The Rockling have arrived

As the title to this article suggests, the Rockling have finally showed up on Chesil. They are about a month late, but given the unseasonably high water temperature that is not surprising. The bad news is once the Rockling are here you know that pretty much everything else has left Chesil. I for one wont be visiting Chesil for the next 6 weeks or so. I had hoped to get out and hit the rivers for some lure and fly fishing for Pike and Perch. Unfortunately due to the high volume of rain, the rivers have remained flooded and coloured for weeks.

Thankfully Chesil is not the only place to fish and whilst we wait for the first of the Plaice to return, we can still target the harbours and shallower beaches for Whiting, Dabs and Flounder.

My top tip on Friday for the best mark for some decent fishing was Poole. Thankfully I got that right. Reports from Poole have been amazing. Danny Hardwick, an angler that regularly features in our reports has been at it again, with a superb days fishing at Poole. He said it was almost like Mackerel fishing, there was so many Flounder. I am going to let Leo Toms give you more details of what Danny caught in his Poole report this week, but I will leave you with one of his pictures.

I might not have much news for you this week, but some of the other Fishing Tails contributors have some great articles this week. We kick off with Irene Hodgson, who has a great story about her Kayak adventures in Norway. In another exotic location, Jo Stephenson writes about her wild safari in Africa, chasing down Tiger Fish.

Closer to home Leo will put us in touch with what is happening in and around Poole and Plymouth’s Paul “Bassman” Gordon has been learning what lures have been working for the Plymouth LRF anglers.

Sea Conditions: Water temperature 9.8°c

Chesil Beach: Rough with coloured water. This should drop off a bit from Tuesday

Portland: rough with coloured water

Portland Harbour: Calm with clear water

Weymouth Bay: Calm with lightly coloured water

Chesil Beach forecast: We really have hit the worst time of year for Chesil. Rockling, Dabs and some small Whiting are about all we can hope for during the day. Night tides will bring in the Dogfish and Pout. Certainly not a mark with traveling any distance to fish

Portland: Never ending coloured water and rough conditions make most of the Portland marks too difficult and dangerous to fish. However marks to the East of the Island such as Cheyne, which is a very high mark, or Church ope Cove may produce Wrasse, Conger and Bull Huss.

Portland Harbour: This is one of the few marks in the area that the water is almost clear. Flounder are about the only species present, but are well worth targeting. As the water is so clear adding some beads to your rig and keeping it slowly moving, will increase your chances of a Flounder or two. Ragworm is normally the best bait for them.

Weymouth Bay: Preston beach and Weymouth harbour piers are probably the most productive marks at the moment. Whiting, Flounder, Dabs and small Bass are still being caught from Preston on a regular basis.

The piers are always good for Whiting, Pout and Pollock, with the chance of the odd Wrasse.

Guiding: With winter well and truly here the guiding for the next couple of months will be concentrated on Flounder, Wrasse and Whiting. However it wont be long before the Plaice return again and the first of the Mullet. It is advisable to book early for a guiding session this year. I am limiting my guides to 100 this year, which is a 30% drop from last year. I want to concentrate more on creating videos. However we can offer guided services in Poole and Plymouth, as well as the North East of England. If you would like to be a Fishing Tails guide then please contact us for more details.