Visiting and fishing on the Chesil Beach

The Chesil Beach is part of the Jurassic Coast which is part of England's only natural World Heritage Site.

Chesil Beach is approximately 17 miles long all of which is fishable but some areas are out-of-bounds as they are part of a nature reserve. It extends from Chesil Cove in the east to Bridport Harbour. The beach slopes very steeply especially at the eastern end so even a short cast will put your bait into deep water. Please also note that the tides are dangerous along the beach with strong undercurrents. Only very strong swimmers should attempt to swim here. Because this beach is so vast I will only describe a few marks where there is easy access and other facilities nearby.

During late spring and early summer, mackerel shoal along the whole of the beach in great numbers. Most people target them with a feather rig which can be bought cheaply from all tackle stores. Mackerel are most easily caught during daylight in calm weather and can come very close to the shore as dusk approaches. Look for signs of seagulls diving into the sea. This is a good sign that small fish are being chased to the surface by a shoal of predators.

It is a pebble and shingle tombolo

Chesil Beach is 18 miles (28 kilometres) long, 160 meters broad, and climbs to a height of 12 meters. It’s a pebble and shingle tombolo that runs from Portland to Abbotsbury, then north-west to West Bay in Bridport. The Fleet is a tidal lagoon with a shallow depth of roughly 3 meters. The pebbles are graded in size from fist-sized near Portland to pea-sized at Bridport. The pebbles are mainly a mix of flint and chert, with some quartzite pebbles from Buddleigh Salterton.

Much of the villages of Fleet and Chiswell were destroyed in the Great Storm of 1824

Chiswell had fought the sea for generations and was frequently inundated during severe winter storms. The sea would flow over the upper half of the bank during storms, thus efforts to drain the Fleet were scrapped in 1630. The community was devastated by the great storm of November 1824, an event from which Chiswell would never entirely recover. Various defences have been built since then to help the community, most notably the sea wall and promenade, which began construction in 1958 and was finished in 1965.

My first time on Chesil Beach

I wondered should I write this blog or not because this happened few weeks ago but decided to do it anyway. Plan was to catch Cod or sea Bass. Arrived to Chesil beach car park, me and my good friend bough the parking ticket from beach cafe, planned to stay few hours. Walked on the small bridge and to my eyes appeared curved nice looking huge beach on which every spot was looking fishable with so many anglers to my left and right I never seen on any beach before. NICE. Went to the east of car park, We read this is best fishing deep area. After few min. walk,  we could finally start fishing. Set up or fisihng chairs, rod rest and started to bait my first rod, used 2 hook flapper with squid bait on each hook. 

We were hoping to catch any Codling but none was about, giving us hopes for next time. After chilling with few drinks and jokes we started at 17:30pm to pack up and head up back home. Before I was about to leave the car park I decide to wonder around the area and I was approached by local angler telling me his thoughts about this beach, best spots, etc. but also said that this beach is highly overrated by many. Overrated or not I did enjoy fishing there and will be back on when the weather is good.

Thanks for reading my post, tight lines.

The Chesil Beach is best viewed as being for fishing, walking, sitting, watching, listening and re-charging your batteries. Parts of the beach are popular with beach-casters. But there are plenty of other reasons to visit. Not least, it’s one of those rare places where it is possible to get a true impression of the huge scale and power of nature. And even on the busiest day, for those prepared to walk a little, it is always possible to find a peaceful spot to get a sense of perspective and wilderness. The main access points like, Abbotsbury, West Bexington, Cogden, West Bay and Ferry Bridge may get busy at times, but with 18 miles to choose from, there’s more than enough of Chesil Beach to go round! But before you ask, camping there is not allowed!