Solva
Harbour wall · Salt water · in Pembrokeshire and the south-west Wales coast
A narrow drowned inlet with a dog-leg entrance between rock walls, drying to sand and gravel inside, on a coast of hard folded Cambrian rock. The coves and rock marks either side of the entrance are the water a resident kayak fishing guide works.
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 a kayak · 4
PollackRegular local target1 place · 1 recorded catch · 1 fishery account · 2 independent sourcesSolvaOver harbour wallSources name Jigging, Kayak fishing with Metal jigsAround Apr, JunObserved 2022–2025
European sea bassRegular local target1 placeSolvaOver harbour wallAround May–Oct
Atlantic codRecorded here1 placeSolvaOver harbour wallAround Jan–Mar, Nov–Dec- Cuckoo wrasseRecorded here1 placeSolvaOver harbour wall
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.
Recorded here, but not a species to target
These are recorded here, but they are not fish to take. Each is either assessed as Critically Endangered or protected by statute in this jurisdiction, and taking one may be prohibited outright — elsewhere every rod-caught fish must be returned. Read the species page and check the current rules with the authority before fishing.
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.
- 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.
- Kayak fishing
A platform rather than a technique: quiet, shallow-draught access to water no other craft reaches, bought at the price of exposure, and a discipline where the decision not to launch is part of the skill.
The ground and the water
- The ground
- A narrow drowned inlet with a dog-leg entrance between rock walls, drying to sand and gravel inside, on a coast of hard folded Cambrian rock. The coves and rock marks either side of the entrance are the water a resident kayak fishing guide works.
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 — regular local target, recorded in May, June, July, August, September, October. | ||||||||||||
| Atlantic cod — recorded here, recorded in November, December, January, February, March. | ||||||||||||
| Tope — recorded here, recorded in June, July, August, September. |
Recorded here with no season stated: Pollack, Cuckoo wrasse.
Safety
Cliffs and rock platforms — Can cause serious injury or death
Atlantic swell arrives in sets and the largest wave of a set is far bigger than the preceding average. A dry ledge is filled and the backwash takes whatever is on it into deep water against a vertical, kelp-covered face with no shallow margin to recover onto.
What reduces it: Watch the sea for a full set of several minutes before committing to any position. Choose a platform with a way up behind it. Wear a buoyancy aid on the rocks, fish with somebody, and carry the means of calling for help on your person rather than in a bag.
Worse when:
- Long-period Atlantic swell, which arrives in sets far larger than the sea state suggests.
- On a rising tide, when each set reaches further up the platform than the last.
Moving water and currents — Can cause serious injury or death
Tidal streams through the sounds run faster than a kayak can paddle or a small outboard can push against, and produce standing waves, boils and overfalls on springs. A craft that enters the acceleration is committed to wherever the stream takes it.
What reduces it: Plan every movement around the state of the tide before the wind. Know when the stream turns at the specific sound rather than at a distant standard port. Do not attempt a sound on spring tides. Treat visible overfalls as a boundary and allow a wide margin, since their position moves through the tide.
Worse when:
- Spring tides, when the streams run hardest and the overfalls are largest.
- Wind against tide, which stands the race up into breaking water.
Cold water shock — Can cause serious injury or death
Atlantic water on this coast stays cold enough year round that immersion produces an involuntary gasp and loss of breathing control in the first seconds, which is what decides the outcome rather than the swim afterwards.
What reduces it: Wear a buoyancy aid, do not fish alone on exposed rock, 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.
- Welsh Government, for sea fisheries policy and measures in Welsh waters, which differ from English ones.
- Natural Resources Wales, for marine and freshwater licensing, designation and enforcement in Wales.
- The Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority and the relevant island or reserve managers, where access, landing and disturbance are constrained by designation.
- The Milford Haven Port Authority, for navigation, access and exclusion within the haven.
- The Food Standards Agency and the local authority, for shellfish harvesting area classification and biotoxin closures.
- The Maritime and Coastguard Agency and the RNLI, for safety guidance on this coast.
Nearby fishing
Other publicly documented places within about 40 km, by distance. Positions are approximate public geography and are never exact marks.
- St Brides Bay — 5–10 km · Bay
- Whitesands Bay and St David's Head — 5–10 km · Headland
- Ramsey Sound — 5–10 km · Tidal race
- Broad Haven and Little Haven — 10–25 km · Beach
- Strumble Head — 10–25 km · Headland
- Goodwick breakwater — 10–25 km · Breakwater
- Milford Haven waterway — 10–25 km · Estuary
- Hobbs Point — 25–40 km · Jetty
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
- Catch and Cook Kayak Fishing UK — the operator's own site — Catch and Cook Kayak Fishing UK (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: The operator's own account of what its clients catch from the kayak on this coast — bass to eight pounds, pollack to five, tope on the drift, codling and cuckoo wrasse — on handcrafted jigs from 20 to 450 grams, soft plastics and minnows.States this directlyPassage read and verified
- Catch and Cook Fishing — Visit Pembrokeshire activity listing — Visit Pembrokeshire (Local authority, harbour or protected-area body)Relied on for: The destination body's listing fixing the operator's base to Solva.Background and mechanism onlyPassage read and verified
How FishingHQ labels evidence is explained in the evidence policy. Last reviewed 2026-08-16.