Nare Head
Headland · Salt water · in The Cornish and Devon coasts
A high slate headland on the Roseland coast with Gull Rock standing off it, steep broken ground below and deep water in the gap between the head and the island. Big ground with a long walk in from the nearest road.
Safety: cliffs and rock platforms — can cause serious injury or death. 2 more points apply 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 · 7
Ballan wrasseRegular local target1 placeNare HeadOver headland- Bull hussRegular local target1 placeNare HeadOver headland
Conger eelRegular local target1 placeNare HeadOver headland
PollackRegular local target1 placeNare HeadOver headland
Atlantic mackerelSeasonal1 placeNare HeadOver headlandAround Jun–Sept
GarfishSeasonal1 placeNare HeadOver headlandAround Jun–Sept- Small-spotted catsharkRecorded here1 placeNare HeadOver headland
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 Nare Head 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 Rame Head and Penlee Point; The Polperro rock coast; St Ives harbour and piers (+19 more)
- European flounder — documented at Whitsand Bay and Tregantle; St Ives harbour and piers; Porthmeor and Carbis Bay (+4 more)
- Atlantic cod — documented at Padstow Bay and the Rumps; Whitsand Bay and Tregantle; Newlyn North Pier (+1 more)
- European plaice — documented at Whitsand Bay and Tregantle; Porthmeor and Carbis Bay; Hayle estuary (+1 more)
- European lobster — documented at Lizard Point; Sennen Cove; Cape Cornwall
- Thick-lipped grey mullet — documented at Mount Batten; The Tamar estuary; Falmouth and Castle Beach (+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
- Pouting — documented at Whitsand Bay and Tregantle; Newlyn North Pier
- Turbot — documented at Porthmeor and Carbis Bay; Gorran Haven harbour wall
- Whiting — documented at Whitsand Bay and Tregantle; Newlyn North Pier
- Small-eyed ray — documented at Porthmeor and Carbis Bay
- Thornback ray — documented at The Tamar estuary; The Fal estuary
- Gilthead bream — documented at The Fal estuary
- Black seabream — documented at Falmouth and Castle Beach
- Twaite shad — documented at Gorran Haven harbour wall
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.
- 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.
- 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
- Fish strip and cut bait — for Bull huss, Conger eel, Small-spotted catshark
- Ragworm — for Ballan wrasse, Pollack, Small-spotted catshark
- Squid and cuttlefish — for Bull huss, Conger eel, Small-spotted catshark
- Sea deadbaits — for Bull huss, Small-spotted catshark
- Crab and shellfish — for Ballan wrasse
- Prawns and shrimp — for Ballan wrasse
- Sand eel — for Pollack
Lures
- Metal jigs — for Pollack, Atlantic mackerel
- Soft plastics — for Ballan wrasse, Pollack
- Jigs and jig heads — for Pollack
- Spinners — for Atlantic mackerel
The ground and the water
- The ground
- A high slate headland on the Roseland coast with Gull Rock standing off it, steep broken ground below and deep water in the gap between the head and the island. Big ground with a long walk in from the nearest road.
- Exposure
- Open south into the Channel from a high, remote headland.
- Depth
- Deep in the gap between the head and Gull Rock.
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 mackerel — seasonal, recorded in June, July, August, September. | ||||||||||||
| Garfish — seasonal, recorded in June, July, August, September. |
Recorded here with no season stated: Ballan wrasse, Bull huss, Conger eel, Pollack, Small-spotted catshark.
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.
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.
Moving water and currents — Can cause serious injury or death
The north coast's surf beaches carry strong rip currents, which run seaward through gaps in the sandbars and can take a wading angler off their feet and out beyond the surf line faster than they can walk back.
What reduces it: Do not wade deep in surf; learn to identify the calmer, darker, less-breaking channels that mark a rip and stay out of them; and if caught, do not swim against it — swim across the current parallel to the beach until out of it.
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.
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.
- The Portscatho and Portloe rock coast — 2–5 km · Rock mark
- The Fal estuary — 5–10 km · Estuary
- Gorran Haven harbour wall — 10–25 km · Harbour wall
- Falmouth and Castle Beach — 10–25 km · Beach section
- Falmouth — 10–25 km · Charter departure port
- Mevagissey harbour — 10–25 km · Harbour wall
- The Helford — 10–25 km · Estuary
- Gribbin Head — 10–25 km · Headland
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: south coast and south-west England shore marks — British Sea Fishing (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Which species are fished for at each named shore mark on the English south and south-west coast, and in which season.States this directlyPassage read and verified
How FishingHQ labels evidence is explained in the evidence policy. Last reviewed 2026-08-16.