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

I wish I had reports of loads of fish being caught over the weekend, but unfortunately I dont. With a few exceptions it was a pretty quite weekend with very few Plaice landed. It wasn’t helped by the freezing conditions keeping people indoors.

My mate Paul phoned me up yesterday to say that he had just had one of his best session this year. He fished the Portland end of Chesil and managed to land loads of Dogfish and some very large Pout of over 2lb. He managed the smallest Smoothound he had ever seen and another of 6lb. After losing a decent Ray in the back swell he went on to land his best Cod of the year which weighed 8lb on his kitchen scales. As soon as he can work out how to email me the pictures I will put them on the site.

Sea Conditions: 

Water temperature 6.7*c

Chesil Beach: Small chop with a 2m swell and a long surf run off. There is a lot of colour in the water.

Portland: 2m swell and lightly coloured water

Portland Harbour: Surf running on most of the beaches in the harbour with the exception of Castletown.

Weymouth Bay: large surf running for over 100m with a lot of colour in the water.

Chesil Beach forecast: You will pick up Dogfish, Pout and small Whiting through out the day with the odd Dab and Rockling. It is not impossible that you will get a Plaice but conditions are not great for them.

Portland: Coloured water and a large swell make for poor fishing on the island, with the exception of Bull Huss. For the best chance of a Huss you will want to target them after dark using fish baits. Fishing at dusk today should see some Pollock. Tides are better on Sunday as high water falls just before dusk. Lures work best for Pollock.

Portland Harbour: With surf running on most of the beaches in the harbour it could offer a chance of a Bass. There is not too much weed around at the moment so fishing will not be too hard.

Weymouth Bay: Preston Beach is my number one choice this weekend for the chance of a Bass. In truth it is too cold for them but you do get shoals of fish all year round that sometimes come inshore when the conditions are right.

Guiding & Lessons: I know it is the heart of winter, but now is a good time to think about booking a 1 to 1 lesson or get on one of my fishing workshops. This will give you plenty of time to practice the techniques you learn before the fish turn up again in the spring. Have a look on the guiding link at the top of the page or drop me an email for more details to [email protected]