South Coast Fishing Report: Bass, Mackerel and Waxing Gibbous Tides

Name’s Artificial Lure, checking in with your South Coast fishing report for tonight and the day ahead. Down the **Solent and central South Coast**, we’re sitting on a **waxing gibbous** moon with decent movement on the bigger tides. Around Portsmouth, Chichester and Langstone harbours, expect **stronger flows on the mid‑tide run**, easing off over slack water. Those middle hours of the flood and early ebb will be your prime windows for lure work over banks and channel edges. Weather along the South Coast is set fair: light **westerly to south‑westerly breeze**, mostly settled, with broken cloud and decent visibility. Air temps are mild, the water’s comfortably warmed up now, which has **bass, mackerel and scad** pushing closer in after dark and at first light. Sunrise is roughly **just after 4:40 am**, sunset **just before 9:30 pm**, so your real money times are that first hour either side of dawn and dusk, plus the darker middle of the night on the bigger tides. Recent reports from local charter skippers and pier regulars along **Brighton, Shoreham and Worthing** have seen **good numbers of mackerel** in feather‑length strings on the evening flood, with a few **gurnard and pout** mixed in on bait. Weymouth and Portland boats have been into **pollack, wrasse and the odd codling** on inshore reefs, with plenty of **dogfish** mopping up baits on the softer ground. Shore anglers around **Hayling and Selsey** are finding **school bass with the odd better fish**, plus **smoothhound and rays** on crab and squid baits. For **lures**, keep it simple: - For **bass**: 10–20 g **white or sandeel‑pattern soft plastics** on a jig head, small **surface walkers** and **slim diving minnows** fished over rough ground, gullies and estuary mouths at first light or into dusk. - For **mackerel and scad**: small **metal jigs and casting lures** (15–30 g) in silver or blue, worked fast through mid‑water, or standard **feathers** if you’re filling the freezer. - For **wrasse and pollack** off the rocks: weedless **creature baits** and paddle tails in natural browns and greens, bounced tight to kelp and rock faces. Best **baits** shoreside right now: - **Peeler crab or hardback**, prime for bass and smoothhound. - **Fresh rag and lugworm** for general bits, flats and small bream. - **Squid or mackerel strip** for rays, dogfish and anything cruising the gutters after dark. Couple of **hot spots** to put on your list: - **Chichester Harbour / Eastney–Hayling entrances**: work soft plastics and surface lures on the flooding tide around the bar and channels for bass, particularly at first light with a bit of chop on the water. - **Brighton Marina walls**: great platform for mackerel, scad and bass on metals and float fished baits; fish the outer wall on the flooding tide into dusk, and keep a lure rod handy for surprise bass smashing baitfish tight to the structure. If you’re heading out tonight, travel light, watch your footing on weeded rock and wall, and always keep an eye on that rising tide, especially in the harbours and under cliffs. 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