I know a lot of anglers were hoping to get out last weekend and bag themselves a Cod, unfortunately the strong winds and rough sea conditions meant that no one was able to get onto Chesil Beach. The bad news is that the beach will continue to be a no go zone until at least Wednesday. When it does calm down enough to fish, it will be good, I just hope I can take advantage of it.
Just because we cant fish Chesil, it doesn’t mean that we cant go fishing, there are still plenty of alternative venues that are still fishing well. If you fancy a go at some Mullet, there are still plenty in the harbours. Reports also suggest that the Flounder are turning up in good numbers, especially in Poole harbour. There is always a chance of a good Bass from Poole as well.
We are now in the middle of the best of the Bass fishing from both shore and boat. The next 6 weeks is when I normally catch more Bass than the rest of the year combined. Fishing Tails own Adrian had a recent evening session at Kimmeridge, where he managed to beat his PB Bass with this fish off just under 6lb. It took a Seaspin Pro-Q 90 surface lure.
Sea Conditions:
Water temperature 15.9 °c.
Chesil Beach: Waves of just over 2m with some huge peaks of over 4m with coloured water
Portland: large swell with 2m+ waves and coloured water
Portland Harbour: wavelets with clear water
Weymouth Bay: Calm with slightly coloured water
Chesil Beach forecast: During the times that it is fishable then Cod, Bass, Whiting and Pollock will be the main target species. Take extreme care on the beach.
Portland: With large waves crashing onto the rocks, marks like Portland Bill and Chesil Cove will be almost impossible to fish. However on the East side of the Island marks such as Chine and Church Ope Cove will be fishable. As long as Church Ope does not get too much weed into the bay then there is a good chance of a Bass on a large Mackerel bait. Bull Huss and Conger always like a bit of coloured water. Although Chine is a high and difficult mark to fish, it is possible to catch Cod from there.
Portland Harbour: A potential mark that offers good protection in these winds. Sandsfoot Castle is likely to produce Bass and Flounder. It is one of the few marks that will be suitable for lure fishing today.
Weymouth Bay: The Stone Pier produced plenty of fish for the Weymouth Junior team league last night, including a nice Pollock and a Rockling.
Preston has been hosting the Welsh International team trials over the weekend. The anglers were only allowed to use Ragworm and Mackerel. This didn’t stop them catching Smoothound, Bass, Plaice, Flounder, Whiting, Dabs and Small Eyed Rays. So if you are looking for an alternative venue, I think you may have found one.
Guiding: I still have a few slots left between now and November, so if you are interested in lure or bait fishing over the next two most productive months of the year then drop me an email to [email protected]