Nothe Fort – Multiple Trips

Nothe Fort is quite literally that, a previously used Naval Fort. These days it’s all sorts, including a wedding venue, but at the time I was after some easy sea fishing with plenty of options. Nothe Fort is situated in south Weymouth and has multiple car parks. I will say there are multiple steps down to the stone breakwater which ultimately you end up fishing off. You can fish both sides of the breakwater (no feathers) but I have always fished to right towards Newton’s Cove. 

The Breakwater is an interesting place, and during summer months you can frequently sea shoals of mackerel moving back and forth away from the shoreline, occasionally you’ll see a dolphin (maybe it’s a porpoise?).

But it is also on the RAF flight path, so several times I have witnessed double- rotored Chinook helicopters whizzing overhead. It’s quite the spectacle. 

Fishing off Nothe Fort couldn’t be simpler and although I have fished there upwards of half a dozen times the results have almost always been the same. I had one beach caster (Daiwa SL20SH and unnamed beachcaster using a 4/0 pulley pennell rig) lobbed out as far as I could manage with a mackerel fillet or whole squid, and a specialist quiver tip for over the side. Dropping a paternostered rig straight over the side you will get bite almost immediately. It’s like fishing in a coarse fishery. But you will need to adjust your tackle accordingly.  My rig consisted of a 40lb Greased weasel backbone, 2 wire paternosters down to stretched 9.1kg amnesia mono for hooklinks – using size 8 & 6 hooks, I used a 2oz clockface weight, but it can be rough, so use anything you are prepared to lose. Tiny little tips of ragworm, squid, mackerel and sand eel will get bites.

Here is a selection of fish I managed across multiple trips. I would like to quickly point of one of these photo’s is my father-in-law Jeff, who I had fished with many times previously. He is sadly no longer with us, and is still deeply missed.

Anyway, as you can see, many, many fish were caught and much fun was had. The sessions were often capped off with a trip to the cafe at the start of the breakwater. The do great food and often have live entertainment which is great. So, you can listen to some music, while crabbing towards the harbour (my favoured choice)