Red Wharf Bay
Bay · Salt water · in Anglesey
A very large, very flat sand bay on the east of Anglesey that empties almost completely at low water, with a channel running out at its north end. Worm ground: the sand is soft, clean and productive, and the tide crosses it fast.
Safety: tides and being cut off — 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 · 5
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.
Fish documented nearby, not here
Nothing below has been documented at Red Wharf Bay 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 Holyhead breakwater; Penmon Point; Moelfre rocks (+5 more)
- Pollack — documented at Holyhead breakwater; South Stack; Trearddur Bay (+4 more)
- Conger eel — documented at Holyhead breakwater; Cemaes Bay; Moelfre rocks (+1 more)
- Small-spotted catshark — documented at Penmon Point; Moelfre rocks; Beaumaris Pier (+1 more)
- Atlantic mackerel — documented at Holyhead breakwater; South Stack; Trearddur Bay (+4 more)
- Whiting — documented at Moelfre rocks; Beaumaris Pier; Cymyran and Rhosneigr
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
- Atlantic cod — documented at Holyhead breakwater; Moelfre rocks
- Bull huss — documented at Cymyran and Rhosneigr; Moelfre rocks
- Small-eyed ray — documented at Cymyran and Rhosneigr
- Thornback ray — documented at Cymyran and Rhosneigr
- Saithe — documented at Moelfre rocks; Cymyran and Rhosneigr
- Starry smooth-hound — documented at Llanddwyn Island; Moelfre rocks
- Corkwing wrasse — documented at Moelfre rocks
- Curled octopus — documented at Moelfre rocks
- European lobster — documented at Moelfre rocks
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.
- Surfcasting
Casting heavy baited tackle from a beach into surf — a method defined by distance, by tide, and by reading water that all looks the same.
- 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.
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
- Ragworm — for Dab, European flounder, European sea bass, European plaice
- Lugworm — for Dab, European plaice
- Peeler crab — for European flounder, European sea bass
- Sand eel — for European sea bass, Turbot
- Crab and shellfish — for European sea bass
- Fish strip and cut bait — for Turbot
- Squid and cuttlefish — for Dab
Lures
- Jerkbaits — for European sea bass
- Metal jigs — for European sea bass
- Soft plastics — for European sea bass
- Streamers — for European sea bass
- Surface lures — for European sea bass
The ground and the water
- The ground
- A very large, very flat sand bay on the east of Anglesey that empties almost completely at low water, with a channel running out at its north end. Worm ground: the sand is soft, clean and productive, and the tide crosses it fast.
- Exposure
- Open east and north-east; well sheltered from the prevailing weather.
- Tide and flow
- The bay dries over a very large area and the flood crosses the flat sand quickly, which is the hazard as well as the fishing.
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
Rock marks on the north and west coasts take swell generated over a long Irish Sea fetch, and a set considerably larger than the prevailing sea can arrive without warning. Falls from wet rock and being swept from a platform are the mechanisms.
What reduces it: Watch a mark for a full set before committing to it. Wear a buoyancy aid on any rock platform. Never fish a rock mark alone in swell, and treat a forecast that mentions swell separately from wind as the one that matters.
Worse when:
- Swell arriving from a distant system in otherwise calm local conditions
- Rising tide on a platform with a single exit
- Night fishing on unfamiliar rock
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.
- The national fisheries authority for Wales, for sea fisheries measures, licensing and enforcement.
- The inshore fisheries and conservation body for the area, for local byelaws, closed areas and gear restrictions.
- The food safety authority and the local authority, for shellfish bed classification and closures, which change continually.
- The harbour authorities and the port authority for the strait, for navigation, launching and access.
- The maritime and coastguard agency and the lifeboat service, for safety information and rescue in an area with genuine tidal hazard.
- The landowner, club or fishery, for permission to fish any freshwater on the island.
Nearby fishing
Other publicly documented places within about 40 km, by distance. Positions are approximate public geography and are never exact marks.
- Moelfre rocks — 5–10 km · Rock mark
- Beaumaris Pier — 5–10 km · Pier
- Penmon Point — 5–10 km · Headland
- The Menai Strait and the Swellies — 10–25 km · Tidal race
- Point Lynas — 10–25 km · Headland
- Llyn Alaw — 10–25 km · Reservoir
- Caernarfon and the Menai south entrance — 10–25 km · Tidal channel
- Cemaes Bay — 10–25 km · Bay
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: Welsh shore marks — British Sea Fishing (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Mark-by-mark Welsh shore angling: which species are fished for at each named mark, in which season, and with which baits and methods.States this directlyPassage read and verified
How FishingHQ labels evidence is explained in the evidence policy. Last reviewed 2026-08-16.