Skip to content
FishingHQSearch

Burntisland breakwater

Breakwater · Salt water · in East Lothian and the Firth of Forth coast

The stone arm enclosing the old dock at Burntisland, with the deep-water channel of the upper Forth running close by and rock and weed under the structure. Depth at the end without a long cast.

Safety: cliffs and rock platforms — can cause serious injury or death. One more point applies here.

What each one does, and what reduces it ↓

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 · 5

What these strengths mean
Seasonal
Well supported, and concentrated in part of the year rather than spread through it.
Places, accounts and sources are counted separately
A fish documented once at each of six marks is still documented once at each of six marks. Breadth is reported as a place count and never raises the strength, and sources are deduplicated across places so one publisher covering a whole coast counts as one. A fishery account is a source describing the fishing; a recorded catch is a report of a specific catch. They are counted apart because they are not the same evidence.

Fish documented nearby, not here

Nothing below has been documented at Burntisland breakwater 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 sea bass — documented at Cockenzie; Torness and Skateraw; The Kirkcaldy rock marks (+1 more)
  • Saithe — documented at Fife Ness; Anstruther; Cellardyke piers (+1 more)
  • European flounder — documented at Portobello; The Kirkcaldy rock marks; Dysart harbour
  • Thick-lipped grey mullet — documented at Cockenzie; Torness and Skateraw; Granton breakwater

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

  • Ling — documented at Fife Ness; Anstruther

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.

  • Float fishing

    Suspending a bait at a controlled depth beneath a buoyant indicator — the most visual, most controllable and most widely applicable method in angling.

  • Feathering and multi-lure traces

    A string of small lures on droppers, worked in the water column — how most people in Britain and Ireland catch their first sea fish, and the method most likely to catch far more than anybody intended.

  • 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.

The ground and the water

The ground
The stone arm enclosing the old dock at Burntisland, with the deep-water channel of the upper Forth running close by and rock and weed under the structure. Depth at the end without a long cast.
Exposure
Open south across the Forth to Edinburgh.

Through the year

Mackerel, pollack and wrasse in summer; cod and whiting in winter.

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.

The months in which each profiled species is recorded as quarry at this location.
SpeciesJFMAMJJASOND
Atlantic cod — seasonal, recorded in November, December, January, February.
Atlantic mackerel — seasonal, recorded in June, July, August, September.
Ballan wrasse — seasonal, recorded in June, July, August, September.
Pollack — seasonal, recorded in June, July, August, September.
Whiting — seasonal, recorded in November, December, January, February.

Safety

Cliffs and rock platforms — Can cause serious injury or death

Volcanic rock weathers into steep, broken, weed-covered platforms with deep water immediately alongside. Somebody who slips or is knocked over by a wave is in cold water out of their depth with no gradual shelf to climb out onto, and rock fishing kills more shore anglers than any other ground.

What reduces it: Watch any rock mark for a considerable period before committing to a position, never fish rock alone, wear a buoyancy aid, plan an exit that works in the sea state you may have rather than the one you arrived in, and leave when the sea builds rather than when it becomes difficult.

Worse when:

  • Easterly weather off the North Sea, which builds a short steep sea quickly on a coast that is usually sheltered
  • Swell arriving in sets, where one wave runs far higher than the rest
  • Wet kelp and weed on the platform, and darkness

Cold water shock — Can cause serious injury or death

Water temperature here is low in every month. Sudden immersion triggers an involuntary gasp and hyperventilation that can cause drowning within the first minute, well before hypothermia is a factor, and it defeats swimming ability regardless of fitness.

What reduces it: Wear a buoyancy aid on rock, harbour walls and any elevated mark; assume that going in means being unable to help yourself for the first minute; and fish with somebody who can raise the alarm.

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.

Particular to this water: This is an owned and operated structure. Whether angling is allowed on it, when, from where and on what terms is the operator's decision, is frequently seasonal, and changes without notice.

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 Scottish marine and fisheries authorities, for sea fisheries rules, minimum sizes, protected areas and species restrictions
  • The relevant district salmon fishery board, for anything concerning migratory salmon and sea trout
  • The local authority environmental health service, for shellfish harvesting classification and closures
  • The harbour authority for any working harbour, which is operational infrastructure rather than public space
  • The body managing any conservation designation on the stretch concerned

Nearby fishing

Other publicly documented places within about 40 km, by distance. Positions are approximate public geography and are never exact marks.

Burntisland breakwaterKinghorn and PettycurThe Kirkcaldy rock marksGranton breakwaterDysart harbourThe Forth bridges and QueensferryPortobelloLoch LevenCockenzie
Burntisland breakwater and the publicly documented places around it. Approximate positions, not marks. On a narrow screen the plot is wider than the screen and scrolls sideways inside its frame. Positions are approximate by design — they are capped at about a hundred metres and describe where a named public place is, not where fish are and not a mark. Everything plotted here is also listed below.

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.

Share this page