Fishing forecast for CHesil Beach, Portland & Weymouth. 20th July 2012

It looks like we are going to be having a period of settled fairly calm weather. This combined with fairly large tides this weekend should make for excellent summer fishing. The Bream are now showing in reasonable numbers and there are a lot of Smoothound all along the beach. Smoothound are one of my favourite sporting fish. Even on a 13ft beachcaster a 6lb Smoothound can give a tremendous fight. I have found that this year that if I am using Peeler Crab they can be taken at very close range. With the school summer holidays now upon us, it might be a great species to target with your kids to really get them hooked on fishing. With this in mind I have recruited a new member to the Fishing Tails team. My 14 year old Son, who until future notice will be known as “Billy no Bites” I will let him introduce himself later and he can tell you what his role will be.

Water Temperature: 15.1*c                 Weymouth High Tide: 8.33pm, 2.23m

Wind SW 13mph

Sea Conditions:

Chesil Beach: Calm with a small swell of less than 1m. The water is clear along the beach with the exception of the area I reported over the past week around West Bexington where it is milky brown, though it looked like it was stating to drop out yesterday when I fished there.

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

Portland Harbour: Calm. Water is clear

Weymouth Bay: Calm with the water  now clear.

Chesil Beach forecast: Mackerel are now within easy casting distance again, though I did notice when I had a quick session yesterday that they were not around in huge numbers. It took me 40 minutes to catch a dozen, with them mostly coming as single fish. Lots of Smoothound all along the beach. Other fish that I have seen landed over the past two days include Bream, Gurnard, Bass, Plaice and Garfish. With the exception of the Smoothound and Garfish the other species fell to Ragworm.

Portland: I will be fishing the rock marks around Portland today with lures. Target species will be Bass, Wrasse, Pollock and Garfish. The excellent water clarity and overcast conditions should make for good fishing.

Portland Harbour: The harbour is now starting to get back to its normal fishing conditions with small Bass being caught along Hamm beach to the sailing club at Sandsfoot. Try the reefs around Sandsfoot for Pollock and Wrasse and on the clean ground there are plenty of Flounders.

Weymouth Bay: Stone Pier is a great mark to take your kids and introduce them to the numerous species that live on it during the summer. Bream, Pollock, Wrasse and even Bass can be caught by just dropping a line over the side. A great way to spend a summer day in Weymouth.

Boats and Kayaks: Great weather for boat fishing all weekend. Even the smaller boats will be able to get out to the reefs around Portland and the Shambles. The charter fleet are reporting great catches for Bream, Rays and Turbot locally.