Wind from everywhere

I have been studying the wind forecast, and noticed that it looks like it will be blowing from almost every direction, during the next few days. This makes choosing a location a bit more difficult.

Today (Friday), we have winds coming out of the East. This means that Chesil will remain fairly calm, and with the wind at your back, you should be able to cast a long way. This may well help if you are targeting Plaice. Andy Coleman fished Abbotsbury a few days ago. He was using a whole live Peeler Crab for Smoothound, when he hooked this stunning Plaice. He told me that when he cleaned it, the stomach contained loads of small Hermit Crab.

Another benefit of the Easterly wind will be surf produced on Preston Beach. This should create ideal conditions for Bass. It often brings them close to the shore in large numbers. Preston becomes a typical surf beach in these conditions, where the fish will be just behind the second and third waves. I will be looking at it in more detail this morning, as I want to try and lure fish it if it has not coloured up too much. If the water has coloured it, then switch to large baits, such as Mackerel Head or a whole Squid. You never know there could be another double figure Bass lurking there.

Saturday will see a change in the wind direction, as it switches to the North West. A fairly unusual wind direction for this part of the country. It will leave Preston Beach calm once more, but Chesil will be a bit choppy. It should not effect most of the fishing, but the wind speed may make casting a bit more difficult if you are not a decent caster, especially in the morning.

The conditions on Sunday look very difficult for Chesil, as the wind picks up and swings to the SW. According to WindGuru Chesil could be almost unfishable during the day. It will certainly be rough. If it does remain fishable then the chance of a Bass in very close is high. As a word of warning, unless you are familiar with Chesil and are going with someone else, I would avoid it on Sunday.

Other marks such as Portland Harbour, Weymouth piers or Preston Beach are all safe alternatives. If I am not too bust fishing, I will try and keep the conditions updated throughout the weekend as they change.

 

Sea Conditions: Water temperature 16.7°c

Chesil Beach:  Calm, with clear  water

Portland: West side, Calm with clear water. East side has waves of up to 1m

Portland Harbour: Wavelets and lightly coloured water

Weymouth Bay: Surf of 1m running out to 70 – 90m, with lightly coloured water, which is likely to colour up by midday at the latest.

Chesil Beach forecast: So with all the information you have above, what species are we likely to catch over the next few days? It really is one of those weekends that you could see anything being caught such as this Thornback Ray for Ollie Mears. It weighed 12lb 15oz. He also had a near specimen Red Gurnard.

Mackerel should be around until Sunday, as should Bream and Gurnard. The Smoothounds have remained in good numbers this week, and if you can get hold of LIVE Peeler Crab, you have a good chance of getting one. Don’t waste a single penny on frozen Peeler, they simply don’t work anywhere near as good as live ones. I am not saying you wont catch on them, but you will have just as much a chance on a work or fish bait. The freezing process breaks down the amino acids. It is the Amino Acids that release the strong scent that makes Peeler Crab such a great bait.

The only species I will be targeting on Sunday will be Bass, and that is only if it is safe to do so, which it wont be if the forecast stays the same.

Portland: I have been fishing the Island most of this last week. Unfortunately the Pollock seem to have disappeared again. Wrasse fishing has remained good for both bait and lure fishermen. Whilst fishing yesterday, my client Paul managed to catch one of the brightest Green and Yellow Wrasse I have ever seen. The picture does not do justice to the colours at all.

Expect plenty more Wrasse over the weekend.

Portland Harbour: The harbour never fishes that well on small tides. Having said that you are always in with a good chance of a Flounder at any time. It will also provide a sheltered mark on Sunday.

Weymouth Bay: If you were looking to go fishing anywhere today, it would be Preston Beach. There will be plenty of Bass close to the shore. Most of them will be small, but you are always in with the chance of a decent fish.

The Piers continue to produce lots of fish at this time of year. Expect to catch small Bream, decent Wrasse, Pollock, Mackerel, Garfish and Pout. If you cast out to the sand, then add Flounder Gurnard, Dabs and maybe even Plaice to the list.

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 long 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]