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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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