It is so typical that many of you will have a few days off over the next week, and fishing conditions are terrible. The exception being Christmas day and Boxing day, with Christmas day being the better of the two. It looks like the Cod will be pretty safe then, as I don’t no many people that will be out that day. Boxing day on the other hand is a different matter all together.  I will certainly be fishing on Boxing day, just not sure where yet. I may have to travel to the in-laws, in which case I will fish one of the Solent marks, most likely Gillkicker, which has produced well for me over the years on Boxing day. If I stay local then I think I will fish the Ferrybridge area, as that produced a few Cod last week.

I have to take my hat of to the anglers that braved conditions on Saturday and fished the WAS Christmas Fayre on Preston Beach. Despite the beach being one of the more sheltered marks, anglers had to battle 40mph winds, and for some it was worth it. The winner was Keith Didcott (apologies if I have the wrong surname) with a Bass of over 4lb, and second was Ryan Casey with a superb specimen Dab of 1lb 2oz. Watch out for Ryan, I am certain we will see him in the England team in the future.

Large Dab

I am sure some of you will have seen this video already, if you are subscribed to my Facebook or Google+ page, but for those of you that haven’t here it is:

Sea Conditions: 

Water temperature 10.1*c.

Chesil Beach:  Unfishable

Portland: Very rough with coloured water and lots of weed

Portland Harbour: Wavelets with lightly coloured water

Weymouth Bay:  1m surf extending to around 60m from the shore lightly coloured water

Chesil Beach forecast: Unfishable

Portland: Only the East side is fishable. The water is coloured making Wrasse fishing very difficult. Pollock, Bass, Cod and Bull Huss can find the baits in the churned up water, but you have to find a platform far enough above the water to fish safely. For this you need heavy tackle and be prepared to lose lots of terminal tackle. Big baits will work best.

Portland Harbour: I did speak to a couple of anglers fishing around the sailing academy yesterday and they had managed a couple of Flounder and one  small Bass.

Weymouth Bay: The WAS christmas Fayre proved that there are fish on Preston beach, and some nice ones as well. This will continue through out the week, with this mark being one of the few that offer a reasonable amount of shelter to anglers. You don’t have to cast far on this mark to catch. Ragworm is a very successful here.

Guiding & Lessons: Even though the Bass fishing should run all the way through to mid December and maybe even later, depending on the water temperature, I will be mainly switching to guiding for winter species. Most of my trips will be Wrasse fishing for the large fish from rough ground, , or from the beaches for Cod and Whiting.   Have a look on the guiding link at the top of the page or drop me an email for more details to sean@fishingtails.co.uk

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