Fishing forecast for Chesil Beach, Portland & Weymouth. 19th July 2012

It is still a bit breezy this morning, but the blow yesterday has stirred the beach up a bit, so I will be out first thing looking for some more Bass and Smoothound down at Cogden. I am currently having my best year on the beach, with a great variety of species and regularly catching bigger and better fish all the time. The success I am having on Smoothound this year has exceeded my best year when fishing in the Solent. On a recent guiding session with a client, we managed 16 Smoothound, 7 Bass, 6 Dabs, 2 Plaice, 1 sole and a Dogfish, all during the day. I have been trying lots of new marks this year that I have been meaning to try for years. So my advice is to try some new marks, you never know they might be the new hotspot.

Water Temperature: 15.1*c                 Weymouth High Tide: 7.57pm, 2.15m

Wind W 18mph dropping through out the day

Sea Conditions:

Chesil Beach: Currently there is a 2m swell on the beach with some rafts of weed in Chesil Cove. This will settle down towards the afternoon. The water at the Portland end of the beach is fairly clear with just a slight tinge to it. At West Bexington end it is milky brown, I initially thought that this was caused by fresh water coming from the rivers to the West, but after seeing the spread from the viewing points on the high road above Bexington, I can see that it seems to be seeping under the shingle at Bexington and it spreads down to the start of the Swannery at Abbotsbury and spreads West to West Bay and slightly beyond.

Portland: A bit of a swell up to 2m, but the water is clear.

Portland Harbour: Calm. Water is clear

Weymouth Bay: Calm with the water finally becoming clear.

Chesil Beach forecast: Mackerel have been a bit sparse from the beach, but with the weather becoming more settled expect to see them coming back in to casting range. Lots of Smoothound and some Bass especially towards Cogden. A few Bream have come from the Ferrybridge area and further into Chesil Cove some very nice Wrasse to 4lb have been caught on Ragworm.

Portland: Great care will be needed for fishing the rock marks today, but there are a lot of fish around the Bill. Wrasse. Pollock, Garfish and Bass can all be expected on lures and bait fishing. If you do want to bait fish then the best way to keep your tackle would be to use a float set up. Worms for the Wrasse and Mackerel for the Pollock and Garfish.

Portland Harbour: Still fishing poorly at the moment, but as the freshwater levels start to drop more fish will move back in.

Weymouth Bay: Stone Pier is returning to its usual state and is producing lots of different species.