Catch report & fishing forecast for Dorset including Chesil Beach, Portland & Weymouth

By On · 2 Comments · In Chesil Beach, Reports
Not much has changed over the past couple of days. The mackerel have been a bit scarce for a few days, but they seem to be back now. This period of settled weather is good for Bream and Sole fishing.  There seems to be plenty of Gurnard being caught all along the beach. A couple of species that seem to be missing this year are Trigger Fish and Red Mullet.
I have a theory that about 25 years ago, we had a large mass of warm water that brought a number of unusual and quite rare for the UK, species from the much warmer waters of the Mediterranean. I remember at the time that we had an influx of Red Mullet, Red Bream, Gilthead Bream and Trigger Fish. Over a short number of years the Red Bream disapeared. It is possible that they were not able to adapt to the colder water and died or migrated back to where they came from.The other species were able to adapt better and had found suitable areas to breed and survive over winter. Gilthead Bream seem to have thrived and reports suggest that the population is spreading along the south west coast.  Red Mullet seem to still be common in commercial boat catches, but they seem to be a lot rarer from the shore.  I think the cold winter that we had, has either killed off the Trigger fish that were once regular summer visitors, or there are so few left now that they are becoming harder to catch and the numbers mean that there are no longer enough Trigger Fish to maintain a sustainable breading stock and we may never see them again. If you do catch a Trigger please return them.
I have been out lure fishing all along the Dorset coast this week, with some mixed results. The early morning tides that should have produced plenty of fish, were very poor, but the ebbing tides in bright sunshine have been far better.
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I have been trying out the Dellande Swat Shad pictured below and the Fiiish Black Minnow
I will put up a review of both next week, but if you cant wait they are available from Chesil Bait n Tackle
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Sea Conditions: 

Water temperature 17.4*c.

Chesil Beach: Calm and clear

Portland: Calm and clear

Portland Harbour: Calm and clear

Weymouth Bay:  Calm with clear water

Chesil Beach forecast: I am hearing reports of lots of Mackerel all along the beach, with plenty of Bream and Gurnard as well. I had one message saying that a 4kg Turbot was caught from West Bexington. I am waiting for a picture, before I can confirm that. However if you are after Sole and Plaice, then West Bexington and Abbotsbury is where you should head. Lugworm is the best bait for the Sole.

Portland: Great conditions for lure fishing for Wrasse, Pollock, Garfish, Mackerel and Bass. This evenings tide is almost perfect for Pollock. If you want to stick to more traditional methods then you will have plenty of fun with a float fished Ragworm for Wrasse. Most places that you can get access to on Portland will be ideal for Wrasse. Church Ope Cove is a good mark this evening at dusk.

Portland Harbour: Not sure where the Bass have gone from the harbour, but they seem to have been replaced with Garfish and Scad. THe Scad are being caught around the bridge at night.

Weymouth Bay: Both piers continue to produce lots of different species and are easy to fish marks. The harbour has some big Mullet cruising around in it. If I had the time I would be targeting them with bread or dog biscuit on the surface..

Guiding & Lessons: If you are looking for Bass guiding in Dorset or any other guiding, then I am opening up the diary again for the next 6 months. Now that they fish have started to show, I should have some good sessions.  Have a look on the guiding link at the top of the page or drop me an email for more details to [email protected]

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