What a great couple of days we have had weather wise, and with some lovely fish being landed what more could you ask for? The same again for the weekend would be my first answer! Unfortunately the wind is going to pick up during the day today and by tomorrow we will have a stiff Easterly wind. That doesn’t mean that they fishing wont be good, far from it. In fact it will open up a few venues that fish better with a bit of wind, especially for the Bass.
Wind forecast E 12mph increasing to E 20mph through out the day.
Water Temperature: 12*c Weymouth High Tide: 10.05pm, 1.99m
Sea Conditions:
Chesil Beach: Very little swell with small wavelets. Water clarity is good
Portland Bill: Swell building throughout the day and medium sized waves on the East side. It will be more sheltered on the West side. Water clarity is mostly good, but weed will build in the bays on the East
Portland Harbour: Small waves building in strength by early evening, water is slightly coloured.
Weymouth Bay: Small waves building in strength by early afternoon. Water is coloured with sandy silt. Expect weed to build by this evening.
Chesil Beach forecast: Lots of Mackerel all along the beach and some nice Garfish showing from the Portland end, especially Chesil Cove and towards the Chesil Beach Road car park. Float fish thin strips of Mackerel on a size 4 or 6 Aberdeen pattern hook with a short trace. Also lots and lots of Dogfish, both at night and during the day. Gurnards starting to show more regularly along from Chesil Beach car park on Portland Road, Weymouth. Bream have not turned up in significant numbers, but the odd one or two are showing. With better tides expect to see more Plaice and Dabs on the beach at Abbotsbury and West Bexington. There is also a very good chance of a nice Ray from that end of the beach, especially with high water coinciding with darkness. Usual baits of Sandeel or Peeler crab will work.
Portland: Conditions are going to be a bit harder on these marks, unless you want to make the perilous journey down the West side around Blacknor in search of a nice Bull Huss. Depending on how dirty the water gets will depend on whether the Wrasse and Pollock will continue to feed. It wont put the Bass off and the numerous garfish that are there now never seem to bother about coloured water.
Portland Harbour: Could be a good mark for a Bass if you fancy going down to Sandsfoot as the tide floods. Keep it short and use Ragworm, Squid, Mackerel or Peeler Crab. There was a lot of weed on the shore along there yesterday and if that gets washed into the water then I would not bother, so make sure you have a look from the top before trundling all the way down there to be met with a weed blanket.
Weymouth Bay: A lot less weed in the Bay than at Sandsfoot, so Preston end of the beach could well produce a good Bass or Ray to bait.
Boats: Most of the Charter fleet will get out today and if the results from the rest of the week are anything to go by then you are in for a treat if you are lucky enough to have a place on one of the good ones. Chris Caines has had some cracking Plaice this week as have quite a few of the other boats. Bream fishing has also been very good. Small boats may well struggle to get out on to the Shambles or round to Lulworth this weekend. Kayak fishing in the harbour is the way to go! Easy to launch and with a bit of effort you can usually find a sheltered spot somewhere in the harbour that will get you some decent fish. I can’t wait till I get mine.
.Soap Box Time: I would love to say that this complaint was aimed at a tiny proportion of the fishermen that come down to Chesil, but unfortunately it is not, it seems that more than a few of you are guilty. So what are you idiots out there doing? When you go Mackerel bashing, is it really necessary to kill 50, 100, 200 Mackerel? Unless you are topping up your bait freezer for the year why are you killing so many fish? Mackerel are only good for 2 days as fresh fish and then only if you gut them on the beach. They are useless as a frozen fish unless you are going to defrost it on the beach and use it as bait. The oil content means the fish deteriorates very quickly and the flesh becomes soggy and tasteless.Are you trying to prove your manhood by bringing home hundreds of Mackerel and thrusting them on the neighbours, who don’t really want them because they have no idea how to prepare or even clean them. I have heard that story so many times, as well as the “my cat/dog/goldfish loves them. Get real you morons. Take what you will use either for bait or your own use.
I hear so many times about how the commercial fishermen are depleting all the fish stocks. Well to be honest they waste less Mackerel than the tinsel tossers who just want to land as many Mackerel as they can. Any idiot can land 200 Mackerel in a session when they are around. It is the better fisherman that brings home a dozen or so for the family and tells the neighbours how good the fishing is and that they should go and find out how much fun it is for themselves. Rant over and of you don’t like it then consider yourself part of the idiot brigade!
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Just to say thank you for a great blog. I enjoy your comments about the mackerel killers. I always put all my catch back, unless I have family on the beach at the time and a BBQ on the go. It really annoys me when I fish for mackerel with very light tackle for a bit of sport, to then put them all back safe and sound after putting a huge bend in my spinning rod, and have the rest of the beach looking at me like I am the freak!!!! (especially at west bex)
I think a summer t shirt campaign for responsible locals, with a clear ‘put them back’ message, or perhaps the local council could put up educational signs.
Totally agree with yours and Craigs comments. I fished Ferrybridge last Friday and Eype on Sunday. Caught six Mackerel all on mini lures and spinning gear. I Black Bream and loads of Doggies. I too witnessed the greedy scumbags you see every year.
There’s a Filipino male nurse who works in a nursing home in Yeovil who is down there all the time bagging up and selling the Mackerel to eateries around Yeovil. I’d love to grass him up. How can you report these people? There are many anglers out there decimating the Mackerel shoals without any thought to the future. It’s the same the world over. Greed greed and more greed.
Your comments although spot on will fall on deaf ears no doubt.
As I’ve said before. I love your web-site. It’s totally brilliant. If you get the chance to reply to this message can you advise me where I should target Mullet tomorrow morning. I have fly fishing gear and spinning gear and thought about the Fleet. I’ve fishing Portland many times but never seen Mullet there. Have a mental block about where to go!
Keep up the good work.
Paul Miles.
Hey just to let you know on the Mullet, they are in the Fleet but I think fishing it is a no no nowadays as it is a nursery area.
You can see them clearly in Weymouth Harbour, from the wall adjacent to the council offices, from the end near to the swannery car park and if you cross the lifting bridge to the town side and turn left and follow the water down you will see them all along there too.
You may need a drop net if using light lines.
Also for Mullet go down to the new Portland Marina area and walk around to the waterside by the restaurants and shops, they are easy to see in there too.
Hi Sean
Couldn’t agree more on the Macky posting, Took home 26 on wednesday plenty enough for my close family.
Great site.
cheers
Neil Shoemark
Paul Miles your best bet is to talk to your local environmental health to shop the places that buy the makkies that way if 1 or 2 places get raided then the word will get out and no one will buy from him. Here is the URL for your local branch http://www.southsomerset.gov.uk/about-us/service-standards/environmental-health/. As far as the Makkie crew go I’ve only sen one or two people using shock leader when casting and even fewer giving a t**s about other peoples lines. I agree about light gear I use a little 9 foot spinning rod 10-20g rating and it is great fun when you get a decent take.
Tight lines all.
Down to Weymouth area for two weeks starting 9 June, so glad I come across your blog.
Very well done, will continue to read.
As to Mackerel, there was a very good piece by Mike Ladle a while back. his research shows that any handling and or bleeding will mean fish die later, catch and release does not work. Only catch what you can eat or need for bait.
1. Why can we not sell feathers in single, most people will not be able to handle more than one fish in a safe and calm way.(Multiple hooks come from a commercial origin?)
2. Why not de-barb all hooks. Easier to shake off without handling.
3.Shops! be brave educate customers in Handling,de-hooking, catch and release and KEEPING BEACHES CLEAN. Take home your waste, your kids/wives/pets are walking along these beaches.
I see very little if any info on basics in stores.
Thanks again for blog
Thanks for the feedback guys. Tight lines all!
Its true i went out a week wednesday maccie jumping everywere me and my dad had caught loads and we pretty much put them back all alive there too small to bring home n would be a waste to eat and all the other anglers that was there kept every single one!!!! Not on really i live in yeovil and know that filopino and he works at abbey manor nursing home hes down there pretty much every week they hav to bring in a law now they do with lakes why dont they with our coasts would hate to see our beautiful coast and the lovely fish disintigrate….
Well said Kyle, if we dont protect our beaches/fishing somebody somewhere will put in their controls! and it will be no use quoting magna carta rights. But please read Dr Mike Ladle’s investigation in issue 473
Nov24-Dec21 2011, when you have caught enough change rig and catch something else or at least try in my case!
On the barbless front, check out http://www.bishfish.co.nz/articles/general/sharpend.htm
Good basics on hooks and a good basic argument for barbless.
Sorry if this seems a rant
dear sean….thankyou for all the effort you put into this website, its a great way for those of us who live a little far away to fish in dorset often to keep in touch with the sea. its a great inspiration. well done for voicing the subject of mackerel murder, it needs to be said, and louder. education,education,education. surely this is a subject the glossies should cover every summer. though i suppose it would be difficult to attach much advertising to the article. i think craig is onto it, maybe some prominent informative, educational signs at the car parks, on the back of the parking tickets perhaps. it seems to me the best approach is light tackle and spinner. catch a few for bait,if required then stop. fish for something else. then if you require some eating, fish for them at dusk or just before you leave. mackerel dont last five minutes on a hot beach. best thing is to take some freezer blocks in a doubled cheepie insulated freezer bag. gut the fish and put them straight in. keeps the bait fresh too. you can also freeze the water your going to take with you the night before and put that in the bags. perfect for keeping a couple of mackerel tip top fresh for brekkie. its a kind thought to bring home some fish for friends and neighbours, but how often do they get eaten. they get lobbed in the fridge for a couple of days by which time theyve half digested themselves, look awful and get thrown in the bin. in fact most of the fish i seen taken off chesil on a summers day wouldn,t make good bait the following morning. anyway winge over.sorry about that, preaching to the initiated. it seems we really need to get the message across. year after year this goes on. had the joy last year to whitness the much talked about event of huge schools of mackerel driving whitebait up the beach. every retreat of a wave left behind a beach shimmering with tiny fish and stranded mackerel. the back of each curling wave packed with darting shapes. a sight i hope will be seen by those that will follow us.
Hey Darren, I too love the sight of boiling water and seeing the bait fish geting stranded by the predators. But most of all the joy of running up and down gently kicking hundreds of thousands back into the water. Its a good feeling, and hilarious to watch my contientious other half doing it when she’s not too steady on the shingle!
I often come down to fish at chesil, seen some drunk tattooed bristolians fishing mackies and just loading up with dozens and dozens to take home. Not really giving a s..t about fish stocks or natural welfare