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https://evocativeangling.rocks/2016/06/26/chesil-beach-the-mackerel-connection-ii/
Almost a year or so ago Pete invited me down to one of his favourite spots on Chesil beach to share how he had been so successful in pursuing one of Britain's most sought after catches on one of our most famous fishing beaches, I am of course talking about bass. The past couple of months have been patchy with one of us getting a decent fish each session in Dorset whether on shingle beaches or the rough ground of the Purbeck coast. The catches have been mostly thornbacks, undulates, pollock and small huss and for a long period we had been wanting some onshore blows to stir up the sea bed and give the fish a good reason to come inshore and gorge on the resulting food.
Waking in early in the morning we just felt the conditions for later that day conspired to yield something decent and going all all out for one of these magnificent silver creatures was what we intended to do. The only thing that wasn't helping was the lack of mackerel that are inshore at the moment so we headed to bait shops, fishmongers and supermarkets in search of the freshest mackerel & herring we could find. Now some of you may be wondering why we are fussing about searching for some that are fresh and are not content with the more readily available frozen stuff? Well it isn't a myth that fresh out fishes frozen as a bait, it does so significantly and it probably reduces your catches as much as not sharpening your hooks or baiting up every hour as opposed to 15mins. Anyway it was hard working finding some but we had 4 large mackerel and 2 herring from a fish wholesaler (fresh-ish) so on we went to Morrisons to get some food and beverages for the evening fishing and to Pete's surprise there were 4 more fresh mackerel at the fish counter that still had all of their colourful iridescence, what a result. We then nipped into a pub for a late lunch and sat and talked through how exactly we were going to approach the bass fishing that evening and which stages of the tide maybe most productive.
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For those of you who have never been to this area of Dorset, Chesil and the surrounding coastline is just spectacular, it's a paradise and it just fills you with hope as you catch your first glimpses of the sea in the distance.
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As the sun set we both had 3 rods set up with running ledgers, I had 1 very light spin rod and two T900's, Pete in contrast had gone all out with his Century carp rods and the same rig set up. The baits were either mackerel heads and guts or the other 3/4 of the fish in a cone shape on a 6/0 pennel rig. There were various places where we could have set up and cast depending on the distance of features but we opted for the tried and tested dropping a bait about 15ft out, basically at our feet. I was quickly into a dog which seemed like a bad omen as we lost the last of the fantastic light. I had drawn the short straw to grab Pete's phone which was left in the car and to take Sooty the dog back. Just as I was about to depart Pete shouts "Chris, Chris.... " and I look round, drop the dog lead and I am dashing back toward him as I can see his carp rod going right over repeatedly, he's in!!! I can see the thing and it looks huge on the surface kiting and turning as like is coming off Pete's light fixed spool. I started trying to film the sequence when I heard Pete say "Can you stop mucking about and help me with this fish?". As this beautiful plump bass appeared from the white surf I dived onto it putting my hand in the gill case and hiked back onto the nice dry pebbles above me. I was all too engrossed in the moment to really notice I had one soaked shoe and blood pouring from my finger after some tricky handling on the shore.
![]()
This was exactly what we had wanted to see and at 8lb 3oz it wasn't to be sniffed at, Pete had done it again, I congratulated him as we marvelled at this mercurial creature in such a prime condition and to be fair the way it fought meant it was a very healthy fish indeed. We quickly got her back in the water and off she swam into the surf, her black back slowly zigzagging back out, magic.
![]()
I eventually did that walk back to the car park with the old dog and returned in darkness. When I got back I live baited a pout and we both fished on until we were completely out of bait. The milky way showing was not a bad one despite the light pollution but as soon as the moon rose I felt our chance had gone so we cooked a bit of food and began packing down with a hint of light in the sky.
So it seemed the big bass maybe back and sooner or later we'll have a red letter day down there when the mackerel and in and we can get more of a scent trail going in the water. The session mirrored many others lately but it was another thoroughly enjoyable night.
Almost a year or so ago Pete invited me down to one of his favourite spots on Chesil beach to share how he had been so successful in pursuing one of Britain's most sought after catches on one of our most famous fishing beaches, I am of course talking about bass. The past couple of months have been patchy with one of us getting a decent fish each session in Dorset whether on shingle beaches or the rough ground of the Purbeck coast. The catches have been mostly thornbacks, undulates, pollock and small huss and for a long period we had been wanting some onshore blows to stir up the sea bed and give the fish a good reason to come inshore and gorge on the resulting food.
Waking in early in the morning we just felt the conditions for later that day conspired to yield something decent and going all all out for one of these magnificent silver creatures was what we intended to do. The only thing that wasn't helping was the lack of mackerel that are inshore at the moment so we headed to bait shops, fishmongers and supermarkets in search of the freshest mackerel & herring we could find. Now some of you may be wondering why we are fussing about searching for some that are fresh and are not content with the more readily available frozen stuff? Well it isn't a myth that fresh out fishes frozen as a bait, it does so significantly and it probably reduces your catches as much as not sharpening your hooks or baiting up every hour as opposed to 15mins. Anyway it was hard working finding some but we had 4 large mackerel and 2 herring from a fish wholesaler (fresh-ish) so on we went to Morrisons to get some food and beverages for the evening fishing and to Pete's surprise there were 4 more fresh mackerel at the fish counter that still had all of their colourful iridescence, what a result. We then nipped into a pub for a late lunch and sat and talked through how exactly we were going to approach the bass fishing that evening and which stages of the tide maybe most productive.
For those of you who have never been to this area of Dorset, Chesil and the surrounding coastline is just spectacular, it's a paradise and it just fills you with hope as you catch your first glimpses of the sea in the distance.
As the sun set we both had 3 rods set up with running ledgers, I had 1 very light spin rod and two T900's, Pete in contrast had gone all out with his Century carp rods and the same rig set up. The baits were either mackerel heads and guts or the other 3/4 of the fish in a cone shape on a 6/0 pennel rig. There were various places where we could have set up and cast depending on the distance of features but we opted for the tried and tested dropping a bait about 15ft out, basically at our feet. I was quickly into a dog which seemed like a bad omen as we lost the last of the fantastic light. I had drawn the short straw to grab Pete's phone which was left in the car and to take Sooty the dog back. Just as I was about to depart Pete shouts "Chris, Chris.... " and I look round, drop the dog lead and I am dashing back toward him as I can see his carp rod going right over repeatedly, he's in!!! I can see the thing and it looks huge on the surface kiting and turning as like is coming off Pete's light fixed spool. I started trying to film the sequence when I heard Pete say "Can you stop mucking about and help me with this fish?". As this beautiful plump bass appeared from the white surf I dived onto it putting my hand in the gill case and hiked back onto the nice dry pebbles above me. I was all too engrossed in the moment to really notice I had one soaked shoe and blood pouring from my finger after some tricky handling on the shore.
This was exactly what we had wanted to see and at 8lb 3oz it wasn't to be sniffed at, Pete had done it again, I congratulated him as we marvelled at this mercurial creature in such a prime condition and to be fair the way it fought meant it was a very healthy fish indeed. We quickly got her back in the water and off she swam into the surf, her black back slowly zigzagging back out, magic.
I eventually did that walk back to the car park with the old dog and returned in darkness. When I got back I live baited a pout and we both fished on until we were completely out of bait. The milky way showing was not a bad one despite the light pollution but as soon as the moon rose I felt our chance had gone so we cooked a bit of food and began packing down with a hint of light in the sky.
So it seemed the big bass maybe back and sooner or later we'll have a red letter day down there when the mackerel and in and we can get more of a scent trail going in the water. The session mirrored many others lately but it was another thoroughly enjoyable night.
