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

Yesterdays snow kept most people off the beach, but with slightly better if not colder conditions today, I would think that quite a few more people will be out trying for a late Cod and some of the Whiting that seem plentiful at the moment. I have no idea when the colour will drop from the water. It seems to have hung around for ages, ruining the lure fishing. It is likely that the cause is the clay that has fallen into the sea from the numerous landslips we had had recently. The water temperature has dropped considerably over the past 2 days, and has now gone below the 9 degree mark. This will effectively kill of 90% of the Bass fishing until it returns back to 10 degrees.

Water Temperature: 9*c             Weymouth High Tide: 11.28am, 1.7m (approaching neap tides)

Wind: See the new Windguru plug in on the top right hand side of the page.

Sea Conditions:

Chesil Beach: Coloured water but fairly calm with a 1.0m swell.

Portland: Calm with a small swell, the water is  lightly coloured.

Portland Harbour: Calm with clear water.

Weymouth Bay: Calm with a bit of colour in the water.

Chesil Beach forecast: A cold but light Northerly wind will make conditions on Chesil fairly calm. Unfortunately we are now into the midst of January, which normally heralds the start of the worst 6 weeks of fishing for Chesil. Most likely catches will be Whiting, Pout, Dogfish and Rockling.

Portland: There have been some lovely Wrasse, Conger and Bull Huss caught from Portland in the past couple of days. Now the tides are not so strong the fishing on the island should be really good. Pollock have been falling to lures around dusk.

Portland Harbour: It has all gone quite again in the harbour, even though there is lots of evidence of bait fish around. The sudden drop in temperature often puts the Bass off feeding in the harbour, just leaving a few Flounder.

Weymouth Bay: The piers are fishing well for Whiting, both during the day and at night. Plenty of Pout are also being caught with the odd Flounder and Pollock.

Poole Harbour: You still have a few weeks of decent fishing left for Flounder in Poole harbour. Best baits are Peeler Crab if you are feeling flush, or Ragworm. They might not be the most attractive fish, but on light gear they are sporting.

Fish of the month competition: I have one potential sponsor showing interest in supporting this competition, if any others would like to come forward even if it is just to sponsor one month then please contact me.  The competition will be for what myself and the sponsor think is the best fish for that period. It may not be the largest fish, as all factors including location and tackle will be taken into account. The fish must have been caught from the waters of Dorset or Devon and have been caught during the period of the competition. You need to email me a picture and give details of where, when and how it was caught. To ensure your secret spots are kept secret I only need to know the rough location so get sending your pictures in now to [email protected]

Guiding: Due to the Bass fishing falling off I am only taking bookings for traditional bait fishing sessions for January, I will be targeting Cod, and Whiting from the beach and large Wrasse and Pollock from the shore. I am happy to fit in a few short Pollock and Wrasse lure sessions from the rocks, but these will be limited to 1/2 day or 2 to 3 hour sessions. These can be tailored to your requirements. Drop me an email for more details [email protected]