The Kirkcaldy rock marks
Rock mark · Salt water · in East Lothian and the Firth of Forth coast
Low sandstone and dolerite ledges along the Kirkcaldy shore below the esplanade, uncovering into weed-filled gullies on the ebb with sand patches between them. Rough ground close in on a firth of mostly soft bottom.
Safety: cold water shock — 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 · 3
European flounderRegular local target1 placeThe Kirkcaldy rock marksOver rock markPhoto: nbasargin, via iNaturalist, CC BY; resized and trimmed to fit
Atlantic codSeasonal1 placeThe Kirkcaldy rock marksOver rock markAround Jan–Feb, Nov–DecPhoto: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain; resized and trimmed to fit
European sea bassSeasonal1 placeThe Kirkcaldy rock marksOver rock markAround Jun–SeptPhoto: Julien Renoult, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 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.
- 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 The Kirkcaldy rock marks 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
- Ballan wrasse — documented at North Berwick and the Bass Rock; Fife Ness; Anstruther (+4 more)
- Pollack — documented at North Berwick and the Bass Rock; Fife Ness; Anstruther (+2 more)
- Saithe — documented at Fife Ness; Anstruther; Cellardyke piers (+1 more)
- Thick-lipped grey mullet — documented at Cockenzie; Torness and Skateraw; Granton breakwater
- Atlantic mackerel — documented at North Berwick and the Bass Rock; Torness and Skateraw; Dysart harbour (+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.
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.
- Spinning
Casting an artificial lure and retrieving it so that it moves like something alive — the most direct form of lure fishing.
- 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.
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
- Peeler crab — for European flounder, Atlantic cod, European sea bass
- Ragworm — for European flounder, European sea bass
- Crab and shellfish — for European sea bass
- Fish strip and cut bait — for Atlantic cod
- Lugworm — for Atlantic cod
- Sand eel — for European sea bass
- Squid and cuttlefish — for Atlantic cod
Lures
- Metal jigs — for Atlantic cod, European sea bass
- Soft plastics — for Atlantic cod, European sea bass
- Jerkbaits — for European sea bass
- Streamers — for European sea bass
- Surface lures — for European sea bass
How to catch them: Flounder fishing · Cod fishing · Bass fishing
The ground and the water
- The ground
- Low sandstone and dolerite ledges along the Kirkcaldy shore below the esplanade, uncovering into weed-filled gullies on the ebb with sand patches between them. Rough ground close in on a firth of mostly soft bottom.
- Exposure
- Open south across the Forth.
Through the year
Cod in winter; bass in summer; flounder through the year.
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. | ||||||||||||
| European sea bass — seasonal, recorded in June, July, August, September. |
Recorded here with no season stated: European flounder.
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.
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.
- Dysart harbour — 2–5 km · Harbour wall
- Kinghorn and Pettycur — 5–10 km · Rock mark
- Burntisland breakwater — 5–10 km · Breakwater
- Granton breakwater — 10–25 km · Breakwater
- Portobello — 10–25 km · Promenade
- Loch Leven — 10–25 km · Loch
- Port Seton — 10–25 km · Harbour wall
- Cockenzie — 10–25 km · Rock mark
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.