Chesil, Ferry Bridge.

Ferrybridge is the name given to several locations, there is a pub, The Ferrybridge Inn, on the right-hand side as you leave Wyke Regis towards Portland. You can get access behind the pub to fish The Fleet which is the area of water between Chesil Beach and the mainland. The main quarry here is bass although some fish the area for flounder.
The next Ferry Bridge is a concrete bridge carrying the road over the inlet to The Fleet from Portland Harbour. There are several places that you can access here to spin or float-fish with mackerel strip or sandeel for gar, mackerel, bass or pollack...... depending on season. The tide pulls strongly through here and fishing is best a couple of hours each side of high. You can bottom fish for the same species although small wrasse will feature most in your catch if you use ragworm.

Under the Ferry Bridge, spinning for bass

Be careful when walking on the sloping concrete apron, it is very slippery where it is covered by the tide and has weed or algae growing on it. The fringes of the water have weed patches so care is needed not to get snagged when retrieving a fish. This venue is quite safe for children and the bridge gives shelter if it rains.

Ferry Bridge, looking west back towards Weymouth.

Wheelchair access is possible to this area via the area to the rear of the pub or via a ramped access at the Portland side of the bridge.( I will have to check if there are any steps, I can't remember seeing any). Some people fish from the bridge itself, this brings the problem of catching the boats that pass in and out of The Fleet. Nearest facilities are at the Ferrybridge car park a few hundred yards east. Don't be tempted to park on the road or in the access roads or tracks. It is usual for a few vehicles to be parked on the grass verge though.

Chesil 'Ferrybridge', looking over The Fleet at low tide from the car park.

The next Ferrybridge location is the car park containing an Information Centre, a snack bar and toilets. The car park is an area levelled by US forces during WWII as part of the D-Day build up. It is now a race track for chavs in the evening and a source of revenue for the council. Pay especial attention to the charges board when you get a ticket.... charges are steep and apply 24 hours a day.
The best fishing spots are said to be to the right, in the above photo you can make out a small structure far to the left. Walk out to here, along the bank of the fleet is easiest ( at low tide you can take a short cut), and then up the bank near to the fenced off area. The fences are to keep people out from the bird nesting area. There are a few noted marks that are wrecks that can be reached by big casters who know where they are. The 'Landing Craft' and the 'Adelaide' are found by following the detailed instructions on this site
All manner of fish can be caught in season along this stretch, indeed it would be easier to list those that cannot be caught. Favourite baits, ragworm, mackerel, squid and sandeels. Most likely catch... dogfish.
The area is very popular with holiday-makers bashing out mackerel during the summer and by cod hunters in the winter.

The nearest tackle shops are here.

Approximate Tide Times for the next seven days

on and under bridge only.

Chesil Beach, Abbotsbury.

Abbotsbury, looking east towards Portland.

The beach at Abbotsbury is a nationally recognised mark, all manner of fish are caught here and it can get crowded when there are cod around in winter or mackerel in the summer..
Turn off the coast road from Weymouth to Bridport ( B3157) on a bend at the bottom of a steep hill that is signposted to the Subtropical Gardens. Go past the gardens and car parks to the end of the lane, there is a car park on your left. An attendant will take money from you in the tourist season but not in winter. There is a toilet block in the car park. Access to the beach is made easier by the boarded walkway to the crest of the bank, after this it is loose shingle; the beach is quite steeply banked and gives access to deep water.

Abbotsbury Beach, looking west.

Experienced anglers tend to trudge off towards the cottages to the west or The Dragon's Teeth to the east. The dragons teeth are a line of shaped concrete anti-tank blocks that remain from WWII. Debate rages whether the fishing is much better but at least you do not have mackerel feathers, hooks and leads whizzing around. You will be fishing onto clean, mainly snag free ground and you can fish fairly light in summer.

The Dragon's Teeth are just visible above the trees in the right foreground.

Shops and cafés are about a mile along the road in the village of Abbotsbury, There is a Swannery to see at Abbotsbury if you get bored with fishing. The nearest tackle shop is Weymouth Angling near the Town Bridge. If you are travelling here from the west then pick up bait in West Bay.
The usual Chesil comment applies here.....do not even think about going onto the beach to fish with a big sea running

Tide Times at Abbotsbury for the next 7 days

Chesil Beach, Masonic Car Park

Chesil Beach, looking west from Portland.

The 'Masonic' is a car park at the end of the causeway to the Isle of Portland. You will notice a blue painted shed which is the first building on the right hand side; go around both roundabouts and double back to get to the entrance. You will be confronted with a massive bank of shingle to climb up and over. If this looks bad just wait to you see it on the seaward side. The steep bank of rounded cobbles makes for an interesting lung bursting climb back up, taking one step forward and sliding half a step back. The beach profile changes after each big storm. Do not even think about going onto the beach with a big sea running, the waves sometimes overtop this bank. The nearest tackle shop is Weymouth Angling near the Town Bridge.
Shops, cafe and toilets are just along the road in the village of Chiswell,

Chesil Beach, The Cove.

Looking west from the Cove.

Chesil Cove is the easternmost fishing mark on Chesil Beach and is reached via the village of Chiswell. Do not take the road up the hill but take the next exit from the roundabout. There is a small road to the right, Brandy Row, where you can sometimes find a place to park. The area is popular with divers, you will have to take care ( they usually will not). The water here is deep and a short cast is sometimes all that is needed to catch. The bottom can be snaggy in places, getting more so as you move around to the left. Some hardy types hike off along this rocky shoreline to hunt big wrasse. There is a chance of almost any fish that swims in British waters here, trigger fish are not particularly rare here but expect to catch bass, pollack, dogfish and wrasse along with mackerel and gar in the summer. Best bait, ragworm, squid and fishbait. Access to the beach is easy but the beach is made up of potato sized cobbles which make walking tiring. There are shops and a café in the village, and a café, recently opened, at the Portland end of the promenade. Children cannot come to too much harm here if they are kept out of the water.

Rough ground at the end of Chesil, the start of The Isle of Portland.

The nearest tackle shops are Chesil Bait 'n' Tackle on Portland Road,
or Weymouth Angling near the Town Bridge
see here

updated 14th April 2011

Chesil Beach, Freshwater

Arial view of the Freshwater site, ©Freshwater Beach Holiday Park 2007

Freshwater is not fished much by the general public as it is private with access via a holiday camp.
For those of you camping in the area or taking your own touring caravan or camper this is a clean and convenient place to stay. Fishing can be good here, the usual Chesil species, dogfish and pouting can be caught after dark and, towards West Bay, by the first dip in the cliffs, a good cast in spring will put the bait onto mussel beds where there is a good chance of a plaice. Like most of Chesil anything or nothing may turn up....
A very child friendly spot as you will have all the facilities of a modern camping site with shop, cafe, play areas and a swimming pool. A good place to leave partner and ankle-biters to play while you sneak off fishing.

Chesil Beach, West Bexington.

West Bexington, the Lagoon behind the shingle bank.

West Bexington is east of Bridport and West Bay. Turn off the B3157 in the village of Swyre, opposite The Bull at the bottom of a hill. There is a pay and display car park at the beach but its size shrinks year by year due to erosion by the sea. There is a cafe/shop by the carpark and a toilet block at the far end of the carpark. Fishing is fairly constant along the beach but there are those who favour a hike out to where the fresh water, from the lagoon behind the shingle bank, percolates through the shingle into the sea. Walking out to remote points is not too bad here as the coastal path is level and, for the most part, compacted shingle.

West Bexington beach, looking west.

This is a steepish shingle beach and most species can be caught at some time during the year. In winter some good bags of whiting are taken here along with some good codling. Squid tends to be a good bait for all manner of species here. Fish a big bait close in for bass. In the summer the beach is packed with people feathering for mackerel. Serious fishermen tend to stay away during the summer days, prefering to fish during darkness or hiking off in either direction to find a safer spot. The combination of inexperience when casting, lead weights and tinsel covered hooks makes it rather like the Somme battlefield at Christmas. If you want to catch mackerel and enjoy the experience then use a spinning rod and a single lure.
Like all Chesil marks this is not a bathing beach, and like anywhere along here very dangerous place to be with a big sea running after a southerly or south westerly blow.

West Bay Harbour, Dorset.

West Bay, East Beach from the East Pier

West Bay is at the western extremity of Chesil Beach and is the Port that used to serve Bridport. There is a harbour that is home to fishing charter boats and angling and crabbing can be enjoyed around the old harbour or the new pier extensions. East Pier is the shorter of the two harbour arms and forms a stop to Chesil Beach. The West Pier is pretentiously named the Jurassic Pier although it is nothing but a concrete eyesore. There are signs all around the new piers stating that hand lining and float fishing only is allowed; they are mainly ignored, or at best a small float is clipped on the line after casting for appearances sake. Casting out into the main channel used by the boats is not necessary, fish will be close in to the wall and can be caught a few feet or yards from the wall. On rougher days when there is no boat traffic is is safe enough to fish the main channel. Some hardy types climb over the wall at the end of the West Pier, scramble over the large rocks and fish the concrete platform. Be aware that an idiot angler fishing there in rough weather last year was washed off by a large wave, lost all of his tackle, and was lucky to survive; he was washed up eventually on East Beach. It is not a place for children.

West Bay, East Pier looking over to the Jurassic Pier.

The rest of the harbour is child friendly although there are sections with no railings.Light tackle can be used, a carp rod or a spinning rod is ideal, an ounce or two of lead is quite sufficient and long casting is not required. Species to be caught are, flounder, pouting, poor cod, whiting, plaice, dogfish, rockling, scorpion fish, blennies and wrasse near the rocks, pollack, eels, bass, mullet and mackerel, scad and garfish in the summer. The venomous Weever is common in the summer, be careful. If 'stung' then hot water, as hot as you can bear, will alleviate the pain. The lifeguards on the east pier know the drill, they do it often enough. 
Ragworm is the favoured bait for bottom fishing but small strips of fish or squid will catch fish. Float-fishing in summer can be good sport, depth at which the fish will be varies but about nine feet is a good starting depth. Best bait for float fishing is a strip of mackerel or squid or a small whole sandeel.

The Prom, West Bay

To the west of the harbour is the Promenade, this gives access to fish rough, rocky and weedy ground. There will be some tackle loss but the rough ground attracts all manner of species; wrasse, dogfish and bullhuss are far more common here than in the harbour area. There is little tidal flow and the fish can be close in, it is possible to fish this section using smooth (non-grip wire type) weights, an ounce or two can be plenty and weights of this size are cheaper to lose. Use a length of line of lower breaking strain than your hook-length or mainline and that should give first allowing you to retrieve the rest of the tackle and any fish. Casting distance is not a major consideration so 'power casting' with the risk of snapping the weak link during the cast is not required.... a gentle lob is all that is required. A slice of mackerel or squid, or a raw prawn on a size 1 or 1/0 hook will attract the dogfish and bullhuss.... although neither species can be said to be fussy eaters, they will generally take any bait offered. Use a soft wire hook such as the Mustad Nordic Bend and it will bend out of a snag but be sufficiently strong to hold the fish. In summer it can be worthwhile float fishing here for gar, mackerel, bass or mullet.


There is a tackle shop nearby, West Bay Angling Centre, plenty of fast food kiosks, cafés and shops. Toilets are near the café on East Beach and at the rear of the harbour-masters office, ( across the harbour from the sluice gates where the river enters the harbour ) . Car parking is expensive and short-term near the harbour, best use the long term car park that adjoins East Beach or the even cheaper area opposite at the old station yard.
There is free parking on the Prom and in the harbour-side car park after 6pm. 

There is an active Sea Angling Club at West Bay, junior matches are held on Saturdays except during the winter and guests can fish the matches, see website for details of the matches.

East Pier and East Beach, rough day

The picture shows the end of the East Pier, it also shows some children playing 'dodge the waves'; a silly game to play here. The sea when it rushes up the beach pushes through the shingle which then acts as a liquid, running away is difficult. A silly game to play as if you win, you get nothing; if the sea wins..... you drown. I had thought I might get a picture of kids drowning to sell to the newspapers but they did realise how stupid they were when they got wetted to the waist..... no fun in February with a bitter wind blowing.

updated 23.03.2011 The Prom photograph and information added
09.05.2011 Toilet info revised, toilets on the green now closed.

Piers and Prom area have access for wheelchairs,

rocks under the Prom wall could make retrieving a fish difficult, help may be required for this

Chesil Beach, Dorset

Chesil, from the hill at Abbotsbury, Portland in the distance.

Chesil Beach is a huge shingle bank that runs for eighteen miles from Portland in the East, to West Bay in the West. One of the premier fishing spots in Britain that can be fished at all states of the tide.

Fishing spots are, from east to west, Chesil Cove, Masonic Car Park, the Oil Tanks, Ferry Bridge, Abbotsbury, West Bexington, Cogden, Burton Bradstock, Freshwater and West Bay.
Chesil Beach is very dangerous when there is a southerly or southwesterly blow and a big sea running.
For real-time wave information see
 http://www.channelcoast.org/data_management/real_time_data/charts/
Anything over 1.5m wave height on the green line will be too much for novices, anything over 2m can be dangerous even for experienced anglers.

Chesil Beach, Burton Bradstock

Burton Bradstock, looking west.

Burton Bradstock is a small village to the east of Bridport, on the western end of Chesil Beach in Dorset. The beach, Hive Beach, is signposted from the B3157 as you leave the village going east. Look for the café sign. There is a car park adjacent to the beach, a café which is open all year round and a toilet block. The car park is run by The National Trust, members can park for free if displaying a current member badge.
The beach is child friendly, fine shingle giving way to sand at low tide. To the right of the car park, the sea bed is rocky, weedy and snaggy and you will loose tackle but stand a chance of catching a big wrasse or bass. Be aware that cliff falls have occurred recently and are always possible after periods of heavy rain.  Early morning spinning or plugging in this area will often produce some good bass. In front of the car park and to the left you will be fishing onto fairly clean ground. The beach is not as steep as it is further east and there is not the same depth of water.

Techniques and catches will be broadly similar to Cogden, but without the walk and with the facilities.

Burton Bradstock, looking east.
The beaches along Chesil are not bathing beaches, people are drowned along this part of the coast almost every year.

Tide times for next seven days

Cogden, Chesil Beach

2nd February 2007 low tide

Cogden beach, between Burton Bradstock and West Bexington, Chesil Beach, Dorset. 02/02/07
Great weather for February, I caught about two dozen small pouting and four lesser spotted dogfish. I used light bass rods with fixed spool reels, 10lb line, 3 ounce leads and size 2 hooks on 2' long running ledger traces. Bait was ragworm and fresh herring from the supermarket. I was hoping to catch a sole or a dab.... but no such luck.

Cogden sunset.

Cogden Beach is National Trust property, there is a car park by the road (B3157) where members may park free but others must pay at the meter.. It will be about an eight minute walk down and 12 minutes back up. The beach is fine shingle giving way to sand at low tide. A snag free venue where you can catch most of the species that turn up along Chesil, with perhaps a better chance of plaice, sole and dabs than further east, long casting is not essential to fishing here. Summer brings mackerel and gar shoals within reach, more sport is had by float fishing for them rather than feathering. Best if there is an offshore breeze to aid casting.
A child friendly venue in fine weather but Chesil Beach can be an evil and dangerous place when there is a strong south-westerly.
There are no facilities here, just gorse bushes,shingle and sand........ and sea.

The walk down to the beach, and the beach itself, is much used by irresponsible dog 'walkers', dog emptiers would be a more apt description .....mind where you walk..... and try not to be too abusive to the dog walkers who, after their dogs have bounded around eating your bait, barking at you and peeing on your tackle box, announce that " he just wants to be friends".

Tide times for Cogden for the next 7 days


updated 17th August 2010

Weymouth, Dorset

low tide Weymouth Beach

Weymouth is a major centre for sea angling, there are many charter boats based in the town.

Pier and shore fishing from The Stone Pier, The Pleasure Pier, Greenhill Beach, Preston Beach, Ringstead Bay etc and Church Ope Cove on Portland. Chesil Beach offers many good venues.

Tide times for Weymouth for the next 7 days.