Porth Ysgaden
Rock mark · Salt water · in Cardigan Bay and the sarnau
A small rocky inlet on the exposed north-west Llŷn used for launching small boats, with low broken rock either side of the cove and kelp in the gullies. Close-range ground rather than a casting mark.
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 · 4
What these strengths mean
- Established quarry
- 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.
- Places, accounts and sources are counted separately
- A fish documented once at each of six marks is still documented once at each of six marks. Breadth is reported as a place count and never raises the strength, and sources are deduplicated across places so one publisher covering a whole coast counts as one. A fishery account is a source describing the fishing; a recorded catch is a report of a specific catch. They are counted apart because they are not the same evidence.
Fish documented nearby, not here
Nothing below has been documented at Porth Ysgaden 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 Pwllheli; Criccieth; Morfa Nefyn
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
- Bull huss — documented at Trefor pier
- Starry smooth-hound — documented at Sarn Badrig; Pwllheli
- European plaice — documented at Criccieth
- Thornback ray — documented at Pwllheli
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.
- Light rock fishing
Ultralight lure fishing from the shore with tackle rated in single grams — a discipline that catches the fish everybody else steps over, and one FishingHQ held every component of and had never named.
- 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.
The ground and the water
- The ground
- A small rocky inlet on the exposed north-west Llŷn used for launching small boats, with low broken rock either side of the cove and kelp in the gullies. Close-range ground rather than a casting mark.
- Exposure
- Open north-west with nothing in front of it.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| European sea bass — established quarry, recorded in May, June, July, August, September, October. | ||||||||||||
| Atlantic mackerel — seasonal, recorded in June, July, August, September. |
Recorded here with no season stated: Ballan wrasse, Pollack.
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.
Boat safety — Can cause serious injury or death
The sarnau are boulder ridges standing several metres above the seabed and running many kilometres offshore, lying across the natural line of travel along the coast. They dry inshore, are covered by variable depth further out, and the tidal stream accelerates across them producing broken water.
What reduces it: Navigate by charted position rather than by eye, know the state of tide over the ridge, allow a genuine margin, and never assume a passage along this coast is clear water.
Worse when:
- In any sea, when the crest breaks and the surrounding water is disturbed.
- On a low spring tide, when the covering depth is least.
Cold water shock — Can cause serious injury or death
Water in the bay and in the rivers running into it is cold for most of the year. Immersion produces an involuntary gasp and loss of breathing control within seconds, and much of the sewin fishing is done at night.
What reduces it: Wear a buoyancy aid rather than carry one, wade with a fastened belt and a staff, do not fish or wade alone at night, and carry a means of calling for help on the person.
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.
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.
- Natural Resources Wales, which administers rod licensing, freshwater and migratory fisheries, and conservation designations in Wales.
- The Welsh Government, for sea fisheries measures and marine policy in Welsh waters.
- The fishery owner, estate or angling association, for permission to fish freshwater and migratory beats.
- The relevant site management bodies, where a marine or coastal designation affects access, disturbance or collection.
- The harbour authority at each port, for access to and fishing from harbour structures.
- The local authority and the Food Standards Agency framework, for shellfish harvesting area classification.
Nearby fishing
Other publicly documented places within about 40 km, by distance. Positions are approximate public geography and are never exact marks.
- Morfa Nefyn — 5–10 km · Beach
- Aberdaron — 10–25 km · Cove
- Pwllheli — 10–25 km · Harbour wall
- Trefor pier — 10–25 km · Pier
- Sarn Badrig — 10–25 km · Reef
- Criccieth — 25–40 km · Beach
- Dinas Dinlle — 25–40 km · Beach
- Llanddwyn Island — 25–40 km · Island
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
- Fishing in Wales — sea fishing marks and location guides — Angling Trust (Angling or fisheries organisation)Relied on for: Welsh sea fishing marks: the ground, the species targeted at each, the mode, the state of tide and the weather preconditions, as set out by the national angling body's own Welsh resource.States this directlyPassage read and verified
- Sea fishing in north Wales — the mark guide — Turner's Tackle (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: The Porth Ysgaden entry: a small rocky outcrop used for small-boat launching, good light-rock ground for wrasse and pollack, with bass.States this directlyPassage read and verified
How FishingHQ labels evidence is explained in the evidence policy. Last reviewed 2026-08-16.