Fishing in April

April is upon us, and it normally heralds the start of the shore fishing year for many. What can we expect from this month, and how will the huge storms that we had during the winter effect the fishing.

By now I would have expected the Plaice fishing to be in full swing. Unfortunatly it really hasn’t started on Chesil Beach yet. I am unsure if it is totlay down to the water clarity, the changed sea bed or just that the fish are a bit late in arriving. I know they are getting them further to the East at Brighton, but Hayling Island is still quite, so we may have to wait another couple of weeks. Yesterday I went to Poole and fished Sandbanks for a change. It was there to gather pictures and information for a new mark article and I was hoping to pick up a Plaice or a Ray. Unfortunatly myself and Leo only managed Flounder and Whiting between us. Not that I didn’t enjoy it, as it really is a lovely mark with some great potential

I was trying out a couple of new items including some coloured leads. It did seem to make a difference when I put on a bright green one. I was using my current favourite rod the Cinnetic Cautiva, which I will finish the review on for next week. Yes I know I said I would have it for this week, but I took delivery of my latest bit of kit to help with better articles and reports for the website. It is a DJI Phantom Quadcopter. I have been learning to fly it and getting some interesting aerial footage that you will start to see in the coming weeks.

This month should see the return of the Mackerel and with them some Herring. One of my friends reported seeing a huge shoal of fish enter then leave Church Ope Cove yesterday afternoon. With the Mackerel the other predators normally follow, so it wont be long until the first Bass return from spawning. The Bass and the Smoothounds will come inshore in search of Peeler Crab, which will be starting to moult now. Large shoals of Mullet can be expected in the next set of spring tides.

I will sort out the March fish of the month post tomorrow. I am still taking entries for that until Monday. The April competition is now open and this months competition is being sponsored by Field & Treck. More details on Monday.

Sea Conditions: 

Water temperature 9.6°c.

Chesil Beach:  Calm with lightly coloured water.

Portland: Calm with lightly coloured water

Portland Harbour: Calm with clear water

Weymouth Bay: Calm with lightly coloured water.

Chesil Beach forecast: The first Smoothound showed on the beach last weekend, although they were mostly small fish, we may see more larger ones this weekend. I can’t imagine we will see many more Cod, as I have not heard of any more this week. 

The water is slowly clearing, especially towards Abbotsbury, which will help with the Plaice fishing. It is worth trying for some Mackerel on feathers

Portland: I am going to have my first proper Wrasse fishing session this weekend on the Island. I am thinking of trying Chene, as the water is deeper there. The Bill is worth a try, both for Wrasse and Pollock.

Portland Harbour: More Mullet showing in the harbour and some nice Flounder about. I have seen a lot of bait fish activity in the harbour. This is normally followed by Bass.

Weymouth Bay: The Wrasse and Pollock are turning up in larger numbers from the piers, with good returns reported from the Weymouth Angling Society juniors on Monday night. Preston will produce Dabs and Flounder, with the chance of a Bass.

Guiding & Lessons: Now that we are well and truly in the grip of winter, most of my guiding trips for the next few months will be bait fishing trips. If the weather settles and the water clears for a week, then I will go for Pollock and Wrasse on lures. If you are thinking of booking a Plaice fishing trip, I am going to be running those from the second week of March. Until then it will be Wrasse from the rocks and Cod trips if the weather allows.  Have a look on the guiding link at the top of the page or drop me an email for more details to [email protected]