South Coast Bass and Plaice Report: Settled Conditions and Prime Tide Windows

This is Artificial Lure with your South Coast fishing report for this evening and into tomorrow’s light session. We’ve got a fairly settled pattern along the English Channel tonight. Along the central and eastern South Coast, winds are generally light west to south‑westerly, 5–12 knots, with a slight chop; the western stretch towards Dorset seeing a touch more breeze. Air temps dipping into the low teens overnight, climbing to the mid‑teens through the day. Skies are mixed cloud with clear breaks – decent conditions for both a late session and an early dawn raid. Channel tide times vary a bit port to port, but Brighton, Portsmouth and Weymouth are all on a similar cycle: a late‑evening high followed by a falling tide through much of the night, then a pre‑dawn low and a flooding tide into breakfast. That gives two prime windows: the first two hours of the ebb after high, and the classic “first light on the flood” bite. Water temps offshore are running in the low to mid‑teens Celsius, and that’s switched fish activity up a gear. Bass are pushing in tight to the beaches and structure, especially where there’s rough ground meeting sand. Local charter skippers from Brighton and Portsmouth have been reporting increasing numbers of schoolies with a better stamp of fish nudging into the 4–6 lb bracket, plus the odd double for those working the tides hard. Solent inshore marks have also seen a steady pick of smaller bass with rays and dogs mixed in. Plaice fishing over the sandbanks off Sussex and the eastern Solent has been decent on the smaller neap tides, with a fair few keepers reported by local match lads over the last few days. Flounder and dabs are still showing in the softer estuary mud. Further west, Weymouth and Portland boats have been into pollack and wrasse over the inshore reefs, with mackerel shoals starting to show in better numbers on the clearer days. For lures, bass chasers should lean on 4–5 inch soft plastics in natural baitfish tones – silvers, sandeels and muted olive backs – on 10–20 g jigheads, worked across the flood over gullies and along harbour walls. Slim surface walkers and small sub‑surface minnows will come into their own around first light if the wind stays down, especially over shallow reef and surf tables. Night‑time sessions around piers and groynes call for darker patterns – black or purple soft plastics and small shads silhouetting against any ambient light. Bait anglers should bring ragworm and lug as the staples. Ragworm tipped with a sliver of squid on flowing traces is doing well for plaice, dabs and the odd early bream. Peeler crab, when you can get it, remains top drawer for better bass and smoothhounds, particularly along the Hampshire and Dorset stretches. Fresh mackerel or herring strips are a solid shout after dark for rays and huss on the rougher stuff. A couple of hotspots to consider: First, the stretch between Shoreham and Brighton Marina – the beaches, arm walls and rock groynes there have been producing a nice mix of schoolie bass, plaice and the odd thornback, especially on the evening high into the first of the ebb. Work lures along the edges of the structure, or fish worm baits just beyond the breakers. Second, the eastern side of Christchurch Bay up towards Hengistbury Head and the Christchurch Harbour entrance. On a flooding tide around dawn, bass move in to ambush bait along the bars and channels, and there have been recent reports of decent fish taken on both soft plastics and whole sandeel baits there. Just mind the tide and boat traffic in the harbour mouth. Overall, conditions are lining up nicely for those willing to time their sessions around the moving water and the low‑light periods. Travel safe, keep an eye on the local forecasts and port tide tables, and take only what you need for the table. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss a report. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai. Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn