Another wild weekend

Once again we were battered with another Atlantic gale at the weekend. How come it never seems to blow during the week, then have a lull during the times most of us can fish? It looks like today could be a brilliant day on Chesil. We did have a couple of days this week, where a few lucky anglers were able to take advantage of a break in the weather and head on to Chesil. Bradley Price managed 3 nice Codling as did several other anglers.

Despite such tough conditions the lure fishing for Bass has been on fire. Young Rory Bennett managed this lovely Bass at 4lb 9oz.

Conditions:

Chesil Beach: 11.5°C, 1.5m swell with waves exceeding 2.5m. this makes the beach fishable, but still dangerous.

Portland: 2m swell  The water is coloured

Portland Harbour: calm with clear water

Weymouth Bay: Calm, with lightly coloured water.

Chesil Beach forecast: with the exception of Wednesday, it looks like the beach will be fishable for the most part. Please be very wary of rogue waves. Keep well above the water line.
Conditions today are perfect for Cod. The water is still fairly rough and heavily coloured, but you should be able to cast a good distance. I would expect to see plenty of Whiting, Pout, Dogfish and Conger, with the odd large Ray making an appearance.

Portland Harbour: With building tides and water temperatures still above the 10°C mark, Bass fishing should be very good this week. There are still Garfish around, which will take small lures and float fished Mackerel. Flounders are appearing in better numbers, even if they are smaller than those we often see in Poole.

Portland: As soon as the water starts to clear, the large Wrasse that are still around will be on the feed. Go with hardback velvet swimmer crabs, fished hard on the bottom, for the chance of a specimen fish.

Weymouth Bay: Its going to take a day or so for the water to clear, but once it does, I know a lot of very keen anglers, will be heading out to the piers to try and catch some squid.

Further along the beach towards Bowleaze Cove, you can expect Whiting and decent flounder.

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Shark Fishing Dorset – Talking Tackle!

So maybe you’re thinking of getting out amongst our local sharks? The question is with what? Well there are many different opinions on the best tackle for sharks. Some anglers prefer to tackle up lighter and enjoy the sport of smaller sharks where others prefer to tackle up for the monster from the depths and bide their time. I personally prefer the later because if one day I hook that monster I want to be ready for the battle of my life.

Now if you’re going out on a charter boat most will have the gear suitable for the sharks they are targeting. I personally always like to purchase my own tackle regardless of whether I’m fishing on charters or private boats. After all, if you are thinking of spending some serious time afloat targeting sharks it’s well worth the investment and peace of mind.

Let’s start with rods. A very personal choice, I have always owned the more stout stand up 50lb class rods for all my sharking. This unfortunately means anything small tends to be lost as you do have some serious leverage over the fish. Not saying they won’t run and pull hard but fights tend to be short lived. Have a look at the beautiful Shimano stand up rods you won’t be disappointed.

If you prefer something with less of a “Big Game” look about it, the Penn Regiment II 50lb Class 7ft Roller rod really fits in well at around £110 and will give you enough guts to fight most fish but also not over gunned on smaller sharks. If your happy fishing without a roller ring rod then the 50lb class Shakespeare Ugly Stik with its sensitive glass tip or the Penn Regiment II XT 20-60lb are great for dealing with smaller fish although you may lose the upper hand on a monster.

Whatever rod you choose I believe you should be able to get the fish alongside the boat without it being played half to death. Shark’s should be well looked after and respected, if it does not recover its one less out there for the future.

Having spent a lot of time looking at reels I once again went with a bigger reel, I use the same tackle for all my sharking. I target Blues, Porbeagle and Threshers so I like my tackle to be a “one fits all” variety. my Shimano Tyrnos 50LRSA gives me capacity for long running fish with over 700yrds of 50lb mono, this gives you the ability to clear decks and get ready to start the fight before running out of line!

Again, this is pretty specialist, another recommendation would be the Shimano TLD25, this reel is great value and holds a good amount of line. It has been responsible for landing some seriously large sharks in the UK and aboard. If like me you like the finesse and ease of a 2-speed reel the new Penn Squall 16VS will also fit the bill nicely!

Let’s face it you can have the most expensive or cheapest rod and reel but the two things that connect you to the fish is the hook and the line. Having lost a good fish to cheap line I don’t by cheap anymore. Hi-Seas (AFW), Shimano or Suffix produce some fantastic lines, I like the IGFA types so you know it does what it says on the spool.

There is a debate on the use of Braid or Mono, if you’re going on a group trip or a charter boat mono is the friendliest by far. No one will thank you for wrapping up and cutting through their mono when playing a fish. I also feel mono is much more forgiving on Shark and Angler, that stretch will absorb head shakes and sudden runs. Again, I use 50lb mono for all my sharking, most reels mentioned have a max drag a lot less than this so you’re never going to snap the line through drag. Also, at 50lb it has great abrasion resistance if required.

Hopefully this has helped with your choice of equipment and even added some items to your Xmas lists. There are of course hundreds of brands out there, I only mention the ones I have used or have knowledge of and trust in. On the next article I will go through the terminal tackle, rubbing leaders, hook choices and how to construct your own!

Tight Lines

Paul

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Fishin Impossible

Fishing conditions this week have been brutal to say the least and unfortunately there seems no let up for this weekend, or at least not on Chesil, so if you are in any doubt as to whether the beach is fishable I think you can see from this impressive picture taken this morning by my friend Finn McGuirk, that it isn’t.

For those that are interested, I created a short video a couple of days ago, that is still relevant now.

I was lucky that I did find some Bass in the harbour. Actually I found a lot of Bass in the harbour. They moved around a lot during the tide, but we did seem to be able testy with them, or at least find them again, during the afternoon. Conditions were tough and sometimes it almost felt like we were fishing at night, the clouds and rain made it feel very gloomy, but I loved every minute of it.

It was a great opportunity for me to really put my new Majorcraft Triplecross TCX-902ML/EU, which has been made specifically for the type of lure fishing that seems most prevalent in the UK. It is without a doubt one of the best lure rods I have ever used, and I have used and owned a lot. A full review is on its way.

All the fish were taken on either the Savage Gear Panic Prey popper or the Savage Gear Sandeel in white

Conditions:

Chesil Beach: 11.3°C, 2.5m swell with waves exceeding 4m. this makes the beach dangerous

Portland: 2.5m swell on the West side, that will build over the next two days. The water is coloured

Portland Harbour: Wavelets with clear water

Weymouth Bay: Calm, with lightly coloured water.

Chesil Beach forecast: Forget it, don’t even think that just because there is a small break in the wind tomorrow, that it will be fishable. This week has seen the highest recorded waves on the beach, all year. With one topping out at 7.5m. I was over the other side of Chesil and I could see waves breaking near the top of the bank. The swell will take a good 24 hours to settle, to a safer height.

Portland Harbour: The tide has died off a bit and that normally means that the Bass fishing will as well. Its still worth giving it a go. Sandsfoot Castle area over low and Hamm Beach over high, would be my top choices.

Portland: The West side will be unfishable, but marks such as Church Ope Cove, can be fished with care. Pollock, Wrasse, Garfish and Bass are all possible. Night tides can produce Conger and Whiting.

Weymouth Bay: Always a safe and reliable mark, when we have SW gales. You can almost guarantee fish from the piers, although they may only be Dogfish and Pout. This time of year normally produces some Whiting and even the odd Cod.

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Classic Chesil fishing with double figure Cod

It was one of those weekends that could have been good, or a total blank on Chesil. The tides were dying away, the water was clearing and we still had an easterly wind for the most part. As it turned out, Chesil produced the way it was typically remembered for, by producing a number of nice Cod, from marks all along the beach, as well as well as good Whiting and the usual Pout and Dogfish.

Bradley Price was just about to pack up, when he landed this lovely fish, so naturally he had to have one more last cast.

Lee was one of several anglers that managed to find some double figure Cod, when he managed this 11 1/2lb fish. He also had a strap Conger and was bitten off my something that he couldn’t stop!

Don’t you just love Chesil. I did suggest that it may have been a Tope. I remember a couple of years back, that someone caught a large Tope around this time, but the British Record Stingray also fell around the same time.

Away from Chesil, some of the other marks fished well, especially Portland Harbour, for Bass on Lures. Once again Kevin Webb found a number of Bass, although none of them were particularly large, it was good to see them hit the lures hard.

I can’t go without mentioning another amazing Blonde Ray that was caught the previous weekend. Ben Stockley had this 22lb 5oz Ray, which was part of a five fish haul.

Conditions:

Chesil Beach: 11.5°C, 2m swell that is going to build and I am sure Wednesday and Thursday will be unfishable. Friday will be rough, but it should be fishable, as long as the wind drops as forecast.

Portland: 1.5m swell on the West side, that will build over the next two days. The water will be fairly coloured from Wednesday.

Portland Harbour: Wavelets with clear water

Weymouth Bay: Calm, with lightly coloured water.

Chesil Beach forecast: We are going to have a changeable few days, with winds building quickly and switching to a full SW storm that will make the beach unfishable for Wednesday and Thursday. However the build up will give you a great opportunity to fish Chesil for Bass on lures. It is my favourite set of conditions and when I normally catch most of my large numbers of Bass in a short period. I will be hitting the beach this morning.

Friday is another ball game all together, as the wind should drop to allow anglers that are capable of a decent cast, to target Cod and Whiting. If your casting is a bit on the short side, you will end up losing all your terminal tackle, as it gets buried in the shingle inside the surf zone.

The Cod have been coming on Lugworm, Squid and live Peeler Crab baits. Whiting will happily tag Ragworm or Mackerel strips.

Portland Harbour: A good mark that should continue to fish for Bass, until the water temperature hits 10ºc, then it will die off. The temperature is falling quite quickly now, so we probably only have a few weeks of sport left. The harbour will fish for Flounder still, but not much else.

Portland: The Bill is worth a try until it becomes too rough on Wednesday. Bass, Mackerel, Pollock and Garfish can all still be caught, as can Wrasse. The Wrasse don’t feed well, when there is a big swell, or coloured water.

Weymouth Bay: The piers will produce fish to float fished worm, or Mackerel. The whole of Weymouth Bay provides good shelter, when there is a SW blow. Whiting can be prolific from Preston and Bowleaze. There is always the chance of a Bass or a Ray there, especially at night.

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Big Blondes and Record Breaking Brill

Once again Chesil Beach has produced a cracking weekend of fishing for some. But it wasn’t the Cod that everyone has been seeking, it has been the flat fish that have hit the headlines, with a potential British record breaking Brill and some amazing Rays.

Bernard Johnson weighed in a huge Brill of 8lb 3oz, which if verified, will break the record by over 1/2lb.

I have to admit, never having caught a Ray of any kind from Chesil. I have made it my goal to try and get one before the year is out. I know a couple of anglers that seem to be very good at catching them. One of those anglers is Matty Mizen. This weekend, he made it look very easy to catch just about any species of Ray. He started off with a session that included nine rays, three Spotted 4.0lb,3.6lb, 3.5lb. 5.1lb, a Thorneback ray, five Small eyed rays, the largest going 7lb and the rest a bit smaller. He also managed some nice Whiting, Pout and Conger

I would call that a red letter day, but it would seem that Matty wanted more. The next day he decided to target Blonde Rays, in an attempt to catch a double figure one from the shore. He was pretty happy to achieve that with a fish of 16lb. Not bad, I say, but that was nothing! He managed to hook and land a massive Blonde Ray of 23lb 8oz, which was the highlight of the seven that he ended up with.

It wasn’t just the beach that fished well. It was a good weekend for lure fishing, especially for Bass. I wouldn’t normally associate a small tide with good catches of Bass, but I know of several Bass over 6lb that were caught within Portland harbour on lures. Unfortunately as the mark was so recognisable, the angler didn’t want me to publish any of the pictures.

However Virgis Ruksnaitis, had a great session on Portland on lures. He was using a lure that I have recently bought and am doing a review on. Its the Majorcraft Jigpara, which is a metal jigging lure. In the smaller sizes, it makes an excellent shore jig, as he proved by catching Bass, Pollock, Mackerel and Garfish on. Watch this space for a full review

Its so good, it can take two fish at once and if anyone is wondering if there are any Mackerel still around, I think this answers that question.

Conditions:

Chesil Beach: 12.1°C, 1m swell  Water is lightly coloured.

Portland: 1m swell with lightly coloured water on the West side. The waves are larger on the East side

Portland Harbour: Wavelets with clear water

Weymouth Bay: Surf up to 2m, with lightly coloured water.

Chesil Beach forecast: The week will once again be dominated by easterly winds. The sea state is quite calm for most of the time, but there has been some huge rouge waves, that have created havoc over the weekend. Looking at news reports from the Atlantic, there appears to be some massive waves heading our way. They may never get here, but take extra care on the beach over the next few days. Set up, further up the beach than you would normally do.
So what can we expect this week? The tides are building and the water will clear even more. I would expect even more rays and who knows, there is always the chance that we could see that 32lb Blonde Ray shore record tumble.

The conditions are definitely going to be more suited to Whiting than Cod, but they can’t be ruled out. Dogfish and Pout, could well be a nuisance, but will keep the rod tips nodding. Daytime fishing will be good for Garfish and there are still Mackerel around.

Portland Harbour: I will be hitting the harbour in search of a Bass or two on lures this week. If you are more interested in using bait, then you could pick up a few Bass, Flounder and Wrasse. My top mark in the harbour would be Sandsfoot Castle area over low water.

Portland: The island fished very well over the weekend for Garfish, Pollock, Mackerel and a few Bass. Expect the same and add Wrasse into the mix, as the wind drops. Personally, I would avoid the east side, as the wind will make it a bit uncomfortable.

Weymouth Bay: Preston beach just screams Bass at the moment. If you are daring and careful, getting in the surf with a lure rod would be amazing fan and could produce some brilliant sport. For those that don’t fancy getting wet, then bait fishing will be productive as well. work and fish baits should work, but as the wind drops and the surf dies, the target will move from Bass to Flounder.

I am hoping to find the time to target Squid towards that later part of the week. As the wind drops and the water clears, the squid fishing will improve.

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Big Bass in November

I did say on Monday that November is one of the best months of the year for big Bass and Ben Male proved exactly that, with a 12lb Bass caught at Seaton on Garfish. I have to admit to never having used Garfish as a bait, other than to catch Garfish, but I had heard that it is a good bait, especially for Conger. Ben has just proved that it is also good for catching Bass. It was a good call to use Garfish, as there are lots of them around at the moment, so Bass would expect to come across them.

The easterly wind will be the biggest factor for anglers thinking of fishing this weekend. It will make venues such as Chesil, fairly easy to fish, as you will be able to get long casts in with the wind behind you. However if you are after a Bass, then Preston Beach and Bowleaze Cove will have a good surf pounding in and that is sure to attract them.

I have been lucky enough to have received some very up to date catch reports from Kevin Duddridge, who is fishing on Chesil as I type this. He managed a Codling fairly early on in his session.

However welcome the Codling was, it was made to look rather insignificant, compared to this whopping 2lb 6oz whiting.

We can certainly expect plenty more Whiting over the next few weeks, but this weekend should be perfect for them from Chesil

Conditions:

Chesil Beach: 12.6°C, 1m swell which will flatten out over the weekend. Water is lightly coloured

Portland: 1m swell with lightly coloured water on the West side. The waves are larger on the East side and will become large on Saturday and Sunday

Portland Harbour: Wavelets with clear water

Weymouth Bay: Surf up to 2m, with lightly coloured water.

Chesil Beach forecast: With clearing water and a strong easterly wind, Chesil will be a very good venue for a whole host of species. Cod and Whiting are the obvious targets, but don’t forget that there are still some big Plaice inshore and feeding up, prior to their winter breading.

I have heard from a number of commercial boats that there are quite a few John Dory being caught. Chesil Cove is a good mark for those, as well as Squid and late Mullet, which will often take large Mackerel baits. Don’t forget that the Garfish hang around, well in to December and are great sport on light tackle, whilst you wait for a bite from something a bit more edible.

Portland Harbour: This could be another potential mark for those that are not afraid to cast a lure into a strong wind, for a Bass or two. I love using surface lures in choppy conditions and Bass are more likely to be tricked when they can’t see the lure properly. I like to use 25g poppers or a Patchinko. Make sure you work it hard and create plenty of surface noise with them.

Portland: The East side will be pretty difficult to fish and with a fairly dangerous swell coming into Church Ope Cove, it is probably best avoided. However fishing on the West side of the Bill could well produce Wrasse and the odd Bass.

Weymouth Bay: As I mentioned earlier, Weymouth seafront will be pounded by a good surf, which Bass love. It isn’t going to be the most comfortable fishing, but the rewards could be fantastic. Fish with large baits that are going to give off lots of scent. I prefer Peeler Crab or whole squid.

Talking of Squid, there have been a few caught on the piers this week, but the rough conditions and strong easterly wind, will probably put them off.

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Shark Fishing …. Around Portland ???

Everyone has seen the film right? The large reel, the guttural clicking of a Penn Senator reel before the noise becomes a scream as yards of line roll out faster than you can wind it back on! Most shark anglers live for this. For decades past, Cornwall was always the mecca for shark fishing. In recent years Wales has been challenging for this crown. Huge Porbeagle and Blue shark from these venues certainly make both worthy.

What is lurking in the waters in our area? … I wanted to find out.

Having had a keen interest in sharks for quite some time now and a deep desire to tackle one mysel hand to hand, the idea of targeting them from my home county Dorset had become very appealing. Now most anglers wouldn’t necessarily consider our area when looking for sharks but when I spoke to some of the commercial rod and line Bass anglers, they regaled tails of large sharks “bumping” Bass from their lines. Even a local spear diver had a close encounter off the west side of Portland when a shark came to look at the free lunch on the end of his rope! Proof there is something with teeth swimming in our local waters around Portland.

With a little more homework, the culprit was found, the Porbeagle Shark. These large steely grey creatures are a close relative of the Great White, unlike the more pelagic Blue shark, the Porbeagle will hold to areas more rigidly almost territorial. Sharp drop offs, rough ground areas and wrecks make the ideal home. Everything the Portland area offers in copious amounts!

This maybe a small shark but loaded with teeth!

We are at the moment too far east to target Blue sharks with much success. I’m not saying they can’t be caught because the eastern half of Lyme Bay does throw up a few each year but they are not as common as you would find them in Devon or Cornwall for instance.

Another shark that can be found in our waters is the Thresher, once again not very common and much harder to find (in fact I’m still looking for them!) The Thresher is classed as a game shark, long fast runs with jumping means you really have to tackle up for these as standard tackle is normally no match for them.

In the last few years I have been lucky enough to fish onboard a couple of local boats, targeting and landing Porbeagle sharks with a fair amount of success. The largest shark I’ve witnessed was around 250lb and over 7ft long with the majority around the 100lb mark. Recently a local angler captured his own aboard a charter boat from Weymouth estimated over 350lb!!!

A 130lb+ Porbeagle having a quick photo before release.

So, times are changing, more sharks are appearing in our waters over the last 2 years and what’s better is more people are fishing for them. Luckily, if you are thinking of jumping on a charter boat there are now a good few boats offering this service in the area, but if you own your own boat where do you start? As with all fishing and especially a relatively little fished discipline such as Shark fishing even more so in Dorset, we are learning different techniques every time we are on the water. Over the next few months I will try to relay the knowledge I have gained so far, hopefully to help you to find your own sharks, the tackle I use, the chum, safe handling and welfare of these surprisingly sensitive creatures!

I hope you have enjoyed the insight of what’s to come and here is wishing you tight lines until next time.

Paul

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Death of a fishing legend

It is with great sadness that I hear the news this morning, of the sudden death of John Wilson, who died after suffering a stroke in his home in Thailand. John was a fishing legend that inspired so many people, myself included. I was lucky enough to meet him once and I was awed by his passion and knowledge of angling. He crossed all the fishing disciplines and his videos and TV shows enlightened millions of anglers over the years. You will be missed John.

So many people tell me that the Bass fishing finishes in September and they can’t wait until they return again in May. I tell tell them that they are missing out on the best months, especially if you want to catch a big Bass. Most of my larger Bass have come during November and looking back through my diaries, this month has been the best for numbers on the lure, as long as it doesn’t blow for too long.

As predicted, Chesil was very rough over the weekend. Several anglers decided to try fishing for Bass in Portland harbour. Once again lures out fished bait for the Bass. Kevin Webb was lucky enough to have his rod to hand, when he spotted birds hitting a shoal of baitfish close to the shore. What ensued was a frantic short period in which he landed 11 Bass, three of them over 3lb including this one at just over 4lb

It was caught on a Westin Sandy Andy, this isn’t a lure I have used in the past, but it is pretty similar to a Savage Gear Sandeel

I want to say a big thank you to all those that sent me positive comments and feedback after my first post for a long time. It has given me great encouragement to bring the site back up and provide you with the most up to date reports and reviews. I promised that I would try and make it even better than before, with that in mind I am delighted to say that I have a number of new writers on board. We will be covering even more areas and disciplines that ever.  We will be starting with a series of articles on Shark fishing and another series shore fishing from Morocco, which is an up and coming shore venue, with some amazing fishing.

Unfortunately I didn’t get to go fishing on Monday, but I hope to get out tomorrow evening. I am pretty excited as I have a new rod and reel to try out. I am going to be targeting my nemesis fish, an Undulate Ray as well as Cod. I will of course post any positive reports through here and on my Facebook page.

Conditions:

Chesil Beach: 1.5m swell with waves occasionally exceeding 2m. Wind is currently SW backing to SSE and dropping over the next couple of days. Water is fairly heavily coloured at present.

Portland: 1.5m swell with coloured water that should clear by Friday

Portland Harbour: Wavelets with clear water

Weymouth Bay: light surf with good water clarity

Chesil Beach forecast: The beach should fish well for species such as Cod, Whiting, Dogfish and Pout for the next day or so. As the colour drops from the water and the swell subsides you can expect to catch plenty of Garfish during the day.

Night tides should produce a few Codling and some Rays. I have seen a picture of a nice Turbot caught over the weekend and a few Codling, but at present I don’t have permission to share those. The area around Chesil Cove often has a lot of Squid at this time of year. I have yet to work out how to target them from the shore in this area. If anyone has successfully done so, I would love to hear from you.

Portland Harbour: As the tides become smaller the Bass seem to be harder to catch in the harbour, but you can still target Garfish, Flounder and Pollock, with a few Wrasse showing on the reefs around Sandsfoot and in the deeper channels at Ferrybridge.

Portland: Wrasse fishing should be good once more around the Island. November is the month to target the big Wrasse. Expect to lose gear and fish hard on the bottom with rotten bottom rigs, but if you bait up with half a hardback velvet swimmer crab, you are in with a chance of a big fish.

Bass, Mackerel, Pollock and Garfish are still around the Bill and Church Ope Cove

Weymouth Bay: The big question everyone is asking at the moment is will the piers be any good for Squid. With the weather settling over the next couple of days and the water clarity improving, the squid should be around in decent numbers.

Flounder, Bass, Rays, Dogfish and Pout are always on the cards around the Sealife Centre are of the beach, especially on a night tide.

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If you want to find out more info about sea fishing reels, check out www.myseareels.com

Whats happened to Fishing Tails? We are back!

I am delighted to say that Fishing Tails is back and will be even better than ever. I won’t bore you with the details as to why I haven’t been around, but I would like to say thank you to those who have supported me over the past few months and have persuaded me to get the site back up and running.

I will start off with some bad news for me. I had almost all of my fishing tackle stolen from a lock up in Dorchester. I don’t know how long ago it was taken, as I hadn’t been over there for a couple of months. Yes that is how long its been since I have done any sea fishing. I am now going to have to replace my beach, boat and fly fishing gear. One thing that you don’t realise until you have to buy it all again, is how much all the little bits of terminal tackle cost. If there is a silver lining to this story, then it is that I will be replacing my gear with mostly new stuff. As I replace it I will write a review on most bits that I buy. This is where you get a bit of a say, as I am always happy to hear recommendations. I am currently in the market for a new head torch for night fishing. I have just bought a new Majorcraft Triplecross lure rod and I have one of the new Fladden Maxximus beach caster on the way. Feel free to drop me an email at [email protected] for any recommendations or any suggestions of tackle that you would like to see reviewed. I would also love to have your catch reports.

One of the most notable changes in shore fishing over the past couple of years, is the switch from the traditional fairly stiff UK rods, that mostly perform better with a multiplier, to the much longer, lighter and slimmer European style fix spool rods. I will be testing both extensively and will give you my opinion on which is the better style.

So the big question for this weekend is, will Chesil be fishable? The simple answer is no. There will always be the small minority that think they know better and will try and win against Mother Nature. Don’t be stupid, all you will do is put your own life in danger and more importantly the lives of the rescue services.

Looking at the wind forecast, it would seem that there is a window opening up on Monday. The sea will be rough and coloured, but the wind should drop enough, to allow us to get a cast far enough behind the breakers, to prevent your line being buried under the shingle. Expect to catch Bass, Cod, Whiting and Dogfish, with the chance of a large Conger.

Danny Hardwick and a couple of his mates, took advantage of just that type of conditions on Wednesday evening a couple of years back. They managed to land some nice sized Codling.

The fish fell to black legwork, tipped with peeler crab.

I am certainly looking forward to Monday, where I will give live updates via Instagram and Facebook. If you are desperate for a fix over the weekend, you could do worse than Preston Beach. Conditions look good for a Bass in the surf.

Conditions:

Chesil Beach: Very rough, bordering on unfishable

Portland: Rough on the West side and around Portland Bill, with poor water clarity. The clarity on the East side is also poor, but it will be a lot calmer, with waves around 1m.

Portland Harbour: Wavelets with clear water

Weymouth Bay: Surf up to 1m with good water clarity

Chesil Beach forecast: Not much more to be said about Chesil, other than avoid it until Monday, unless the wind does drop significantly over the weekend.

Portland Harbour: Plenty of Bass can still be caught in the harbour on lures and bait. If my memory serves me well, November used to be the best time for the large Bass in the harbour. If you don’t want to try my favoured method of lure fishing, then go big and put on a whole squid. It will last a lot longer against the crabs than worms.

Garfish and Pollock can all be caught around Ferrybridge and Castle Cove on float fished Mackerel or small lures. Hamm Beach can often produce Flounder as well as Pout.

Portland: The coloured water will make lure fishing almost impossible around the Portland Bill, but it may work on the East side, if you are prepared for a bit of a walk. It will certainly be more sheltered and fishing with bait during the day should produce Wrasse. Night tides and large fish baits may tempt Conger or Bull Huss.

Weymouth Bay: Weymouth always provides a safe haven and a reasonable mark to fish, when we have a big SW gale. The piers also offer good marks for anglers of all abilities. I have seen reports of numerous squid being caught, but windy conditions and not great water clarity, normally put put the squid off. However you can catch plenty of small Pollock, Wrasse and Garfish from both piers.

As I mentioned earlier the beach towards Preston and Bowleaze looks very good for a Bass. Expect Flounder and Dab to show, as well as Whiting and Dogfish after dark

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2018 Update – Minimum Landing Sizes (MLS) and protection status for common UK Marine fish

We have updated the MLS page to reflect the new Bass rules for 2018.

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The dust has now settled over the new Minimum Landing Size (MLS.) for Bass so we thought it might be interesting to test your knowledge of the MLS. and protection status of some of our most common UK Marine fish. No cheating this is not a test of your Googling skills we genuinely want to see how knowledgeable you all are!

As a bonus everyone who finishes the Quiz will get priority access to our new MLS reference  page where you can see all the size restrictions we know of!

The quiz is now over – results will be posted soon

See our new MLS page here

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Salmon & the Carp Angler

John Gierach once wrote

“…. how often do you have a chance to get skunked while casting a fourteen-foot spey rod in the shadow of a castle built two hundred years before the American Revolution?”

You’ll be thinking that I quite like John Gierach. Well, I think I do. I like his writing and his attitude in his writing; and I get the feeling that I’d kinda like to meet the guy and share a beer with him. Although I’m rather afraid we’d discover that we’re both grumpy old buzzards with not very much to say to each other. A bit like going down the pub with your best mate, but without the comforting warmth of familiarity to fill the silence.

But to return to his quote, for me the answer is well, every feckin’ day to be honest.

And frankly, after a while it becomes rather tedious getting skunked, eaten half to death by ravenous midges and invariably ending up “drookit”, to use the Scottish term. This last being a rather onomatopoeic description of one’s status after a classic spring or autumn day exposed to the vicissitudes of our local climate. Of course it’s not always as bad as this. The summers can be even worse.

Having said all this, it is actually possible to catch a salmon, once in a while. I know this because I’ve caught one. Just the one, mind. And therein lies the rub. You can wait an awfully long time for a salmon, even if you live on the banks of one of the most hallowed salmon rivers in the world.

Our local newspaper, which labours under the somewhat grandiose title of the Strathspey & Badenoch Herald, carries a not-so-weekly fishing column which tells you pretty much everything you need to know on this score; provided you know how to read the signs. Firstly, there is very little comment or even any sense of passion from the columnist, and this is your first clue. It’s as if a lifetime of recording, and presumably experiencing, essentially quite mediocre catches has stripped the author of any enthusiasm he may have once held for his subject. That’s assuming that you even manage to spot it due to either its complete absence (a very bad sign), or its brevity; in which case you’d be forgiven for confusing it with the local camanachd or bridge club scores. If you don’t know what camanachd is, by the way, do look it up. It’s far more interesting than the fishing report although maybe not quite as enlightening.

It’s been reduced over the years to a (very short) list of the barest facts and figures:

“12/5/15 Mr Brown (visiting angler) 9 ½ lb grilse, Tarric Mor on a spinner. Returned.”

This in itself is pretty telling, but it’s on the rare occasions that some sort of detail is recorded that you get a real feeling for just how truly depressing this whole salmon fishing business can be. A fairly typical report would read as follows:

“The Smith party took their usual week and landed a fine cock fish of 15lb”

Read that again, in case you missed it. Yep, one measly (okay, pretty decent) fish for a whole week of effort. For the entire party!

If you thought that was bad, reading further would be enough for even the most patient fisherman to question the sanity of the enterprise:

“This was X’s first salmon, having been returning to the area for 23 years”

And I can assure you that this is by no means an exaggeration.

However, each to their own, and as John Gierach cheerfully points out, it’s not every day you get to blank in such glorious surroundings, steeped in history. Unless you happen to be a local of course, in which case as I’ve stated earlier, it sucks.

The only decent salmon I’ve ever caught came about by, as I now know it, sheer good fortune and the ignorant bliss of the neophyte. I’d got this classic cane rod, paired up with a nice Youngs Beaudex and an equally classic double taper line. I’d been frequenting a little pool on the Dulnain, not far from home, casting various white concoctions in the hope of fooling a sea-trout. On the evening in question I’d bullied a few parr who should’ve known better (and certainly did afterwards) not much bigger than my fly, and had let my last cast drift on the dangle towards the near bank. Bang! A thumping great weight caused the rod to arch over and tore off upstream. It was a merry tussle, not the least because the fish then decided to return downstream, causing me to have to pass the rod around two intervening bushes. It was all very exciting and, to use a hackneyed phrase, the tackle was tested to its limits. I don’t think the rod ever recovered, to be honest. Anyways, eventually I had banked a beautiful, fresh run fish of around 7 or 8 pounds. Not bad going, especially on antique tackle with a 4lb tippet. As I said, I can’t claim any real expertise on my part; I was convinced I’d landed a sea trout and proudly displayed the photos to anyone and everyone I could accost.

One of my mates finally broke the spell:

“That’s a nice grilse”

“What’s a grilse?”, I said……

I’ve still to hook a sea-trout from the Dulnain, incidentally

At this point you’re probably thinking you’ve done a hell of a lot of reading for just one fish story. Hey! Welcome to the world of the salmon fisher, bozo! You could maybe console yourself with the thought that you’ve invested far less time in reading this than you might have to for a salmon of your own. You might even come to the conclusion that, for all the pomp & mystique that surrounds it, this salmon fishing malarkey isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Well, that’s not for me to say.

“Never knock another man’s hobbies”, is one of my mottos and, as J.G. suggests, where else can you wet a line…..?

I would suggest Spain, for a start……

p.s. a friend has suggested that I may have made a typo with regards to the word “carp” in the title….

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