A poor weekend of fishing ahead

I would love to say that the fishing forecast for this weekend is looking good, but its not. Chesil will be close to unfishable, and the water will be coloured. It is no sea to be going out on a boat and the Mullet have not shown up yet. So where can you go for your fishy fix?

I fished Portland Harbour yesterday on a couple of guiding sessions. The water in the harbour is a lot clearer than anywhere else and we did manage to get a couple of Bass and a Garfish on lures. Whilst I was wading I could see a few small Flounder close in.

Other marks worth trying are Windspit, Preston Beach in Weymouth and Swanage Pier. I am running the first of the River Cottage Shoreline courses today. My normal choice of venue would be Chesil, but that is going to be almost impossible, so I have opted to fish the North Wall at Lyme Regis. This should offer a good level of protection and we will have the wind at our backs. I will let you know how we got on.

Sea Conditions: 

Water temperature 12 °c.

Chesil Beach: Rough with a 2m swell and fairly coloured.

Portland: 2m waves with  lightly coloured water

Portland Harbour: Wavelets with clear water

Weymouth Bay: short surf with  lightly coloured water.

Chesil Beach forecast: The beach will be just fishable today (Friday), but looking at the wind forecast for tomorrow and Sunday, it is highly unlikely that it will be safe enough to fish. Waves will be well in excess of 2m and the surf run off will be long. The rough conditions are likely to bring in Bass today. Dogfish and pout will also show in the coloured water. I will update this section during the weekend as the weather changes.

Portland: Rougher conditions are never good for the Wrasse or Pollock fishing on the Island. However it does encourage species such as Bass and Bull Huss that prefer these conditions. Large fish baits on a rotten bottom rig work well.

Portland Harbour: There are Garfish and a few Bass in the harbour that can be targeted on lures. Use lugworm or Ragworm to target Bass and Flounder. Small Wrasse can normally be caught from the small reefs around Sandsfoot.

Weymouth Bay: Weymouth bay is always a good back up mark in westerly winds. FLounder, Dabs, Rays and Bass are always on the cards at Preston. The piers will produce Pout, Pollock, Wrasse and Scorpion Fish. Reports suggest that this is one of the better marks for Mackerel at the moment. Remember that feathering from either of the piers is prohibited. However use a float fished strip of Mackerel for Garfish, Pollock and Mackerel. 

Still very little sign of Mullet.

Guiding & Lessons: With the fishing season well under way I am taking bookings for lure and bait fishing guided sessions. I am also offering 2 hour long fishing workshops, for those wanting to learn some of the basic techniques.  Have a look on the guiding link at the top of the page or drop me an email for more details to [email protected]