Tough fishing as predicted

The wind certainly played its part over the weekend, but it didn’t stop you hardy anglers getting out there and catching some nice fish. Peter Cope emailed me yesterday, to let me know he had just returned from a weeks holiday in weymouth with his family. Their holiday home backed onto Newtons Cove. Every night when the kids were in bed he managed to get a few hours fishing. He managed to catch Wrasse, Pout and some small Congers. After reading  the Fishing Tails forecast for Friday, which was their last full day, he went with our advice and fished a big bait close in. The easterly wind had totally changed the look of the cove and on the last cast of the holiday he managed this 9 1/2lb bass a new PB!

Well done Peter. That famous last cast that gets me into so much trouble with the wife, can pay off.

Conditions on Saturday were not easy, especially on Chesil. Even some of the countries top anglers struggled on the Samalite league, that was fished from the Portland end of the beach. Though they did manage a good number of species including Wrasse and Plaice from the same mark.

One angler that did very well on Saturday was Dave Barratt. Not only did he managed to land a nice sized Bream, he also had Plaice, Red Gurnard, Dogfish and Conger

 

 

Sunday started off wet and windy, and as the morning progressed, the wind picked up a lot more. To me it looked like perfect conditions for a Bass session. I managed to persuade my mate Paul Black to come along. Thankfully the rain eased off as we got to the western end of Chesil. I managed to get my Igloo shelter up, but Paul didn’t even attempt to get his Beach Buddy erected. I have a rule that if I can’t get my Igloo up then its too windy to fish. But as usual one of the best shelters on the beach stayed firm for the duration of our session.

As you can see from the picture, conditions were a bit rough.

 

It might have been rough, but thats the way the Bass like it, and we were a safe distance from the water.However it seems that the Bass were also a safe distance from us. Despite having live Peeler and using whole Squid, we didn’t manage to beach a fish, though we did lose a couple. I guess thats why they call it fishing and not catching! If you are interested in more details of the beach shelter I use then click on this Igloo Shelter link.

Looking at the Forecast for the next few days, it looks like it will be changeable, but much improved towards the end of the week. The forecasts for the different marks below should give you an idea of where to head to and when. Keep coming back to the site all week, as we have a number of good articles lined up, including one on catching Red Cod from the rocks.

 

Sea Conditions: Water temperature 16.6°c

Chesil Beach:  Rough with coloured water

Portland: West side, rough with coloured water. East side has waves of up to 1m and a fair amount of weed.

Portland Harbour: Wavelets and lightly coloured water

Weymouth Bay: Calm with almost clear water.

Chesil Beach forecast: Similar conditions on Chesil today (Monday) as there was yesterday. If you are going to go after a Bass in these conditions then don’t go alone and take care. I personally would not recommend fishing on Chesil today.  However tomorrow is a different matter. The wind will drop overnight and leave a dirty and still turbulent sea for Tuesday. It will be fishable and I would expect Bass, Pout and Dogfish to be caught during the day. With the amount of Cod that are being caught on the boats close to shore, I would not be surprised to see some Cod caught. There have been a lot of Conger caught from the beach recently and they will come out to hunt in the coloured water. As usual in dirty conditions, big smelly baits are essential.

Once the water settles down, which should be mid afternoon on Wednesday, the fishing will be back to summer species. Bream, Gurnard and hopefully Mackerel will feed again.

Portland: Wrasse will take a day or so to settle before feeding aggressively again. I would not expect to see any Pollock until later in the week, when the sea has fully settled. Congers and Bass will be possible over the next few days. Large Mackerel baits should tempt them if they are around.

Portland Harbour: I don’t expect great things from the harbour until later in the week, when the tides increase in size. Once they do then Bass, Scad and Garfish can all be caught on lures or bait. Flounder and Mullet are always possible, especially around Sandsfoot and Castletown.

Weymouth Bay: Plenty of shelter from the South Westerly winds in the bay today. Preston will produce Gurnard, Red Mullet, Dabs and Flounder during the day. Night tides will bring plenty of Dogfish and Pout, with the chance of the odd Ray.

The Piers continue to produce lots of fish at this time of year. Expect to catch small Bream, decent Wrasse, Pollock, Mackerel, Garfish and Pout. If you cast out to the sand, then add Flounder Gurnard, Dabs and maybe even Plaice to the list.

Guiding:

I am now taking bookings for plaice trips as well as some basic fishing workshops for the next month. In the workshops I teach all sorts of skills, that will give you a good grounding for your fishing adventures for the rest of the year. I am happy to do lure or bait sessions and the workshops are 2 hours long and limitied to 3 people. If you are thinking about booking a guided lure or bait session for the later on in the year, then now is the best time to do it, to grab the best tides.

This year we will be offering boat guiding sessions from your own boat, from Weymouth and Portland and shore guiding in the Poole and Purbeck area. If you want more details then drop me an email to [email protected]