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

It is still a bit lumpy on Chesil Beach at the moment, and it will remain the same until Friday. I have just had a look at the long range wind forecast on Windguru, and I can’t dare believe what it says. From Friday onwards we are forecast for light winds, mainly from the South West. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

The water temperature is rising steadily. If it continues to come up at the same rate it has over the past 10 days, then I would expect to see the spring run of fish start to turn up over the next week. There are still no Mullet in the harbours yet, and the Mackerel are very thin on the ground. It will be good to see them return.

Whilst Chesil has not fished that well for the past week, Preston Beach from the bandstand on Weymouth seafront to Bowleaze Cove has produced some decent catches. The Samalite League was fished there on Saturday, due to it being canceled on Chesil. Although the number of fish caught were down, there was plenty of variety, with Pout, Bass, Flounder, Whiting, Rockling, Smoothound and Sole all caught. The later two species were undersized, but it is nice to catch different species. A coulpe of other anglers I know have been catching quite a few Bass from the beach at night. Mackerel and Squid seem to do very well when fished close in.

Sea Conditions: 

Water temperature 7.5*c.

Chesil Beach: Choppy with a 2m swell. The water is coloured.

Portland: 2m swell and slightly coloured water on the West side, but a lot clearer on the East side.

Portland Harbour: Calm and clear.

Weymouth Bay: Calm but the water is a bit coloured.

Chesil Beach forecast: Until the swell drops off and colour drops out the water, fishing on Chesil Beach is going to be poor. The normal Pout, small Whiting and Rockling will be around, but even the Dogfish seem to be staying away. Plaice fishing will be hard work for the next few days, but Sunday could see some good conditions to target them.

Portland: The rise in the temperature will see the Wrasse come in a bit closer and start to feed. Worm and Crab fished on rotten bottom rigs are most likely to catch. Night tides will give you the chance of large Rockling, Bull Huss, Pollock and Conger from marks like Chine and Blacknor.

Portland Harbour: Flounder have moved back into the harbour, but still no reports of any Bass.

Weymouth Bay: The Stone Pier is fishing well now. Lots of species and plenty of fish. The majority of them are small, but if you go light and use LRF tactics you can have a lot of fun. Preston as I mentioned earlier is also fishing quite well. It has always been a very under rated mark, that has produced lots of decent fish in the past.

Guiding & Lessons: Normally I would be looking to book guiding sessions for the next month, but with the water being so cold, I am going to limit the guiding to bait fishing for April and I will start the Bass guiding in May. I am still happy to give lessons in both bait and lure fishing during April, but don’t expect to catch too much on lures until nearer the end of the month. I am starting the first of the River Cottage Shoreline course from the 4th of April.  Have a look on the guiding link at the top of the page or drop me an email for more details to [email protected]