At last the Mackerel are here in numbers

I don’t ever remember having to wait so long for the Mackerel to arrive in large number, but the good news is they are finally here and they are huge fish.

 

I always welcome the Mackerel, because so many other species depend on them, it often brings in the Rays. Not necessarily for the Mackerel, but the Rays will move in to mop up the small bait fish that have been smashed by the mackerel shoals and end up dead on the sea bad. Trev Fox managed this lovely Undulate from Chesil on Saturday night. He tells me this is one of his smallest this year. Oh to just catch one Undulate, would make me a happy angler.

I apologise for the lack of Chesil reports from Friday and Monday. Don’t worry they are not going away, we have just been really busy working on trying to make the site even better and unfortunately there’s never enough time to do everything.

One of the things I was doing on Friday was making a video on the basics of boat fishing. I was out with Trad Casey on his boat Gypsy. It was only a 1/2 day trip, but even so we managed 11 species including Tope, Undulate Ray

Smoothound, Pout, Wrasse and one of my least favourite fish, a 25lb Conger for me. Not bad for a beginners trip.

Chesil Beach: calm with clear water

Portland: small swell with clear water

Portland harbour: wavelets and clear water

Weymouth Bay: 1m surf and lightly coloured water

Chesil Beach forecast: with a brisk easterly breeze blowing today, Chesil will be flat calm. The wind coming from behind will allow you to cast a long way and hit the Plaice beds at Abbotsbury. It should also be perfect for Smoothound, Gurnard and Mackerel.

Portland: an easterly wind will create a bit of surf at Church Ope, providing a chance of a Bass. The west side of the island will be sheltered and the Wrasse fishing will be good.

Portland Harbour: Last week I mentioned that I had not seen any Gilthead Bream in the harbour. Now they have appeared at a number of marks including the reef near Sandsfoot sailing club and along the shore near Portland Marina and Castletown. Lugworm or Mussels are the best bait for the Giltheads.

Weymouth Bay: As usual the piers will provide lots of different species including Mackerel, Pollock, Wrasse and Garfish, but it will be all about Preston Beach today.

With an easterly wind blowing straight onto the beach the surf will get up. This is perfect conditions for Bass. They will move in close and take most baits. Use light tackle and only cast out 20m at the most. There is a very good chance you will see me there.

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]