Spring Cod

Spring Cod, Mackerel Plaice, they have all turned up on Chesil over the past couple of weeks. Ricky Piranhas took advantage of a break in the weather, and fished a rough Chesil to manage one of the spring Codling that we often see at this time of year.

The spring run normally only lasts a couple of weeks, but the weather this week makes it more likely that those who can get out in the breaks in the weather are in with a higher than average chance of getting a Codling.

I normally do the weekend round up and forecast for the early part of the week on Monday, but the story of the 3 bag limit for Bass dominated yesterdays article, so I decided to delay the forecast until today. For those that missed it you can find it in this link 3 Bag limit It certainly has prompted a lot of discussion on the subject.

The weather will play a major factor on venue choice until the weekend, but marks such as Sandbanks have been producing consistently.

Sea Conditions: Water temperature 8.5°c

Chesil Beach:  Currently Unfishable.

Portland:  Rough with coloured water.

Portland Harbour: Wavelets with lightly coloured water

Weymouth Bay: Calm with lightly coloured  water

Chesil Beach forecast: At the moment Chesil is unfishable, but it looks like there may be a break in the wind on Thursday morning, when I will be out on the beach trying to catch a Cod or an early Bass. Forget thinking about Mackerel or PLaice fishing until about Sunday, when the water should have had time to settle and clear.

Portland: I am thinking of giving the East side of Portland a go tomorrow. I have a feeling that I might be able to tempt a Bull Huss out in the murky conditions.

Portland Harbour: A good mark to fish in this wind. Some Flounder are being caught, and this is one mark that normally fishes for Bass before any of the other local marks.

Weymouth Bay: Preston beach is always a good back up mark in Westerly winds. Plenty of Dabs and a few Flounder are showing there, as well as small Whiting at night.

Stone and Pleasure pier are always good for different species. It normally produces small fish, but the occasional decent Pollock and Wrasse turn up regularly. It is also a good mark for early Mackerel and Garfish.

Guiding: I am now taking bookings for plaice trips as well as some basic fishing workshops for the next month. In the workshops I teach all sorts of skills, that will give you a good grounding for your fishing adventures for the rest of the year. I am happy to do lure or bait sessions and the workshops are 2 hours lonng and limitied to 3 people. If you are thinking about booking a guided lure or bait session for the later on in the year, then now is the best time to do it, to grab the best tides.

This year we will be offering boat guiding sessions from your own boat, from Weymouth and Portland and shore guiding in the Poole and Purbeck area. If you want more details then drop me an email to [email protected]