Sole searching

There are fish on Chesil, but you need to be either very close in or hitting long casts to get them at the moment. We are seeing the Garfish in better numbers and they should continue to become a regular in our catches for the next two months. Fred Snook managed a few in a recent session, it helped save a blank and I personally love catching them.

I was set to try for Garfish and Mackerel on Chesil on Friday, but the conditions were very different to those forecast. The wind arrived earlier than expected and the surf got above a metre, but the clarity was still good. Perfect conditions for lure fishing for Bass. Fishing Tails cameraman Gavin managed the first one. then I got into the action and managed the next five. Nothing of any size, but it was good to find some fish.

The interesting news from the weekend is the appearance of decent numbers of Sole from the Western end of Chesil. The bad news for many, is that the Sole are at range, but for those than can hit big distances the rewards can be very good. Chris Buxton, always seems to do well when he travels to Chesil and his latest trip on Saturday was even better than usual. He managed this lovely Sole.

Not content with that he also had a number of Dabs and Plaice including this huge Dab and decent Plaice.

His mate Rich Essex did equally as well and landed another cracking Sole and more Plaice. The bad news a sI mentioned earlier is that all of the flat fish were caught at range.

Sea Conditions: Water temperature 17.8°c

Chesil Beach:  Calm with clear water. 

Portland: Calm with clear water. 

Portland Harbour: Calm and clear

Weymouth Bay: Calm with clear water

Chesil Beach forecast: 

It is not just small flat fish that are being caught on Chesil at the moment. Ben Collins managed a lovely Undulate yesterday in calm and clear conditions.

I am ever hopeful that I will see one of them on the end of my line. Hopefully we should see a few more this week. It looks like with the settled weather and clear water, the Bream and Plaice should be around. I can see no reason why we won’t see Mackerel all along the beach this week. Conditions are perfect for Gurnard and Garfish.

Portland: Great conditions for Wrasse and Pollock on lures and bait. Float fished strips of Mackerel will take Pollock and Garfish, with the odd Mackerel showing as well. My favourite Portland  mark at this time of year is Church Ope Cove, at dusk. You have no idea what species you are likely to catch next. I love to lure fish  but if you use float fished Mackerel and Ragworm, you give your self a better chance at more species.

Portland Harbour: Due to the large tides, there is a lot of Eel grass flowing out from the Fleet. This is causing a lot of problems around Ferrybridge and Sandsfoot. The harbour should have plenty of Scad. Mackerel and Garfish.

Weymouth Bay: Plenty of action in the inner harbour with the Mullet. They are feeding aggressively at the moment. As usual the piers are fishing well.

Guiding: The new guiding season is underway once again. Although we can only keep one Bass, we can certainly catch more. I am hoping that the winter fishing ban and the new commercial quotas, combined with an increase in the minimum landing size, will make for some great Bass fishing. I specialize in lure fishing and I am offering Fly fishing this year as well. I am still more than happy to go after the multitude of species in this area with bait, whether that is big Wrasse, explosive Smoothound fishing or targeting the tastier fish such as Plaice and Bream. If you want to book a session or find out more information drop me an email at [email protected]