Granton breakwater
Breakwater · Salt water · in East Lothian and the Firth of Forth coast
The long middle pier and eastern breakwater of the old Granton harbour on the Edinburgh shore, with mud and rubble ground inside and the channel outside. City fishing with real structure.
Safety: cliffs and rock platforms — 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 · 6
Atlantic codRegular local target1 placeGranton breakwaterOver breakwaterPhoto: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain; resized and trimmed to fit
Ballan wrasseRegular local target1 placeGranton breakwaterOver breakwaterPhoto: Diego Delso, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0; resized and trimmed to fit
SaitheRegular local target1 placeGranton breakwaterOver breakwaterPhoto: Wilhelm Thomas Fiege, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0; resized and trimmed to fit
Atlantic mackerelSeasonal1 placeGranton breakwaterOver breakwaterAround Jun–SeptPhoto: Hans Hillewaert, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0; resized
European sea bassRecorded here1 placeGranton breakwaterOver breakwaterPhoto: Julien Renoult, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0; resized and trimmed to fit
Thick-lipped grey mulletRecorded here1 placeGranton breakwaterOver breakwaterPhoto: Diego Delso, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0; resized and trimmed to fit
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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.
- 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 Granton 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
- Pollack — documented at North Berwick and the Bass Rock; Fife Ness; Anstruther (+2 more)
- European flounder — documented at Portobello; The Kirkcaldy rock marks; Dysart harbour
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.
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.
- 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.
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
- Crab and shellfish — for Ballan wrasse, Saithe, European sea bass
- Fish strip and cut bait — for Atlantic cod, Thick-lipped grey mullet
- Peeler crab — for Atlantic cod, European sea bass
- Ragworm — for Ballan wrasse, European sea bass
- Sand eel — for Saithe, European sea bass
- Bread — for Thick-lipped grey mullet
- Lugworm — for Atlantic cod
- Prawns and shrimp — for Ballan wrasse
Also: Squid and cuttlefish
Lures
- Metal jigs — for Atlantic cod, Saithe, Atlantic mackerel, European sea bass
- Soft plastics — for Atlantic cod, Ballan wrasse, Saithe, European sea bass
- Jerkbaits — for European sea bass
- Spinners — for Atlantic mackerel
- Streamers — for European sea bass
- Surface lures — for European sea bass
How to catch them: Cod fishing · Ballan wrasse fishing · Coalfish fishing · Mackerel fishing · Bass fishing · Grey mullet fishing
The ground and the water
- The ground
- The long middle pier and eastern breakwater of the old Granton harbour on the Edinburgh shore, with mud and rubble ground inside and the channel outside. City fishing with real structure.
- Exposure
- Open north across the Forth; sheltered inside the arms.
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.
- Portobello — 5–10 km · Promenade
- Burntisland breakwater — 5–10 km · Breakwater
- Kinghorn and Pettycur — 5–10 km · Rock mark
- The Forth bridges and Queensferry — 10–25 km · Estuary mark
- The Kirkcaldy rock marks — 10–25 km · Rock mark
- Cockenzie — 10–25 km · Rock mark
- Port Seton — 10–25 km · Harbour wall
- Dysart harbour — 10–25 km · Harbour wall
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.