Skip to content
FishingHQSearch

Lizard Point

Headland · Salt water · in The Cornish and Devon coasts

The southernmost point of mainland Britain: a serpentine and schist headland with steep cliffs, offshore reefs and stacks, and deep water close inshore. The rock is unusual — serpentine weathers to a smooth, slick surface quite unlike granite.

Safety: cliffs and rock platforms — can cause serious injury or death. 2 more points apply 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 · 1

From a kayak · 8

What these strengths mean
Seasonal
Well supported, and concentrated in part of the year rather than spread through it.
Repeatedly reported
Several independent public accounts. Enough to say it happens more than once; not enough to call it a fishery.
Recorded here
At least one credible public account of this species being caught here. That is all it means.
Occasional
Caught here, and described as unusual rather than normal. Do not plan a session around 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 Lizard Point 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 flounder — documented at St Ives harbour and piers; Porthmeor and Carbis Bay; Hayle estuary (+1 more)
  • Small-spotted catshark — documented at Newlyn North Pier; Porthmeor and Carbis Bay; Nare Head (+1 more)
  • Thick-lipped grey mullet — documented at Falmouth and Castle Beach; The Helford; Hayle estuary (+1 more)

From a kayak

  • Whiting — documented at Fowey; Porthleven; Newquay and Towan Head (+2 more)
  • European plaice — documented at Porthleven; Cape Cornwall; Newquay and Towan Head (+2 more)
  • Tub gurnard — documented at Porthleven; Cape Cornwall; Newquay and Towan Head (+2 more)
  • Dab — documented at Porthleven; Newquay and Towan Head; St Ives harbour and piers
  • European flounder — documented at Fowey; Falmouth and Castle Beach; Newquay and Towan Head

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

From a kayak

How people fish it

Practised here: Sea fishing, Spearfishing.

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.

  • Spinning

    Casting an artificial lure and retrieving it so that it moves like something alive — the most direct form of lure fishing.

  • 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.

  • Kayak fishing

    A platform rather than a technique: quiet, shallow-draught access to water no other craft reaches, bought at the price of exposure, and a discipline where the decision not to launch is part of the skill.

The ground and the water

The ground
The southernmost point of mainland Britain: a serpentine and schist headland with steep cliffs, offshore reefs and stacks, and deep water close inshore. The rock is unusual — serpentine weathers to a smooth, slick surface quite unlike granite.
Exposure
Total. The point projects into the Channel approaches and receives Atlantic swell from the west, south and east in turn with no shelter at all.
Depth
Deep water close under the head, with shallow broken reef extending some way offshore.
Tide and flow
Strong streams run around the head and over the offshore reefs, producing a genuine race and overfalls on a run tide — one of the more serious small-craft hazards on the south coast.

Getting there

What public sources describe, last checked 2026-08-20. Car parks fill, services change and a path existing is not a path anybody may use — none of this is a guarantee of availability and none of it is permission to be anywhere.

Getting to it
Lizard village sits at the end of the road south from Helston, and the National Trust car park is a short distance beyond it towards the point. The Trust notes there are no brown signs to the site, and that mobile phone reception across it is poor.
The walk in
Roughly three hundred metres from the car park to the point on a sloping gravel path. There is a signposted step-free route and a separate route with steps, and the National Trust describes the step-free one as being on a steep gradient. Both reach the same stretch of coast path.
Public transport
A scheduled bus route runs from Redruth to The Lizard by way of Helston and Mullion, terminating at the village green. The National Trust puts the green about half a mile on foot from the point.
Mobility
Three level Blue Badge bays and an accessible toilet with grab rails and baby change, reached by a gently sloping gravel path. There is no Changing Places facility and no mobility vehicle for hire. The National Trust states plainly that the coast path itself is narrow, has unguarded edges and is not advisable for wheelchairs or mobility vehicles.

Parking

  • Lizard Point car park

    Public car park · Charged

    National Trust operated, free to members and to Blue Badge holders and charged otherwise, with three Blue Badge bays on level ground. The surface is hard-packed natural stone and it slopes up from the entrance. It is not suitable for coaches.

Where this access information comes from
  • Lizard Point access statement and visitor information — National Trust (Local authority, harbour or protected-area body)Relied on for: The car park operator and charging basis, the Blue Badge provision, the surface and gradient of the route to the point, the toilet provision, and the statement that the coast path is not advisable for wheelchairs.Passage read and verified
  • Bus service 34, Redruth to The Lizard via Helston and Mullion — Transport for Cornwall (Local authority, harbour or protected-area body)Relied on for: That a scheduled bus route terminates at Lizard village.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

What is there

  • Public toilets

    Near the car park, open all year, with separate accessible provision.

  • Food or shelter

    A cafe at the point, with one step at the main entrance and sloping access round the side. A seasonally manned welcome hut in the car park; there is no visitor reception building.

Through the year

Pollack, wrasse and mackerel through the warmer months, bass from spring to autumn, and a species mix that runs warmer than anywhere else on the mainland.

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 mackerel — seasonal, recorded in June, July, August, September.
Garfish — seasonal, recorded in June, July, August, September.
Atlantic mackerel — repeatedly reported, recorded in June, July, August, September.
European lobster — repeatedly reported, recorded in June, July, August, September.

Recorded here with no season stated: Ballan wrasse, Bull huss, Conger eel, Conger eel, European sea bass, European sea bass, Pollack, Pollack, Atlantic cod, Ballan wrasse.

Safety

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.

Moving water and currents — Can cause serious injury or death

The race off the point produces overfalls and standing water on the ebb against a swell, and it is close enough inshore to catch a small craft that has not planned around it.

What reduces it: Plan around the tidal stream rather than the tidal height, avoid the point entirely on a wind-against-tide state, and treat the inshore waters forecast and the stream table as one combined decision.

Cold water shock — Can cause serious injury or death

UK coastal and inland water is cold enough for most of the year to trigger the involuntary gasp and the loss of swimming ability that decides most immersion deaths, and it does so within the first minute, long before hypothermia is relevant.

What reduces it: Wear a buoyancy aid rather than carry one, carry a means of calling for help on the person rather than in a bag, and plan on the assumption that an unplanned entry into the water is survivable only if somebody knows immediately.

Rules and access

FishingHQ does not know the current access position here. Shore angling in England is not rod-licensed, but access rights, landowner permission, local authority and harbour byelaws, national and inshore fisheries measures, and site designations all apply and all change. Check the current position with the relevant inshore fisheries and conservation authority, the harbour or local authority, and the landowner before going.

Particular to this water: This ground carries conservation designations that constrain access, vehicles, bait collection and disturbance independently of any fishing rule.

Who holds the answer:

  • The Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority for the district, which makes and enforces inshore byelaws.
  • The Marine Management Organisation, for national recreational sea fishing measures in English waters.
  • The local authority and, where one exists, the harbour authority, for access, byelaws and shellfish classification.
  • The national fisheries authority for England, for licensing of freshwater and migratory fishing and for fisheries enforcement
  • The relevant inshore fisheries and conservation authority for the district, which sets and enforces local sea fisheries byelaws
  • The body managing any marine protected area on the stretch concerned
  • The local authority environmental health service, for shellfish classification and public health closures
  • The harbour authority for working harbours and quays
  • The relevant estuary or river management body, where an estuary carries its own arrangements

Nearby fishing

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

Lizard PointThe south-west approachesThe HelfordPorthlevenFalmouth and Castle BeachFalmouthThe Fal estuaryNewlyn North PierPenzance and Mousehole
Lizard Point 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

  • JNCC species and habitat conservation advice — Joint Nature Conservation Committee (Conservation authority)Relied on for: Description, designation and habitat characterisation of the named coastal and marine features of the United Kingdom, and the species characteristically associated with them.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
  • Cefas science, advice and data on marine and freshwater environments — Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Government fisheries body)Relied on for: Marine environmental science for UK shelf seas: sediment characterisation, estuarine process, shellfish bed distribution, tidal range and the monitoring that describes them.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
  • 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
  • Rock fishing safety and the declared lifejacket areas of New South Wales — NSW Department of Primary Industries and Surf Life Saving NSW (Water-safety or diver-training authority)Relied on for: Rock-platform fishing hazards, the mechanism by which anglers are swept from platforms by sets rather than by average conditions, and the measures that address it.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
  • RNLI water safety guidance: cold water shock and Float to Live — Royal National Lifeboat Institution (Water-safety or diver-training authority)Relied on for: Cold water shock, immersion response and the advice to carry a means of calling for help on the person.States this directlyPassage read and verified
  • Met Office shipping forecast, inshore waters forecast and marine warnings — Met Office, United Kingdom (Government fisheries body)Relied on for: That inshore waters forecasts, sea state and swell are the operative inputs for shore and small-craft decisions in these waters.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
  • Places to kayak and fish in Cornwall — Cornish Kayak Angler (Practitioner report)Relied on for: That the named venue is one of the Cornish coastal locations a kayak angler's published venue list gives as kayak fishing ground.FishingHQ's interpretation of what it saysPassage read and verified
  • Places to kayak fish in Cornwall — the west coast venue pages — Cornish Kayak Angler (Practitioner report)Relied on for: The species a kayak angler takes at these west Cornish venues, the ground and technique each is taken over, and the seasonal species.States this directlyPassage read and verified

How FishingHQ labels evidence is explained in the evidence policy. Last reviewed 2026-08-16.

Share this page