Rossall Point
Headland · Salt water · in Morecambe Bay and the north-west England coast
The low point where the Fylde coast turns east into the Wyre, armoured with rock and concrete and with a scar of hard ground running off it. The corner puts the point into the tidal stream running into and out of Morecambe Bay, which is the reason it fishes.
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 · 6
Atlantic codSeasonal1 placeRossall PointOver headlandAround Jan–Feb, Nov–Dec
European flounderSeasonal1 placeRossall PointOver headlandAround May–Oct
European sea bassSeasonal1 placeRossall PointOver headlandAround Jun–Sept
Thornback raySeasonal1 placeRossall PointOver headlandAround May–Oct
WhitingSeasonal1 placeRossall PointOver headlandAround Jan–Feb, Nov–Dec- DabRecorded here1 placeRossall PointOver headland
What these strengths mean
- 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 Rossall 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
- Starry smooth-hound — documented at New Brighton and Perch Rock; Blackpool piers and the north wall; Cleveleys and the Gynn wall
- Small-spotted catshark — documented at Blackpool piers and the north wall; Cleveleys and the Gynn wall; Morecambe Stone Jetty
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
- Conger eel — documented at Morecambe Stone Jetty
- European plaice — documented at New Brighton and Perch Rock; Southport Pier
- Common sole — documented at Blackpool piers and the north wall
- Tub gurnard — documented at Blackpool piers and the north 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.
- 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.
- 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
- The low point where the Fylde coast turns east into the Wyre, armoured with rock and concrete and with a scar of hard ground running off it. The corner puts the point into the tidal stream running into and out of Morecambe Bay, which is the reason it fishes.
- Exposure
- Open west and north; the point takes weather from both.
- Tide and flow
- The stream setting into and out of Morecambe Bay runs past the point, and the scar covers on the flood.
Through the year
Cod and whiting in winter; rays, bass and flatfish through the summer.
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 cod — seasonal, recorded in November, December, January, February. | ||||||||||||
| European flounder — seasonal, recorded in May, June, July, August, September, October. | ||||||||||||
| European sea bass — seasonal, recorded in June, July, August, September. | ||||||||||||
| Thornback ray — seasonal, recorded in May, June, July, August, September, October. | ||||||||||||
| Whiting — seasonal, recorded in November, December, January, February. |
Recorded here with no season stated: Dab.
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.
Drowning and immersion — Can cause serious injury or death
Saturated sand near channels and at freshwater seepages loses its bearing strength, and a person sinks into it and is held. Being held on this ground on a flooding tide is the mechanism the bay is notorious for. The locations change as the channels migrate.
What reduces it: Stay on known routes, keep away from channel edges and from places where water is visibly rising through the sand, do not go alone, and carry a means of calling for help on the person. If held, spread weight, do not struggle vertically, and call for help immediately rather than after trying to free yourself.
Worse when:
- Near migrating river channels, where the ground is most saturated.
- After heavy rain, when freshwater flow through the sand increases.
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 relevant Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority for the district, which opens, closes and permits the cockle and mussel beds and makes the inshore byelaws.
- The Food Standards Agency and the local authority, for shellfish harvesting area classification and for biotoxin closures.
- Natural England and the site management bodies, where designation constrains vehicles, access or disturbance.
- The Queen's Guide to the Sands and the relevant local authority, for guided crossings of the bay.
- The Maritime and Coastguard Agency and the RNLI, whose hovercraft cover exists here specifically because of this ground.
Nearby fishing
Other publicly documented places within about 40 km, by distance. Positions are approximate public geography and are never exact marks.
- Cleveleys and the Gynn wall — 5–10 km · Beach
- Blackpool piers and the north wall — 10–25 km · Pier
- Throbshaw Rocks, Heysham — 10–25 km · Rock mark
- Morecambe Stone Jetty — 10–25 km · Jetty
- The Lune at Lancaster — 10–25 km · River reach
- Walney Island — 10–25 km · Island
- Southport Pier — 25–40 km · Pier
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: north-west England shore marks — British Sea Fishing (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Which species are fished for at each named north-west England shore 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.