Catch report & fishing forecast for Dorset including Chesil Beach, Portland & Weymouth. 9th January 2013

It looks like we are going to have calm conditions for the next day and a half then the wind is going to be all over the place. Primarily it will be northerly, so temperatures will drop a lot towards the weekend. Hopefully this will bring the Cod and Whiting back in and push the dogfish offshore. This will coincide with better tides making Chesil a good choice for this weekend.

Boat fishing around Portland & Weymouth is often over looked at this time of year. It shouldn’t be. I have caught some of my best fish from the boat during January and I am looking forward to getting out on the boat quit a bit this month. Unfortunately as I no longer have my own boat it is more difficult for me, but I am hoping to have a boat again before the end of this year.

Water Temperature: 10.4*c             Weymouth High Tide: 4.22pm, 1.85m

Wind: ESE 10mph

Sea Conditions:

Chesil Beach: Calm with a small swell water has a milky tinge to it.

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

Portland Harbour: Calm with clear water.

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

Chesil Beach forecast: It seems like Chesil is back to its normal January pattern of poor fishing on the smaller tides. Most of the catches consist of  Pout and Dogfish. Even the Whiting seem to have dried up at the moment. I am pretty sure this will change as the tides become larger over the next few days. One bonus is that there seem to be quite a few Sole being caught from marks to the West of Bexington, all the way to West Bay. Mixed in with the Sole are Dabs. Both species can be caught quite close to the shore using small baits. A 2 or 3 hook flapper with size 4 hooks and lugworm baits will be one of the more successful methods of catching them. Dabs love smelly bits of Black Lug.

Portland: With improved water clarity Portland should be a good choice if you need to have a fishing fix. Lure fishing for Pollock, Bass and Wrasse are all still possible even though the water is cold. High water coincides with dusk today, which is the best tide and time combination for Pollock on lures from the Bill. Expect large Wrasse to fall to live crab baits, but you will need heavy gear and expect high tackle loses. Fish around Pulpit 2 hours either side of low water, or fish the East side such as Chine or by the crane at the Bill on the flood.

Portland Harbour: Not much other than Flounder in the harbour at the moment, but as the tides start to get bigger Bass may move in again.

Weymouth Bay: Even though we are in the middle of winter both the pleasure and Stone pier are producing fish. Wrasse, pout and Pollock are making regular appearances, with some Flounders fishing from the end of the piers or into the harbour. Small Ragworm baits or small soft plastic grub tails work equally well for the Flounder. Catching them on light line tactics can be a lot of fun.

Poole Harbour: Reports from Poole harbour are still good with plenty of fish still around. They should stay for a few more weeks yet.

Boat & Kayak fishing: The Weymouth charter fleet are doing well at the moment, with good catches of Cod, Whiting and Rays. My friend Fraser has been out on his boat quite a bit over the last week and he has had some really good results with Cod to 20lb and a huge reef caught conger of 65lb. All caught in the safer inshore waters around Portland.

Because the boat fishing is so good at the moment I am going to try and organise a half day trip out next week. The cost is likely going to be £25 per person and gear is available to hire if you don’t have your own. send me an email if you are interested in a trip.

Fish of the month or week competition! I am going to start running a fish of the month competition and if I can get a sponsor or two interested, I will run a weekly competition. I will release more details of the prizes in the next couple of days. 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]