Sand Point
Headland · Salt water · in The Severn Estuary
A narrow limestone ridge running out west from Sand Bay north of Weston, with rock ledges along both flanks and deep coloured water off the end. The only hard ground for miles on a coast of mud and sand.
Safety: cliffs and rock platforms — can cause serious injury or death. 3 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 · 8
Conger eelEstablished quarry1 placeSand PointOver headland
Thornback rayEstablished quarry1 placeSand PointOver headland
Atlantic codSeasonal1 placeSand PointOver headlandObserved Jan–Feb, Nov–Dec- Bull hussSeasonal1 placeSand PointOver headlandObserved Jun–Sept
European sea bassSeasonal1 placeSand PointOver headlandObserved Jun–Sept
PoutingSeasonal1 placeSand PointOver headlandObserved Jun–Sept- Small-spotted catsharkSeasonal1 placeSand PointOver headlandObserved Jun–Sept
WhitingSeasonal1 placeSand PointOver headlandObserved Jan–Feb, Nov–Dec
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.
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.
- 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.
The ground and the water
- The ground
- A narrow limestone ridge running out west from Sand Bay north of Weston, with rock ledges along both flanks and deep coloured water off the end. The only hard ground for miles on a coast of mud and sand.
- Exposure
- Open west and north-west down the estuary.
- Tide and flow
- Huge Severn range, and the ledges along the point cover and uncover on it.
Through the year
Bass, dogfish and bull huss in summer; cod and whiting in winter; conger and thornback 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 cod — seasonal, recorded in November, December, January, February. | ||||||||||||
| Bull huss — seasonal, recorded in June, July, August, September. | ||||||||||||
| European sea bass — seasonal, recorded in June, July, August, September. | ||||||||||||
| Pouting — seasonal, recorded in June, July, August, September. | ||||||||||||
| Small-spotted catshark — seasonal, recorded in June, July, August, September. | ||||||||||||
| Whiting — seasonal, recorded in November, December, January, February. |
Recorded here with no season stated: Conger eel, Thornback ray.
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.
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.
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.
Cold water shock — Can cause serious injury or death
Water temperature is low enough for most of the year that immersion triggers gasping and hyperventilation, and the ability to swim is lost in the first minute. Combined with a strong tidal stream and zero visibility, an immersion here is a very serious event at any time of year.
What reduces it: Wear a buoyancy aid, keep off slippery hard structures near deep fast water, and if immersed, float and control breathing before attempting anything else.
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 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.
- Weston-super-Mare — 5–10 km · Beach
- Brean Down — 5–10 km · Headland
- Clevedon Pier — 10–25 km · Pier
- Lavernock Point — 10–25 km · Headland
- The Cardiff foreshore — 10–25 km · Estuary mark
- Penarth Pier — 10–25 km · Pier
- Sully Island — 10–25 km · Island
- Burnham-on-Sea and Berrow — 10–25 km · Beach
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.