Rules and conservation

Checked September 2026. Regulations change — confirm current rules before you fish.

Bass

Bass fishing from the shore is regulated and the rules have changed repeatedly over the last decade: bag limits, closed periods and minimum sizes have all moved. Check the current position before you keep one. I'm deliberately not printing a number here, because a stale number on a website is worse than none.

Minimum sizes

National minimum conservation reference sizes apply, and some local authorities set higher ones. The sensible habit is to know the size for the species you're targeting before you go, rather than standing on a rock with a fish and a phone with no signal.

What I do beyond the rules

• Return everything I won't eat, promptly and wet-handed.
• Don't fish spawning aggregations, even where it's legal.
• Take home every scrap of line. Discarded line kills seabirds and it's the single worst thing anglers do to this coast.
• Crush barbs on anything I intend to release.

Access

Most of the coast path is open access and most landowners are reasonable. Gates get left as you found them, dogs stay on leads near livestock, and cars go in car parks rather than on verges that farm traffic needs. The handful of marks that have been closed to anglers here were closed because of parking and litter, not fishing.

The seals

They will take your fish and there is nothing to be done about it. They're protected, they're smarter than you, and losing a fish to one is part of the deal on this coast.