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Cellardyke piers

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

The old harbour arms east of Anstruther, built into a rock shore of low volcanic reef that runs out a long way at low water. The reef around the harbour is the ground; the walls are the standing.

Safety: cold water shock — 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 · 4

What these strengths mean
Regular local target
Fishing sources describe this as a normal local target here, not merely as caught.
Seasonal
Well supported, and concentrated in part of the year rather than spread through it.
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 Cellardyke piers 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)
  • European flounder — documented at Portobello; The Kirkcaldy rock marks; Dysart harbour
  • Thick-lipped grey mullet — documented at Cockenzie; Torness and Skateraw; Granton breakwater
  • Atlantic mackerel — documented at North Berwick and the Bass Rock; Eyemouth; Torness and Skateraw (+4 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

  • Whiting — documented at Burntisland breakwater; Dysart harbour
  • Edible crab — documented at St Abbs Head
  • European lobster — documented at St Abbs Head
  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Light rock fishing

    Ultralight lure fishing from the shore with tackle rated in single grams — a discipline that catches the fish everybody else steps over, and one FishingHQ held every component of and had never named.

Baits and lures for these fish

The baits and lures each of the fish above is commonly taken on, from that fish’s own page. This is what works for the fish, not a report of what people use on this particular water — local knowledge and the conditions on the day still decide.

Baits

Lures

How to catch them: Coalfish fishing · Cod fishing · Ballan wrasse fishing · Pollack fishing

The ground and the water

The ground
The old harbour arms east of Anstruther, built into a rock shore of low volcanic reef that runs out a long way at low water. The reef around the harbour is the ground; the walls are the standing.
Exposure
Open south-east into the outer Forth.
Tide and flow
The reef uncovers a long way, which changes the mark completely between high and low water.

Not to be confused with Anstruther, which is a separate place on different ground.

Through the year

Cod in winter; wrasse and pollack in summer.

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 species is recorded as caught at this location.
SpeciesJFMAMJJASOND
Atlantic cod — seasonal, recorded in November, December, January, February.
Ballan wrasse — seasonal, recorded in June, July, August, September.
Pollack — seasonal, recorded in June, July, August, September.

Recorded here with no season stated: Saithe.

Safety

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.

Cliffs and rock platforms — Can cause serious injury or death

General safety for this kind of ground, not a finding about this place.

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.

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.

Cellardyke piersAnstrutherFife NessNorth Berwick and the Bass RockSt Andrews and the Eden estuaryDunbar harbourDysart harbourThe Tay estuary and Broughty FerryThe Kirkcaldy rock marks
Cellardyke piers 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.

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