Catching wrasse and sea bass in a Dorset sea fishing adventure

It’s summertime and I’ve decided to do something a bit different with my mate Dan. We’re going to be catching wrasse and sea bass in a Dorset sea fishing adventure around the jurassic coast.

We’ve got no idea what we’re going to catch, it’s a bit of an adventure and we’ll have a lot of fun along the way. This time it’s ‘life on the coast’, instead of ‘life on the bank’.

I’m hoping we’ll catch some wrasse and sea bass, anything else will be a bonus. It’s a great opportunity to spend time with one of my best friends and have a bit of a laugh.

I got up early and travelled down to start my Dorset sea adventure, arriving an hour or so before Dan. I decided to wet a line in the harbour before Dan joined me.

I set up with my normal perch fishing gear, a 4000 size reel and braid as my main line. I have a range of lures and jigs. 

At the harbour area I decided to use a small jig as I’d fished here before and caught a few small bass. This time I’m hoping for a wrasse and it wasn’t long before I caught one.

Dan arrived and set up alongside me on the harbour wall. He was bumping a sand eel lure really slowly along the bottom near some structure and bang, he was into a decent fish. After a short and spirited fight he landed a big wrasse within half an hour of arriving. A great start to our Dorset sea adventure.

I moved into the area where Dan caught the wrasse and was casting to the same features, but I couldn’t get a bite. To make matters worse, Dan was into a good fish a little further down the bank. He was on a roll, catching the first sea bass in our adventure.

I felt like I was there just to take photos of Dan with his fish – what a liberty. Hopefully my luck will change over the coming days. 

We moved further down the harbour and Dan was in again, this time catching a slightly bigger sea bass.

Not to be left out, I changed my lure to a big white one and within minutes I was into a decent sea bass.

We walked along the coast and sand banks looking for likely spots before boarding a ferry to the other side. This is my style of fishing, travelling light and fishing a few spots before moving on, until I find the fish.

It wasn’t long before I was into a fish caught on a blade lure. It was fighting really well and Dan netted it for me. It was our first mackerel, which would have made a nice supper for someone, but I put him back to fight another day.

Home comforts

We had a great first day, loads of laughs and stayed in a campsite overnight, ready for an early start the following day. I decided on a caravan for a decent night’s sleep and Dan spent the night in his bivvy.

We had a great meal cooked on the hot plate with a few beers and both slept soundly ready for an early start on day two.

After a short drive from the campsite to the harbour we found the fishing to be tough. Even though we were using the same tactics, the fish weren’t playing ball and we didn’t catch. 

We decided to have a man sized breakfast before jumping on the ferry and exploring the other side of the harbour.

There was a five mile stretch of the coast line to explore. This area is completely new to us and we didn’t know what we’re going to find.

We walked for ages in the middle of nowhere, asking locals for advice and following Google maps to find the best fishing spots. We couldn’t find a decent area to fish, so we walked back to the car and drove towards Swanage where I knew we had some fishing options on the pier.

We arrived at Swanage pier and Dan caught something really unusual – it looked like an alien to me.

We spoke to some of the locals for advice on where to fish, as we wanted to make sure we could get down to the sea from the rocks. Then we stumbled on what I called “Wrasse city”, it looked absolutely perfect. It was the ideal location for catching them, but we couldn’t get a bite between us. The fish just weren’t feeding.

So we moved further along the coast, it was a really hot day and the views were stunning. We were having fun, but wanted to be catching as we’d come all this way.

Quest for a mullet

Towards the end of day two, we decided to target mullet using a Mepps spinner in the estuary.

We were really struggling. We were fishing a location we’d never been to, to catch a fish we’d never caught and using methods we’ve never used – we don’t make things easy for ourselves. 

We were having a good laugh and getting plenty of exercise, so it was all good fun. All good things must come to an end and Dan had to return home at the start of day three.

So I decided to continue fishing for the mullet at Christchurch.

It wasn’t long before I was into a fish which was fighting well and I’m hoping it’s a mullet, rather than a bass.

So after a fair amount of work I’d caught my target species. I was really pleased to put a mullet on the bank. In our Dorset sea adventure I caught wrasse, sea bass and mullet, so I’ll definitely be coming here again.

I really enjoyed catching wrasse and sea bass in a Dorset sea fishing adventure with Dan. We caught some stunning fish, had some good food and a great laugh along the way. That’s what fishing is all about.