Balcary Bay
Bay · Salt water · in The Solway Firth
A small bay under the Balcary heughs, with rough rock and boulder off the point at its eastern end and cleaner ground in the bay itself. Deeper water closer in than anywhere else on this shore, which is why the bigger fish are named here.
Safety: tides and being cut off — can cause serious injury or death. One more point applies here.
FishingHQ describes what this place is, not whether you may fish it. Access, permits and who to ask.
What you can catch here
Documented at this place, grouped by how you would be fishing, with how strongly the sources support each one. This is what has been written down, not a forecast, and being listed is never permission to fish.
From the shore · 7
Atlantic codSeasonal1 placeBalcary BayOver bayAround Jan–Feb, Nov–Dec- Bull hussSeasonal1 placeBalcary BayOver bayAround May–Oct
Conger eelSeasonal1 placeBalcary BayOver bayAround May–Oct
WhitingSeasonal1 placeBalcary BayOver bayAround Jan–Feb, Nov–Dec- DabRecorded here1 placeBalcary BayOver bay
European flounderRecorded here1 placeBalcary BayOver bay- Small-spotted catsharkRecorded here1 placeBalcary BayOver bay
What these strengths mean
- Seasonal
- Well supported, and concentrated in part of the year rather than spread through it.
- Recorded here
- At least one credible public account of this species being caught here. That is all it means.
- How breadth is counted
- A fish documented at six marks is shown as six marks: breadth never raises the strength on its own. A fishery account describes the fishing; a recorded catch reports one specific catch. How evidence is weighed.
Fish documented nearby, not here
Nothing below has been documented at Balcary Bay itself. Each one has been documented at a named place on the same ground, and the places are listed with it. Treat this as what the water around here holds rather than as a catch list for this mark.
Widely documented on this ground
Documented at three or more neighbouring places, fished a way this place is also fished. That is a pattern about the ground rather than about any one mark, and it is the closest this site comes to saying you will probably meet a fish somewhere nothing has been written about.
From the shore
- European plaice — documented at Fleet Bay; Maryport harbour and promenade; Brighouse Bay
- Pollack — documented at Maryport harbour and promenade; Brighouse Bay; Burrow Head
- European sea bass — documented at Silloth promenade and Tommy Legs; Mersehead Sands; Brighouse Bay (+3 more)
Also documented at neighbouring places
One or two accounts each, on the ground around here. Enough to know the fish is caught in these waters; not enough to say anything about this place.
From the shore
- Starry smooth-hound — documented at Wigtown Bay; Silloth promenade and Tommy Legs
- Thornback ray — documented at Silloth promenade and Tommy Legs; Mersehead Sands
- Atlantic mackerel — documented at Burrow Head
- Saithe — documented at Maryport harbour and promenade
- Tub gurnard — documented at Maryport harbour and promenade
- Turbot — documented at Fleet Bay
How people fish it
Practised here: Sea fishing.
Methods the sources name for this ground. Each one is explained in full on its own page.
- Ledgering
Fishing a bait on the bottom held by a weight, with no float — the simplest way to fish at distance, in depth, or in wind.
- Surfcasting
Casting heavy baited tackle from a beach into surf — a method defined by distance, by tide, and by reading water that all looks the same.
The ground and the water
- The ground
- A small bay under the Balcary heughs, with rough rock and boulder off the point at its eastern end and cleaner ground in the bay itself. Deeper water closer in than anywhere else on this shore, which is why the bigger fish are named here.
- Exposure
- Open south into the firth, with the point taking the weather.
Through the year
Cod and whiting in winter; conger and bull huss in the summer half.
The months the sources attach to each species here. Where a species carries no season it is listed underneath rather than assumed to run through the year.
| Species | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atlantic cod — seasonal, recorded in November, December, January, February. | ||||||||||||
| Bull huss — seasonal, recorded in May, June, July, August, September, October. | ||||||||||||
| Conger eel — seasonal, recorded in May, June, July, August, September, October. | ||||||||||||
| Whiting — seasonal, recorded in November, December, January, February. |
Recorded here with no season stated: Dab, European flounder, Small-spotted catshark.
Safety
Tides and being cut off — Can cause serious injury or death
Ledges, skerries and boulder ground below a cliff are reached over rock that the flood covers, and on a coast with a large range that happens quickly. The way back is a scramble rather than a walk, so it becomes unusable while there is still dry rock to stand on, and swell breaking over the covered ground removes it earlier than the tide table suggests.
What reduces it: Work out the way back before going down, and set the time you will leave from the tide rather than from the fishing. Treat the first wave that reaches the return route as the signal to take it, not as a warning that there is time left. Do not go down onto low ground alone on a rising tide, and carry a means of calling for help on the person.
Worse when:
- Spring tides, when the range and the rate of covering are greatest
- Any swell, which breaks over ground the tide has not yet reached
- Onshore wind and low pressure, which put the water above the predicted level
- Wet rock and weed, which make a return route slower on the way back than it was on the way down
Cliffs and rock platforms — Can cause serious injury or death
Anglers are swept from rock platforms by individual large sets rather than by the average sea, which means the conditions that kill people frequently look survivable for the twenty minutes before they arrive. Wet rock, weed and a swell running onto a sloping platform remove any chance of recovery.
What reduces it: Watch the water for a full set cycle before committing to a position, know the escape route and how long it takes, wear a flotation aid rather than carry one, never fish a platform alone, and treat a rising swell forecast as a reason not to go rather than a reason to be careful.
Rules and access
FishingHQ does not know the current access position here. Sea angling in Scotland is not rod-licensed, but access rights under the Scottish Outdoor Access Code carry responsibilities, and harbour, local authority, marine conservation and fisheries measures all apply and all change. Check the current position with the Marine Directorate, the harbour or local authority and the land manager before going.
Who holds the answer:
- The Scottish Government Marine Directorate, for sea fisheries measures in Scottish waters.
- The harbour authority or land manager, for access to the structure or the ground.
- The local authority, for shellfish harvesting classification.
- The relevant national fisheries administration for the shore concerned — different bodies apply on the English and Scottish sides of the same firth
- The relevant salmon fishery board or migratory fisheries authority, for anything concerning salmon and sea trout
- The local authority environmental health service, for shellfish harvesting classification and public health closures
- The coastguard, for tidal and safety information, and as the service that will be called if somebody is cut off
- Local clubs and long-established practitioners, whose knowledge of channel positions is operative safety information rather than a courtesy
Nearby fishing
Other publicly documented places within about 40 km, by distance. Positions are approximate public geography and are never exact marks.
- Mersehead Sands — 10–25 km · Beach
- Kirkcudbright Bay — 10–25 km · Estuary
- Brighouse Bay — 10–25 km · Bay
- Fleet Bay — 10–25 km · Bay
- Maryport harbour and promenade — 10–25 km · Harbour wall
- Loch Ken — 10–25 km · Loch
- Workington Rocks — 25–40 km · Rock mark
- Silloth promenade and Tommy Legs — 25–40 km · Promenade
Sources for this place
- Sea Angler — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Long-running published description of British sea angling practice by region, ground type and named mark.FishingHQ's interpretation of what it saysCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated public descriptions of which places are conventionally fished and how, recorded as practitioner consensus rather than as scholarship, and not relied on for access, permission or any current rule.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- British Sea Fishing: Scottish shore marks — British Sea Fishing (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Which species are fished for at each named Scottish shore mark and how the fishing divides between the winter and the summer half of the year.States this directlyPassage read and verified
How FishingHQ labels evidence is explained in the evidence policy. Last reviewed 2026-08-16.