Merry Christmas from Fishing Tails

The team at Fishing Tails want to wish all our readers a very Merry Christmas, and we hope you get some new fishing tackle left under your tree.

At the moment it looks like there is going to be a break in the wind on Sunday that should give us an opportunity to get out and fish Chesil. I had a quick look at the sea earlier and it is very coloured. Most of the tackle shops are open on Sunday, so I have ordered my bait and can’t wait to get out and see what is around. The beach has hardly been fished for weeks, so we have no reports of what is around. There are good sized Cod showing from the Bristol Channel. With some luck we might also see some lunkers. Keep checking on the wind forecast as it does seem to change a lot.

If you are lucky enough to get a new rod for Christmas just remember, you might think that it doesn’t fit together properly. Have a look at a video I made last year if you do run into this problem.

Sea Conditions: Water temperature 12.2°c

Chesil Beach: very rough with coloured water

Portland: A large swell with coloured water

Portland Harbour: Wavelets and lightly coloured water

Weymouth Bay: Calm with lightly coloured water

Chesil Beach forecast: You will have to keep checking the forecast to see if the wind will drop below 18 knots. Anything above that over the next few days and the beach will be unfishable. Once it does calm down then big baits will be essential for those big Cod and Bass. If you use small Mackerel or Squid strips you are likely to get Whiting, Pout and Dogfish.

Boxing Day has regularly produced a good double figure Cod from in front of the car park at West Bexington.

Portland: With the water looking rather coloured still, I can’t see there being much chance of catching one of the big Wrasse that are around. However these conditions are good for Conger and Bull Huss. Use large fish baits and rotten bottoms for your best chance of success.

Portland Harbour: Even in the harbour thee water is coloured. It makes the chance of a late Bass pretty slim, but it should give you somewhere to fish out of the wind.

Weymouth Bay: Another good mark to get out of the wind. The piers are producing lots of Whiting and Pout. Wrasse and Pollock can be caught right under your feet and a short cast out from the Pleasure Pier will see you amongst Flounder territory.

It is this time of year that I start to think more seriously about LRF fishing. For those that don’t know what that is, it is very light fishing for the smaller species. It is not for everyone, but it can offer a lot of fun as you try and catch as many different species on very sporting tackle.

Guiding: I have now moved into my winter guiding. This can be a great time to fish with lots of different species around. We are still very much in the best part of the Bass season, especially with lures. I will also be offering Wrasse fishing both on Lures and with bait to target the Big Wrasse that we will start to see soon.