The Solent Fishing Year

Coldest water of the year, usually bottoming out in late February. Sessions are short, bites are few, and this is when most anglers stay at home — which does mean you'll have the marks to yourself.

Realistic targets: whiting and dabs on most clean-ground marks, pouting and rockling around structure, the occasional flounder in the creeks and harbours. Cod are possible after a hard blow but are nothing like as reliable on the south coast as they once were.

Bait: black lugworm tipped with squid. Fresh worm out-fishes everything in cold water.

The best few weeks of change in the calendar. Water temperature climbs, the crabs start peeling, and the summer species arrive more or less at once.

Smoothhound push inshore from April, tracking the crab moult, and for many Solent anglers this is the highlight of the year. They fight far above their weight and are common over the gravel and mud banks. Thornback rays move in around the same time. Bass return properly in May and the retention rules resume from 1 April.

Bait: peeler crab becomes the dominant bait and stays that way into July. Get it fresh — see the bait guide for keeping it properly.

Plaice also show on the clean sandy ground through spring, and small ragworm baits fished on a flowing trace with a bit of bling above the hook still works as well as it ever did.

The widest choice of species of the year, and also the most crowded beaches. Two practical consequences: fish early morning or after dark to avoid holidaymakers, and expect the water to be clear on settled days, which makes bait fishing harder and lure fishing better.

Bass are at their best, particularly on the shallow reefs at first light and after dark. Black bream are around the rougher ground and are excellent eating. Mackerel arrive in numbers from June and are worth catching purely as fresh bait for rays. Smoothhound continue through June and taper off in July. Wrasse are reliable over the rocky ground and are best returned.

Night fishing comes into its own. Summer nights are short but productive — bass move into water they'd never enter in daylight, and the crowds are gone. Read the safety guide before fishing ledges after dark.

If you only fish a few sessions a year, make them these two months. The water is still warm from summer, the summer species are feeding hard before moving off, the autumn arrivals have shown up, and the beaches have emptied.

Bass are at their heaviest and most aggressive, feeding up ahead of winter. Autumn gales that colour the water produce some of the best bass fishing of the year, particularly on the surf beaches on the south-west of the island. Squid appear from around October and are a genuine Solent speciality — night sessions off the piers with squid jigs. Early whiting arrive and the first cod are possible.

Bait: fresh mackerel is still available and at its best. Ragworm works across the board. Start thinking about lugworm again towards the end of October.

The summer fish have gone but the winter fishing is properly under way, and it can be excellent if you pick your weather.

Whiting in numbers after dark on clean ground — not glamorous, but they keep the rod tip moving on a cold night. Squid continue and often peak now. Dabs and flounder are reliable, with flounder moving into the creeks and harbours. Cod are the winter prize, most likely in coloured water a day or two after a good blow.

Bass can still be caught into December in a mild year, and the three-fish limit still applies through to 31 December.