Fishing forecast for Chesil Beach, Portland & Weymouth. 12th August 2012

With such small tides today, fishing could be tough for many species with the exception of Mackerel. I am off out for my first proper fishing trip on my Kayak this afternoon. I am hoping the wind will stay light and the fish will bite. Yesterdays East wind really pushed the bait fish well of the beach and made even Mackerel fishing hard.

Water Temperature: 16.4*c             Weymouth High Tide: 2.37pm, 1.43m

Wind: SW 15mph

Sea Conditions:

Chesil Beach: Calm with clear water.

Portland: Calm with clear water

Portland Harbour: Calm with clear water

Weymouth Bay: Calm with slightly coloured water.

Chesil Beach forecast: I would expect to see plenty of Mackerel being caught all along the beach. Gurnard are one of the fish that also seem to be all along the beach. If you are after some Bream then the Portland end of Chesil will be your best opportunity. Use two or three hook rigs baited with Ragworm and small strips of Squid. Similar baits but using a long flowing trace will give the chance of Plaice from the other end of the beach. The Garfish have now appeared in good numbers all along the beach and are pretty close to the shore. A float fished strip of Mackerel on a size 4 hook fished very close to the surface will bring some acrobatic and exciting sport on light tackle.

Portland: The gill nets are still in place all around Portland. Although it has not completely killed the fishing it certainly has had a profound effect.  You can still catch plenty of Wrasse but the numbers of Pollock are much lower than normal, but that may be due to the small tides.

Portland Harbour: Lots of Mullet and a few small Bass around. Plenty of small Wrasse around the reefs at Sandsfoot Castle. You can also pick up Flounders from the sand all along the harbour.

Weymouth Bay: I thought that with the East wind yesterday Preston might fish well. I turned up there with a half dozen Peeler crabs and the surf looked perfect. The only problem was the hundreds of holiday makers also thought it was perfect. So scratch that venue during the daytime for the moment, but it should fish well in the evening.

Boat & Kayak fishing: Nice light winds today means that even small boats should be able to get out and enjoy some sport. I did notice yesterday that a lot of the charter fleet were round the West side of Portland and on the ledges of Chesil. This may have been to get out of the wind, or maybe they have been getting some good fish. Several boats were in very close to Blacknor. Only once space left for a bout trip on Thursday the 16^th of August. It will be a morning start for a 5 hour trip on the local banks and reefs for only £25. Email me if you are interested [email protected]