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

A quick Bass guiding session this morning on one of my favourite Dorset marks, resulted in a great mornings fishing. It is also why I am late with todays forecast 🙂 It was one of those days when everything was perfect. Good tides, the wind was the right strength from the right direction and the fish were there. We managed Bass, Pollock and Mackerel. Most came to either Seaspin Leppe 22, or a Savage Gear Sandeel Real Pearl 12.5cm 23g I also tested out the new Savage Gear 4 play shads, which performed pretty well.

Mackerel fishing on Chesil! Where is the best place? Well at the moment, it doesn’t seem to matter, as huge shoals seem to be moving up and down the beach all day and night. At times they are a pest, especially if you are trying to target other species. I was with a friend yesterday and we were after Bream from around Ferrybridge. We could not get our baits through the Mackerel for over 2 hours. No matter what bait we tried, it didn’t make it to the bottom. After this mornings session, I think the weekend will be great for Mackerel as well as the other summer species.

I have not forgot that I am supposed to do a new mark each day. I will put them up as separate posts.

 Sea Conditions: 

Water temperature 17.7*c.

Chesil Beach: 1.5m swell that should drop as the wind drops throughout the day. The water is coloured at the western end of the beach, but pretty clear towards Portland.

Portland: 1m waves with  almost clear water

Portland Harbour: Calm with clear water.

Weymouth Bay:  Calm with clear water

Chesil Beach forecast: Mackerel and everything that feeds on them should be present all along the beach. Further towards Portland and the bird sanctuary at Ferrybridge should be good for Gurnard and Bream. A few Bream have been showing towards West Bexington and Abbotsbury, but both of those marks have fished well for Plaice and Dabs over the past couple of days. Sole have been reported in the same area. If you wan to target Sole then use size 4 hooks baited with Lugworm.

I expect to see some Bass and Smoothound falling to live Peeler Crab. If you are after  Ray, then bait up with Sandeel. Tony Orchard sent me this picture of a 6lb Bass he had on lures. Looks like another contender for fish of the month.

Portland: Lure fishing around Portland should be good this weekend. Good tides at good times! When ever high water is a couple of hours either side of dawn or dusk, that is the best time to fish Portland rock marks.

If you want to stick with bait, then expect to catch Wrasse, Pollock and after dark, Bull Huss and Conger

Portland Harbour: The bigger tides normally bring the Bass into the harbour. Mullet and Flounder are always present at this time of year. I have noticed that there seems to be more Thin Lipped Mullet in Portland Harbour this year than there has been for the previous two years.

Weymouth Bay: Both piers are fishing well, but they are both very busy with holiday makers. Preston beach is also packed with other beach users during the day, so it is probably a good idea to avoid it. Night tides should produce Gurnard, Flounder, Rays and Smoothound, with the chance of nice Bass close in.

Preston Beach will produce flatfish and the odd Bass. It is a good mark when it is windy like today.

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]