Fishing forecast for Chesil Beach, Portland & Weymouth. 14th July 2012

I finally managed to get out with my friend and fellow fishing guide Paul, and do some bait fishing from Chesil beach yesterday, down at West Bexington. As we had a few guiding sessions coming up over the next few days, our main purpose was to find somewhere that was fishing well in these difficult conditions. I managed to get into a couple of nice Starry Smoothound, the biggest going around 6lb. You know when you have a Smoothound on that’s for sure and it is also why they are one my favourite shore fish to catch in the UK. Whilst fishing we noticed that in a very short duration the water went from a slightly green tinge to a very chalky brown colour. This has basically killed any chance of Mackerel fishing today, as it is still there this morning. I am pretty sure that it is water that is coming out of West Bay and Charmouth.

Water Temperature: 14.8*c                 Weymouth High Tide: 4.04pm, 1.51m

Wind W 19mph switching to NW and dying back to 12mph this afternoon

Sea Conditions:

Chesil Beach: There is quite a bit of surf on the beach with waves as big as 2m. Water is chalky brown in colour and there is a lot of weed all along the beach.

Portland: 2m swell, it is quite rough on the West side, but a bit more sheltered in the east. Water clarity is better than the beach but still a bit coloured.

Portland Harbour: Calm. Water is slightly coloured especially around Ferrybridge where it has a very rusty colour to it.

Weymouth Bay: Calm but the water coming from the harbour is very dirty and contains lots of fresh water.

Chesil Beach forecast: Plenty of Smoothound and Bass on the beach. Peeler crab is the best bait in the current conditions. I have not heard of any reports of much else coming from the beach this week. A lot of the locals are complaining about the lack of fish, but hopefully as the tides start to build back up again the salinity levels will change for the better and we can see a return to some decent fishing.

Portland: Wrasse. Pollock, Garfish and Bass have not been so badly effected around Portland, though the fishing has been a lot slower this week than it has of recent. Night time fishing should see some Bull Huss and Conger from Marks like Blacknor Point and Chine. I will be trying for some Bass from the Island today on plugs. I got a nice looking Seville lure from Weymouth Angling Centre yesterday and I can’t wait to see how it performs.

Portland Harbour: I have to say with the exception of Flounder fishing, Portland harbour has not been good from the shore at all this week. The fleet is a rusty brown colour that gives an indication that it is being badly affected by run of from the surrounding fields.

Weymouth Bay: Similar to Portland Harbour, the fresh water is badly effecting the fishing in the Bay. Smaller fish can still be found around the Piers and Bass do not mind fresh water.

Boat and Kayak fishing: Small boats and Kayaks will fair better in Portland Harbour and along the East side of Portland than shore anglers. The Hood entrance would be my first choice with the main entrance and Balaclava Bay a close second. Contrary to my comments yesterday that the Weymouth Charter Fleet are all booked up for the Olympics, I have been informed that the opposite is in fact true. A lot of boats that are not directly involved with the Olympics are having a very hard time filling spaces. I will be in contact with the skippers and put up a list of boats with spaces.