Reading the inshore waters forecast for shore and boat fishing
Explainer · Last reviewed 2026-10-23
The Met Office's inshore waters forecast gives wind, sea state, weather and visibility to twelve nautical miles off Britain and Northern Ireland, in nineteen areas. It forecasts an area of sea, not a beach, and the Met Office says never to rely on it alone.
Safety: weather and lightning — can cause injury needing treatment.
WHAT IT IS. The inshore waters forecast covers the coastal waters of Britain and Northern Ireland out to twelve nautical miles, in nineteen named areas around the coast, with a separate forecast for the waters round Shetland to sixty miles. It is issued four times a day, at midnight, 06:00, 12:00 and 18:00 UTC. For each area it gives the wind direction and force, the sea state, the weather and the visibility for the next twenty-four hours, then an outlook for the twenty-four after that. Strong winds of force six or more are flagged for the first twenty-four hours.
HOW TO READ IT FOR FISHING. Find the area your coast is in, and read the wind before anything else: its force, and its direction against the way your shore faces. The page on weather windows in sea fishing describes how wind, swell and sea state shape a session, and its tide-table page explains why a table and a forecast answer different questions.
WHAT IT IS NOT. It forecasts an area of open coastal water. A sheltered bay, a harbour wall, an estuary or a beach facing away from the wind can be quite different from the area forecast, in either direction. It does not forecast the tide. And the Met Office says the internet should never be relied upon as the only means of getting the latest forecasts and warnings; afloat, that means the broadcast services as well.
NOTHING HERE MAKES A PLACE SAFE. A calm forecast is not a statement that a rock, a pier or a beach is safe to fish, and FishingHQ never treats it as one.
Safety
Weather and lightning — Can cause injury needing treatment
An area forecast can miss what happens at one stretch of coast, and a forecast read the night before can be superseded by the next issue.
What reduces it: Read the latest issue before setting out, look at the sea when you arrive, and leave if it is worse than forecast. Afloat, carry a way of receiving broadcast forecasts and warnings.
Where to go next
How this compares
- Weather windows in sea fishingThe forecast gives wind, sea state and visibility for an area of coast; the other page says how those shape a session at a particular mark.
- What a tide table is telling youA tide table predicts water level and a marine forecast predicts weather and sea state; neither answers the other's question.
More explainers
Not related to this page — just the rest of the section. There is little else joined to this subject yet, and a short page should still lead somewhere.
Sources and evidence
- Inshore waters forecast — Met Office (Local authority, harbour or protected-area body)Relied on for: The areas, issue times, contents, outlook and the Met Office's own caution.States this directlyPassage read and verified
Why the 2 connections on this page are here, and the sources
How this compares
Official guidance — 2 connections
Stated by a fisheries authority, scientific institute or recognised angling body. Authoritative, but summarising rather than demonstrating.
Weather windows in sea fishing
A reading explained beside the page on what the conditions it measures do to the fishing: the reading and its consequence are different questions a reader weighs together.
- Inshore waters forecast — Met Office (Local authority, harbour or protected-area body)Relied on for: What the inshore waters forecast covers and what the Met Office says it must not be relied on for.States this directlyPassage read and verified
What a tide table is telling you
A reading explained beside the page on what the conditions it measures do to the fishing: the reading and its consequence are different questions a reader weighs together.
- Inshore waters forecast — relied on for: What the inshore waters forecast covers and what the Met Office says it must not be relied on for.
How FishingHQ labels evidence is explained in the evidence policy.