Portland Fishing - Chesil Beach

Chesil beach, a natural shingle bank stretching for 16 miles to the west from Portland. There are many shipwrecks along the beach which makes it a Mecca for divers. The beach shelves as steeply below the waterline as above it making it a very popular place for fishermen with huge shoals of Mackerel in the summer and Cod in the winter. The beach is made up of a shingle bank leading straight into deep water. The ground you are fishing onto is mainly clean, but some areas have natural snags such as small wrecks and gullies. In calm conditions the whole beach is suitable for supervised children. But in rough weather it is dangerous for anyone to be on the beach.

The majority of UK species can be caught here including Trigger Fish in the summer from the wreck of the Royal Adelaide.

3lb Ballan Wrasse that I caught on Ragworm on 02/10/05 from the Masonic car park section. Picture quality not good as shot on mobile phone.

Landing Craft

The Royal Adelaide and the Landing Craft

These sites are situated close together and are accessed from the main car park serving the Chesil Beach Centre just past the Ferrybridge as you leave the mainland on the road to Portland. You have to pay at all times (day & night!) to park here. Trigger Fish can be caught over both wrecks in the summer. Both wrecks are local hot spots for Trigger Fish, they are best fished for with crab baits but will take just about anything. Local divers hand feed them with mussels. When fishing for them use strong size 1 hooks to 35lb snoods as they have very sharp teeth.

Landing Craft - 50 35.66N; 02 20.44W

For the landing craft site park at the far end of the car park (marked with a red arrow in the picture) and walk directly across towards the sea. When you reach the top of the shingle bank ensure that you are still in line with the end of the car park and then walk straight down to the sea. This is the site of an American landing craft that was in a storm during a training exercise in World War 2.

The Royal Adelaide

Extract from Kev the fish website - To find the wreck, park at Ferry Bridge car park and walk out towards the right hand side. Once on top of the shingle bank, line up the 3rd lamp post to the left of the car park entrance, with the light on top of the end of the left hand breakwater arm (Bincleaves), in Portland Harbour, this should put you about ten paces away from a concrete block.

Once you have done this, walk ten paces towards the Bridging camp, then turn and walk straight down to the water. This should put you directly in front of the wreck. During the summer plenty of divers use this wreck for diving on, so if they are going into the water right next to you, you know you are in the right place. Always ask the divers what they have seen, as this information could help you.

Other species of fish known to be on the wreck are large Pollack, Ballan Wrasse and Conger Eel.

Access & Parking
There are three ways to reach this beach - all of which are off the B3157 road from Burton Bradstock to Abbotsbury.

• On foot from the village of Swyre, two paths about 3/4 mile long lead southwards to the coast. No information about car parking in the village is available. From the beach the path is signposted "Newlane and Swyre"

• Approximately 1 mile east of Burton Bradstock is the car park for the National Trust site at Cogden Beach. Once you reach the beach, turn left (eastwards) on the Dorset Coast Path which runs between the back of the shingle bank and Burton Mere.

• From the village of West Bexington a minor road leads south to a car park sited more or less on the beach itself - £2 per day. From this point, take the Coast Path westwards to reach the part of the beach described above.