Mike hooked up I brought my rod in out of the way making space for a short battle with a feisty Blue Shark of around 30lb. The fish was unhooked, it swam away strong and it was mission accomplished. We both knew though that they rarely arrive alone so it was worth hanging around just a little longer to see if we could catch another. In no time a chunky fish was boat side having a sniff of the rubby dubby bucket. On the next pass the float followed the fish and we were away, or so we thought. After a few seconds the fish dropped the bait. No problem. We wound in, baited again and waited for it to come back, they always do and it was a case of second time lucky. This one was a bigger fish which gave a really good scrap. Again, it came alongside, a few photos, hook out and awaaaay. Happy days! We’d beaten the car park nightmares, solved world peace and caught a blue shark each in a short afternoon, perfect. Sometimes we do a good impression of anglers who know what they’re doing.
Through the middle of July managed a bit of mullet fishing in the estuary, a bit of bass fishing in the surf, had a trip to the pond where me, my Mum and one of the boys all caught fish, and we had a little holiday adventure on the Lizard where I slipped over like a wally wearing trainers on the rocks (ALWAYS wear good walking boots) and was lucky not to make a bit of a mess of things. Looking back, it was a very good little spell of fishing. No monsters, but loads of fun.
The month ended with yet another trip out with Mike who was successful in this year’s raffle for a recreational tuna fishing license from a private boat. The weather was looking perfect until the last minute when a breeze sprung up in the forecast. It was from the west and the morning looked calm enough, so with the pair of us free, we went for it. After a very civilised 7am start we managed about 100 meters from the slip before disaster nearly struck. I opened my box and discovered what should have been my breakfast in the car on the way hadn’t been removed and had made it onboard, BANANAS!! These were ejected overboard before Mike had realised what we happening and I slumped back in my seat hoping Neptune wouldn’t curse the boat for the day. A lucky escape. No one takes bananas on a boat. There’s several theories from the 1700s on why bananas on a boat are deemed unlucky which includes the fast ripening fruit spoiling other fruit on board, and nasty, poisonous spiders hiding in the bunches. Pick whichever one you like, just don’t take bananas on a boat if you want any luck.
We seemed to have dodged the banana bad luck bullet immediately when we spotted just a minute later, birds feeding and a load of fish feeding activity on the water. We grabbed the lure rods and plucked a few small bass each on one short but successful drift. That was an excellent start and Neptune didn’t seem too pissed off with my banana mistake. So, open up the engine and off we went in search of something a little bigger.
First stop was to catch some live baits. It’s a sad reflection on the mackerel stocks when in mid-summer you struggle to catch a single mackerel. It’s honestly easier catching tuna. After an hour’s work we had a few small scad to show for our efforts. We did hook a mackerel but it became another story of the one that got away. The scad are hardly as and live well all day in a live bait well, so they would have to do.
We pushed out and Mike’s tuna finding senses kicked in. In his day job, during the tuna season, Mike has probably leadered more blue fun tuna than anyone else in the country. That’s a bold claim but he’s been there from the beginning and the figures are amazing. He won’t admit that to you though, but he will find you a fish. The tuna feeding busts were up and down quickly which meant a bit of chasing around. No bother, we were both relaxed about the day; a fish would be welcome but just finding them is a big part of the fun. Eventually, whilst sipping coffee we spotted that now very familiar scene during the summer and autumn around Cornwall, of a shoal of tuna having a bit of a feed on the surface. We’ve done this a few times before so we know the drill, no panic, just pure fun. Mike positioned the boat carefully in front of the shoal that was moving rapidly and when we agreed, I lobbed the live bait into the mix. The take is normally instant but for a moment it looked like somehow the bait had been missed. It wasn’t a perfect size bait, but it should have done the job. I teased it back to the boat a little, it wasn’t far away anyway but that was enough to get a take. Line tight, harness clips on and bang, the fish took off. The first run is the best bit of any tuna fight. It’s all Hollywood with the fish swimming off fast and the line disappearing off after it. This one first had the reel screaming, then squealing and then I thought the reel was going to throw up, it did not sound good as the fish hit top speed. Immediately the fight didn’t feel right, with a really strong tail beat sensation coming back up the line it felt like the fish could be tail wrapped, which would explain the the speed of the first run and the inability to slow it down as easily as you normally would. We made back some line on the fish but it never felt right and after just a couple of minutes we dropped the fish. Disappointing yes but I’d much rather drop a fish that was possibly tail wrapped than have a long fight and risk the fish being towed backwards whereby it’s recovery chances are significantly reduced. We’d done all the fun bits, found the fish, positioned the boat successfully, got the take and hooked up, and we didn’t then have the back breaking hour of winding it in, perfect really.
After that the tide changed and the feeding spell looked to have come to an end. We were happy with that so headed homewards and picked off a few more small bass on the way. All in all a fun day on the water, it always is, and a great end to a great July.