Timing is everything

Cod fishing over the past week has confirmed  some thoughts I have been having for while and that is, that timing is critical to getting good results when fishing. I was lucky enough to get out as soon as the conditions had settled enough to allow safe fishing on Friday. I had fish after only a few casts, and as the tide started to drop away to low water, I had a fish a cast. 

I returned to the beach again on Saturday, armed with the same baits. However the conditions had completely changed. Now the sea was calm, but there was a fairly large swell with the odd wave that was around 2m high. The water had cleared significantly since the day before, and my catch rate dropped dramatically. I only managed one Codling, though my mate did get a Bass, Whiting, Pout and a Silver Eel. One young lad that did well was

Reports from Sunday suggest that all but the best casters faired even worse.

Sea Conditions:

Water temperature 14.2 °c.

Chesil Beach: 1.5m waves and lightly coloured water.

Portland:  1.5m waves, with lightly coloured water.

Portland Harbour: wavelets with lightly coloured water

Weymouth Bay: Wavelets with slightly coloured water

Chesil Beach forecast:It should be a great weekend for Cod, Bass and Whiting. As usual you will get Dogfish and Pout at night and when the water remains coloured. Big baits will give you the best chance of a big fish.

Portland: With very rough conditions until Sunday the best hope you have of getting some fish from the Island is to fish the higher ledges such as Chine.  You will have the chance of Wrasse, Pollock and Bass, ass well as Bull Huss from there. It is not a mark for the faint hearted or light fishing. With ledges well above the water you need heavy gear. This is one of the marks we will be featuring in the next month. 

Portland Harbour: I have had a reasonable amount of success with lures for Bass in the harbour recently. I love to use surface lures, as these seem to be the most effective in the shallow waters of the harbour. I would expect to see some nice Flounder from Hamm Beach and Sandsfoot sailing club.

Weymouth Bay: Still some Garfish and Pollock from both piers, with more Whiting showing daily. I have heard of very few Squid caught so far. I am hoping to get out for an evening of squiding this weekend.

Preston should produce some nice Flounder and Dabs, as well as Bass. I have had several reports of Plaice coming from there as well.

Poole: Flounder fishing in Poole harbour is starting to kick off with plenty of fish around the 1lb. mark. There is always lots of school Bass to keep you busy whilst you target the Flounders. We will be reporting a lot more from the Poole area, as a new member will be joining the Fishing Tails team. More will be revealed over the next week.

Guiding: I still have a few slots left between now and the end of the year, 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]