Finally a chance to get out fishing on Sunday

If the wind forecast is to be believed, then Sunday looks like a good opportunity to get out for a fishing session. It is hard to believe that at the moment, with almost hurricane force winds , that the beach will be fishable at all this weekend. However the winds are set to drop by mid afternoon on Saturday, leaving us with breezy conditions on Sunday. At this time it is hard to predict how rough Chesil will be on Sunday, but there is a higher than average chance that it will be fishable. Will the beach be full of Cod, waiting to pounce on our baits? That remains to be seen, but what I do know is that where anglers have been able to get out further along the South coast, they have been finding some nice plump Cod, like the one pictured below from last year.

I know that there are a lot of competitions on locally over the weekend. As the conditions for Saturday are bad, this will almost certainly mean that any of the competitions scheduled to be fished on Chesil will either be cancelled or more likely moved too moved to more sheltered locations. Preston beach is a favourite back up venue, so it may be very busy on Saturday night if you are thinking of heading there.

Sea Conditions: 

Water temperature 8.7°c.

Chesil Beach:  Rough with 2m waves. The water is heavily coloured. This will move to unfishable conditions from this afternoon (Friday) until Sunday morning.

Portland: Rough with 2m waves with  coloured water.

Portland Harbour: Choppy with  coloured water

Weymouth Bay: Calm. The water is lightly  coloured.

Chesil Beach forecast: I would forget fishing Chesil until Sunday, when hopefully it will be fishable. It will be hard work, as there is likely to be a lot of debris in the water as well as a heavy swell. Unless you are a decent caster, you will get your line buried in the shingle by the swell. However if you can cast a decent distance with bait, then the chances of picking up a Cod or Conger are not bad. There will be the usual Pout and Dogfish to keep your rod tip nodding, and towards the Western end of the beach, I would expect to see quite a few Rockling.

Portland: If you want to target Bull Huss and Conger, then Portland will be a good choice today. Keep away from the lower rocks and ledges and you will be safe. Use large fish baits and rotten bottom rigs, for your best chance at getting a double figure fish.

Portland Harbour: With the water temperature now well below the magical 9°C mark that Bass will have moved off, but there are still plenty of Flounder and a few Dabs in the harbour. All we can do now is wait for spring again.

Weymouth Bay: I expect Preston will be quite busy with anglers looking to find shelter from the wind. There are still quite a few Whiting around, as well as Pout and Dogfish. Dabs and Flounder are a regular catch from all along the beach. The piers are always a good place to go when you are in need of a fishy fix. No great size to any of the fish normally, but it can be fun on light gear.

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]