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Portland Fishing - Reports

We have teamed up with Weymouth Angling Centre and Sea Angling News to bring you the latest news and local catch information. Please check this page often for the latest news.

13 Bass in two hours from the shore, click here to read the report.

 

July 2010 Reports

CHESIL REPORT by Heggy

A reasonable month, the early part saw what for us can only be called a good run of Smoothhound, a little later than usual but very welcome never the less, more than we normally see with seven or eight fish to a rod, mostly small 2-4lb, we just don't get the quantity or quality of the Hampshire or Sussex beaches. One or two reaching double figures, best I'm aware of was one of 11lb 7oz, falling to the rod of local angler Ben Stockley. Ben has had quite a month, when you consider that any double figure hound from Chesil is a bit special and he had two, both over 11lb, both weighed on the beach and returned, then to finish of the month he won the latest Weymouth Angling Society shore match with a pair of Small eyed rays, best going 10lb 15oz. More Dabs than we have seen for a while and still a few nice Plaice around the 21/2lb mark, first Gurnard and Bream beginning to turn up, Mackerel did their normal disappearing act for a couple of weeks but have returned in the last week. Early reports of Scad, expect the main shoals to show towards the middle of July. Plenty of Dogs and bits after dark, anglers specifically after Bass could do well with fresh Mackerel heads fished in the gutter.

Rocks producing lots of Ballans but nothing of note, Pollack, Pout and Gars also showing in catches from marks towards the Bill, things should steadily improve from now on. Portland harbour fairly quiet but Gilthead Bream should start to show any time now, Eels, Bass and Flounders when it's rough. Weymouth Harbour full of Thin Lipped Mullet, not so many Thick Lipped and a few Golden Greys, all good fun for those with a bit of patience.

  

Weymouth Report By Paul Whithall

Cod fishing this year is different from last year. Last year we were all heading east for the Brittle Star Bank and then 'hopping' lures for most of the days catching plenty of cod in the 5lb range with a few better fish. It was easy. This year it is not easy but the cod are much bigger.

This year the cod are on the wrecks. They are not there in great numbers but most are 10lb and upwards with many in the 15lb range and a few of 20lb+. It seems that the cod are staying extremely tight to the wrecks and so it's a fine line between tempting one to the lure or waiting just a fraction too long and getting stuck in the wreck.

The cod also seem to prefer lures rather than live sand eels (although some days it's the total opposite and if live eels are not available then fishing can be very unproductive). Tempest and Storm lures are very effective with the ever favourite 'Rhubarb and Custard' colour the overall best……but, as ever, there will be days when they will not work and white or some other colour will prevail.

Fishing requires an open mind and an assortment of lures. It also pays to notice if someone on the boat is having more success and catching the most fish. There's nothing wrong in learning from each other. It may be that a fellow angler's tackle appears to be identical but upon closer inspection the trace length may be longer or shorter. It may sound mad but even a something like trace length can mean the difference between catching and not catching. And, to make matters worse, the combinations can change throughout the day!

It's important to 'stay on the bottom' so it may be, depending on your main line and your own sensitivity, that weights will have to go up to 12oz (maybe more) during the hardest run of tide. 'Feeling the bottom' is something your skipper just cannot do for you (I AM talking about the seabed here)….it's probably the hardest part of drift fishing for most anglers and YOU have to develop the feel yourself. It is often very hard indeed to impress upon customers just how fast the boat is drifting…especially on a calm day!

The Pollack are thinning out on the offshore wrecks although there have been very good hits from the inshore wrecks when live sand eels definitely has the edge over artificials (but not always!!). The inshore wrecks are also more likely to throw up a bass or two and there have been a few bass now caught.

Pollacking south of the 50 degree line, which is crossed when going south to the Channel Islands but too far to reach on a normal day trip, is very good. This often happens in June with the Pollack moving into slightly deeper water. The wrecks to the south of the 50 degree line tend to be in the 70 metre+ plus range as opposed to 55m to the north of the line.

There have been a few ling about so, if you enjoy ling, then put a mackerel bait down as the tide eases. Using a decent sized muppet on the baited hook will increase you catch rate. Conger fishing has not really started yet.

The inshore fishing is currently hard. The bream along the northern shore were short lived and have scattered with the odd fish here and there. They tend to regroup in late July/early August and head towards the west Shambles mussel bed area. The Shambles itself seems pretty devoid of fish after April and May being good with turbot. The rough ground marks south of the Shambles are also quiet with mainly pout, gurnard and dogfish and the rays have not arrived on the Kidney Bank to the west of Portland.

The exception to this seems to be the 3 mile and 7 mile grounds to the south west of Portland where good catches of tope and conger have been achieved with the best tope coming in at 55lb.

All this will change in July (famous last words) with the general reefing picking up. Expect huss, conger and tope to be fairly widespread on the rocky marks with more rays turning up from virtually anywhere although the blonde rays do not usually arrive on the Kidney Bank until early August. And, as said above, the bream should start to shoal up.

Bass fishing will start to feature in July. There's been a few fish in the Portland Race but only a couple of serious attempts have been made so far.

There have been a number of trips over to Alderney now so please take a look at Mark Harding's comprehensive report for all the necessary information. Thanks as ever to everyone for coming to Weymouth and fishing with us and a special mention must be made to a man who has emerged as Weymouth's current fishing expert in all matters, Mr Christopher Coombs. I have suggested he starts an Ask Chris section in SAN and I hope he does this. In the meantime, if any of you have any really hard, detailed questions that require a massive and intricate answer please email me (pwhittall@aol.com) and I will pass them on to him.

Thank you.

 

 




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