Abbotsbury
If the water is at any state mid-tide up you will unfortunately need to do the full shingle trek, I would suggest in order to reduce the amount of time spent walking over the shingle it is advisable to head to the far eastern end of the car park after paying for the parking and then heading along the first path heading East to make your way on to the shingle. I always tend to hug the shrubbery keeping it on my left side most of the way until I am practically at the Teeth, you will know when you are there as the Teeth are a standout row of concrete blocks heading right up from the base of the shingle seaward bound until practically the highwater point. As you get to the Teeth standing at the highest point and looking East you will note the start of the Fleet on your left and the shoreline on your right.
Abbotsbury the fishing mark and to be more precise the Dragons teeth at Abbotsbury will have to be arguably one of the best known fishing marks in the country, the whole area is famed for its late summer through to winter Cod fishing and this is a fair shout as even in recent times when the cod fishing is a shadow of its former self and most other marks anywhere south of the river Mersey on the west coast and the river Humber on the east struggle to turn out even the odd one or two fish, with the conditions being favourable Abbotsbury is still a place that offers a decent chance of a codling on any given day.
The normal tactics will all work here for a cod with pulley rigs or up and overs being a great choice if fishing larger baits such as crab, squid and black lug. It is also well worth hedging your bets if targeting a Cod by fishing one rod on the big baits and fishing a second with either a two hook clip down or two hook loop rig baited with black lug or blow lug on slightly smaller hooks such as the 2/0 Phantoms, you may well be surprised how often the smaller bait rig gets nailed by a codling and using this tactic will also see you very busy with smaller stuff such as Whiting, Pouting, Dog fish, Eels and occasional Bream even.
You don’t tend to see as many of the flatfish such as plaice of sole on the east end of Abbotsbury which I think is owing to the flatfish holding grounds being that bit further off slightly out of casting range, if you do want to fish for the flats its advisable to head west from the car park and fish between Abbotsbury and West Bexington.
Abbotsbury is a good place to fish a lighter rod targeting the Bream and Gurnards and these can be caught throughout the summer right into the late autumn early winter. Its worth putting out a fish or sandeel ray bait at times as there have been some cracking Undulate and Thornback taken through the years as well as the odd Blonde and Smalleye also. Around late December and early January is a prime time to chase a very big conger with fish over 30lb being a realistic target, for the eels the best way to go is to fish a small scratching rig first to acquire some lovely fresh pouting and then out with a head and guts of a modest sized pout on a nice big 8/0-10/0 O’shaughnessy hook attached to the 200lb Supacast heavy mono for hook length, night time is definitely the best time to employ this tactic.
During the summer months its worth having a crack for the Mackerel on the feathers and light spinning gear, it also well worth a bash float fishing small strips of mackerel for the garfish. Condition wise we all know that you want to fish with a nice churned up coloured sea for the Cod, for the mackerel, plaice and garfish you will want the polar opposite with nice settled seas and gin clear water, if you are fishing late summer into the autumn with a nice growling sea it is well worth dropping a bait very short in the hope of finding a nice bass.
This can be said for ALL of Chesil beach but with its steep seaward banks and deep waters the Abbotsbury area can be particularly dangerous during a blow with big swells and steep unstable footing, NEVER take any undue risks when landing fish, ALWAYS keep your eyes on the sea as big swells can literally come from nowhere a wipe you out! Think carefully where you set your gear up giving that sea plenty of respect and space. The best wind directions for this whole area to flatten the sea state will be from the North, Northeast or North west, winds from these directions will see it coming from over your shoulders and will aid with distance in the cast also. All of Chesil beach is a place where you really do need to plan your trips with a close eye on conditions both whilst you intend to fish but also in the days leading to your session, if you’re unsure or it looks iffy just give it a miss as the chances are aside from being dangerous the huge rolling waves will make the fishing practically impossible.