Catch report & fishing forecast for Dorset including Chesil Beach, Portland & Weymouth. 4th January 2013

The past few days have seen a lot of fish coming from all along the beach. Most notable were the number of Codling that have been caught at the Western end of Chesil, especially around Cogden and West Bexington. I was lucky enough to get in on the action with 3 almost identical in size Codling. All 3 of them weighed 3lb 9oz and were caught on Lugworm. I did have one of them on a Pennel that had a Pout attached to the top hook, so it may have been after the Pout. Plenty of Whiting and Pout for me as well. Unfortunately the way that the colour has dropped out of the water and the sea has calmed down, I think today could be a case of “you should have been here yesterday”. The one species that does like these conditions are Dabs. Small hooks baited with small pieces of frozen black Lugworm are the best bait for the delicious little flatties.

 

Water Temperature: 10.4*c             Weymouth High Tide: 11.10pm, 1.71m

Wind: SW 12mph

Sea Conditions:

Chesil Beach: Small waves with rafts of weed still about. Water has a brown tinge to it, but is a lot clearer than it has been recently

Portland: The water is only slightly coloured on most of the Portland marks, with only a small swell to contend with.

Portland Harbour: Calm with clear water.

Weymouth Bay: Calm with a bit of colour in the water.

Chesil Beach forecast: I have seen it so often after a big blow, that once the water clears down to a slightly coloured twinge nothing gets caught during the day for a few days. I fear today is going to be one of those days and tomorrow is most likely going to be the same. Night sessions will see plenty of Whiting, Pout and Dogfish, but very few if any Cod.

 

Portland: The Wrasse will be hungry after the battering they have had recently, so they should happily take any Ragworm or crab bait that is presented to them. A good chance of catching a Pollock or a Bull Huss on a large Mackerel bait. Church Ope Cove would be a good spot to try today.

Portland Harbour: A few Flounder are all that I have heard about coming out of the harbour. Having said that there are not many people fishing it at the moment.

Weymouth Bay: There is still a lot of water coming down from the harbour, but it is worth giving the Stone Pier a go for Pollock, Flounder and Pout.

Poole Harbour: With not much rain over the past few days the Flounder fishing has really picked up again in the harbour. Several anglers have told me of catches well into double figures, with some School Bass amongst the Flounders. Ragworm and Peeler crab are the best baits.

Fish of the month or week competition! I am going to start running a fish of the month competition and if I can get a sponsor or two interested, I will run a weekly competition. I will release more details of the prizes in the next couple of days. The competition will be for what myself and the sponsor think is the best fish for that period. It may not be the largest fish, as all factors including location and tackle will be taken into account. The fish must have been caught from the waters of Dorset or Devon and have been caught during the period of the competition. You need to email me a picture and give details of where, when and how it was caught. To ensure your secret spots are kept secret I only need to know the rough location so get sending your pictures in now to [email protected]

Guiding: Due to the Bass fishing falling off I am only taking bookings for traditional bait fishing sessions for January, I will be targeting Cod, and Whiting from the beach and large Wrasse and Pollock from the shore. I am happy to fit in a few short Pollock and Wrasse lure sessions from the rocks, but these will be limited to 1/2 day or 2 to 3 hour sessions. These can be tailored to your requirements. Drop me an email for more details [email protected]