Is chesil Beach going to be fishable? Updated 10.30am Sunday

Currently Chesil Beach is unfishable. Although the wind has dropped the swell and surf are large and extremely dangerous. Do not be stupid and attempt to fish it, its not worth it. I will update as conditions change.

After recent reports of lots of Cod on Chesil, the main question on everyones lips this weekend is, will Chesil be fishable? The answer is not as straight forward. Right now at 8am Friday morning, the beach is fishable with care for those that can cast in excess of 70m with bait,but looking at WindGuru that will all change by late afternoon and early evening. In my experience the beach becomes unsafe when the waves are over 2m high. This normally occurs when the winds are in excess of 24mph, which they will be later today. Conditions will remain unsafe all through tomorrow morning. The current forecast is that the winds will drop late tomorrow morning, but there is always a chance that the surf will take a couple of hours to settle down. Once again the beach will only be fishable to those capable of a decent cast. This is because of the long surf run off which can easily extend to 30m. If you cant get your bait out well past the surf line then your line becomes buried under the tonnes of continually moving shingle.

Further bad news is that Sunday doesn’t look much better. My advice is if you are traveling from a distance away, then look for another venue. When the beach does become fishable I would certainly expect to see some Codling and Bass, as well as a few Pollock. A few good local anglers fished Chesil yesterday and did well, with Pollock, Codling, Whiting Gurnard and Bass, but all of them are capable of casting 100m with bait. 

I am going to be out Bass fishing on lures for most of the day, with a short attempt at some Cod if I have time. I will put up regular updates on the current conditions and catches on my Facebook page, as it is easier to update that remotely than the website. For a link to my Facebook page just click on the link in the top right hand part of this page.

Sea Conditions:

Water temperature 15.7 °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: The water is a lot clearer around Portland than on Chesil. This gives good conditions for Bass and Pollock fishing on lures.

 Portland Harbour: The harbour is a good mark to fish if you are looking for a bit of shelter and the chance of a Bass or Flounder. If you are lucky you might be able to find the Gilthead, but they do not seem to be on any one mark for longer than a day. If you do want to target Gilthead then Lugworm and Mussels are good baits.

Weymouth Bay: Preston Beach will provide good shelter with the possibility of a Bass. There are plenty of Flounder and Dabs being caught on the beach. The piers are still fishing well , and should continue to do so for at least another month.

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]