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Nash Point

Headland · Salt water · in The Severn Estuary

Layered Lias limestone and shale cliffs stepping down to a wave-cut platform of the same rock, with the Nash Sands — a long shifting sandbank — lying offshore across the tide.

Safety: tides and being cut off — can cause serious injury or death. 3 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 · 7

What these strengths mean
Regular local target
Fishing sources describe this as a normal local target here, not merely as caught.
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.

Also associated with this ground

Recorded as present here without a documented method or strength behind them.

Thornback ray · European sea bass · European flounder

Fish documented nearby, not here

Nothing below has been documented at Nash 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

  • Small-spotted catshark — documented at Monknash and the Nash ledges; Burnham-on-Sea and Berrow; Sand Point (+4 more)
  • Whiting — documented at Lavernock Point; Aberthaw; The Cardiff foreshore (+4 more)
  • Pouting — documented at Burnham-on-Sea and Berrow; Sand Point; The Cardiff foreshore (+1 more)
  • Common sole — documented at Monknash and the Nash ledges; Burnham-on-Sea and Berrow; The Gwent sea wall
  • European plaice — documented at Monknash and the Nash ledges; Burnham-on-Sea and Berrow; Aberavon Sands

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

  • Turbot — documented at Monknash and the Nash ledges
  • Dab — documented at Lavernock Point; Aberavon Sands
  • Brown trout — documented at Lynmouth

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.

The ground and the water

The ground
Layered Lias limestone and shale cliffs stepping down to a wave-cut platform of the same rock, with the Nash Sands — a long shifting sandbank — lying offshore across the tide.
Exposure
South-facing into the Bristol Channel. There is little ocean swell this far up the channel; wind against a very strong tide is the sea state that matters.
Depth
Shallow over the platform, deeper in the channel between the point and the sands.
Tide and flow
Among the largest tidal ranges in the world and streams to match, with a pronounced race over the Nash Sands that produces overfalls disproportionate to the wind.

Getting there

What public sources describe, last checked 2026-08-26. 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
A lias headland on the Glamorgan heritage coast below two nineteenth-century lighthouses, reached by lane from Marcross, with the Wales Coast Path running along the clifftop in both directions. The path authority describes the ground as a grassy limestone plateau for most of its length, broken by steep sections where streams have cut down to the beach, along steep and rugged clifftops.
The walk in
From the car park the ground is a grassy limestone plateau, easy going for most of its distance, with occasional steep pitches where streams cut down toward the beach. Getting from the clifftop down to the ledges that hold the fishing is a separate matter and is not the walk the path authority describes.
Public transport
A local bus, the 303, serves Southerndown about a kilometre from Dunraven Bay at the western end and Marcross about a kilometre and a half from Nash Point, and a regional operator covers the Vale of Glamorgan. It is a walk from the stop to the headland at either end rather than a service to the mark.

Parking

  • Nash Point car park

    Public car park · Charging not established

    The path authority records car parks at both ends of the Dunraven Bay to Nash Point stretch, and the council lists parking among the amenities here. Neither publishes a charge or a closing arrangement this page can rely on, so neither is stated.

Where this access information comes from
  • Dunraven Bay to Nash Point — the Wales Coast Path authority — Natural Resources Wales / Wales Coast Path (Local authority, harbour or protected-area body)Relied on for: The path authority's description of the terrain as a grassy limestone plateau with occasional steep sections along steep and rugged clifftops, car parks at both ends, toilets and refreshments at the Dunraven heritage centre, a cafe at Nash Point, and the 303 bus serving Southerndown and Marcross.States this directlyPassage read and verified

What is there

  • Food or shelter

    A cafe at Nash Point, described by the council as seasonal, and a heritage coast centre with toilets and refreshments at Dunraven Park at the far end of the walk.

Through the year

Conger, ray and smoothhound in the warmer months, cod and whiting in winter; the fishing is governed by the state of the tide more than by the month.

Safety

Tides and being cut off — Can cause serious injury or death

The flood fills the ground behind an angler before it covers the ground in front, so the water arrives between them and the shore while the position they are standing on is still dry.

What reduces it: Read the tide table before going rather than after arriving, set a leaving time from the tide rather than from the fishing, and identify the exit and how long it takes while the ground is still uncovered.

Cliffs and rock platforms — Can cause serious injury or death

The Lias cliffs here fail frequently and visibly, dropping slabs onto the platform beneath, and the platform is where the fishing is.

What reduces it: Do not stand or fish directly beneath the cliff face, keep well back from the edge above, and read fresh debris on the platform as a warning rather than as reassurance.

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

Tidal streams here are among the strongest around Britain and are unsurvivable to swim against. Underwater visibility is effectively nil, so anybody in the water cannot see and cannot easily be seen. Soft mud can trap a person, and being stuck in mud on a rising tide in this estuary is a recognised recurring emergency.

What reduces it: Stay off soft mud entirely, fish from hard ground, wear a buoyancy aid where there is any chance of going in, and if trapped in mud call for help immediately rather than after struggling. Do not enter the water for any reason.

Rules and access

FishingHQ does not know the current access position here. Shore angling in Wales 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 Natural Resources Wales, 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:

  • Natural Resources Wales, which administers marine and fisheries regulation in Welsh waters.
  • The local authority and, where one exists, the harbour authority, for access, byelaws and shellfish classification.
  • The environment agency in England and natural resources Wales, for migratory salmonids, eels, elvers and the historic net and fixed-engine fisheries.
  • The inshore fisheries and conservation authority for the English side, and the Welsh government's marine and fisheries function on the Welsh side, for sea fishing.
  • The statutory nature conservation bodies, for the European habitat and bird designations and the site of special scientific interest covering the estuary.
  • The harbour authority for the port and navigation areas, whose rules govern access to piers, walls and navigable channels.
  • The local authority and food standards agency, for shellfish ground classification and biotoxin monitoring.

Nearby fishing

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

Nash PointMonknash and the Nash ledgesAberthawPorthcawl breakwaterSker Point and Rest BayBarry Island and Nells PointPorlock WeirMineheadSully Island
Nash 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
  • Dunraven Bay to Nash Point — the Wales Coast Path authority — Natural Resources Wales / Wales Coast Path (Local authority, harbour or protected-area body)Relied on for: The national coast path authority describing the terrain, car parks, facilities and bus services on this stretch of the Glamorgan heritage coast.States this directlyPassage read and verified
  • Five favourite Welsh sea fishing places — Visit Wales — Visit Wales (Local authority, harbour or protected-area body)Relied on for: The Penarth to Nash Point entry: smoothhound, tope, spurdog, bass, bull huss, conger and rays named as blonde, small-eyed and spotted, with Aberddawan and Nash Point given as the shore marks and Penarth marina as the charter departure.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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