Fishing forecast for Chesil Beach, Weymouth, Portland & Kimmeridge Bay. 21st April 2012

The Bass are back in town!! The weather has settled down a bit to give us a fighting chance this weekend.

Wind forecast:  NW 20mph. Current wind: NW 5mph and it will stay fairly light until later this evening.

Sea conditions: Although the wind has dropped conditions on Chesil Beach are still a bit tough, with a lot of colour still in the water and a fairly sizeable swell running. The water around the rock marks is clearer, but still carrying some colour. Water temperature  9.7*c. Weymouth HW 8.15pm  2.11m high

Shore fish forecast:Chesil is not going to be my first choice this weekend. Big tides and coloured water do not make for good fishing at this time of year. I would be surprised if many or even any Plaice were caught today at Abbotsbury or West Bexington. As the water starts to clear tomorrow, you will stand a better chance over the slack water periods. It is also unlikely that many Mackerel will be caught in the coloured water, so those of you thinking of coming down to Chesil Beach for a Mackerel session I would wait for another time. Down the Portland end of the beach Anglers that have braved the conditions have managed some nice Bass from Chesil Cove on big baits.

Portland Harbour is the place to be! The Bass have moved back into the harbour in decent numbers, though most of the reports are saying that they are mainly Schoolies. Almost all of them are falling to lure, with the low cost Rapture lures proving they are every bit as effective as the £20+ lures that they resembl ( I will do a post on the lures in the next few days). Other species that are being caught in the harbour include Garfish, Flounder and Dabs.

Weymouth piers will fish well for numerous species including Pollock, Plaice (from the end), Wrasse, Pout and Garfish, with the odd Mackerel thrown in. Preston end of Weymouth Bay has produced a few Ray this week with anglers that would normally fish Chesil opting for there as a more comfortable alternative. Preston Beach is a very under fished mark, that produces a very good variety of species especially on evening tides.

Boats: First time out this week for many of the charter fleet, but the big tides are not going to make the fishing easy. Small boats launching into Portland Harbour should have an excellent weekend, as the tides do not have such a big effect within the harbour. If the swell dies down as it should then the Hood entrance will produce Mackerel, Pollock and possibly some Bass. The North Westerly winds will give those Kayak fishing a good chance to get out and hit the harbour walls and reefs for the Bass and Pollock.