Whitby piers
Pier · Salt water · in The Yorkshire coast
The two stone piers running out either side of the Esk mouth, with the harbour channel between them and mixed ground beyond. Structure on both faces and enough water at the ends to fish without distance, which is what separates a pier mark from the beaches either side of it.
Safety: cold water shock — 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 · 7
Atlantic codRegular local target1 placeWhitby piersOver pierAround Jan–Mar, Oct–Dec
Atlantic mackerelSeasonal1 placeWhitby piersOver pierAround Jun–Sept- DabSeasonal1 placeWhitby piersOver pierAround Jun–Sept
European flounderSeasonal1 placeWhitby piersOver pierAround Jun–Sept
SaitheSeasonal1 placeWhitby piersOver pierAround Jun–Sept
WhitingSeasonal1 placeWhitby piersOver pierAround Jan–Feb, Nov–Dec
PollackRecorded here1 placeWhitby piersOver pier
What these strengths mean
- Regular local target
- 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.
- 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 Whitby piers 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 Filey Brigg; Flamborough Head and the North Landing; Bridlington North Pier (+1 more)
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
- European sea bass — documented at Robin Hood's Bay; Cayton Bay
- Small-spotted catshark — documented at Bridlington North Pier
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.
- 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 two stone piers running out either side of the Esk mouth, with the harbour channel between them and mixed ground beyond. Structure on both faces and enough water at the ends to fish without distance, which is what separates a pier mark from the beaches either side of it.
- Exposure
- Open to the north-east, which is the quarter this coast takes its weather from, and the piers are unfishable in the sea that brings the cod.
- Depth
- Enough water at the pier ends to fish close, and shallowing into the harbour behind them.
- Tide and flow
- The Esk empties between the piers and the channel runs hard on the ebb, so the two faces of the same structure fish at different states.
Getting there
What public sources describe, last checked 2026-08-24. Car parks fill, services change and a path existing is not a path anybody may use — none of this is a guarantee of availability and none of it is permission to be anywhere.
- Getting to it
- Both piers run out from the harbour mouth and are reached on foot from the town. Vehicles cannot be driven onto them, and parking is described as a walk of about five minutes away.
- The walk in
- A walk out along the pier from the harbour. The West Pier carries two levels with a ladder down to the lower one, and the lower level is described as somewhere to avoid in poor conditions. The East Pier's access has been in question and under discussion with the council.
- Tidal access
- The harbour's storm gates are closed in heavy weather, and the local guidance is that no fishing should be attempted when they are shut.
Where this access information comes from
- Whitby fishing: the piers, access and species through the year — The Whitby Guide (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: The approach to both Whitby piers, the absence of vehicle access, the two-level structure of the West Pier and its ladder, the East Pier's access difficulties, and the storm gate condition.States this directlyPassage read and verified
Through the year
Cod and whiting through the winter; coalfish, flounder and dab through the summer, with mackerel taken on lures when the shoals are in.
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 — regular local target, recorded in October, November, December, January, February, March. | ||||||||||||
| Atlantic mackerel — seasonal, recorded in June, July, August, September. | ||||||||||||
| Dab — seasonal, recorded in June, July, August, September. | ||||||||||||
| European flounder — seasonal, recorded in June, July, August, September. | ||||||||||||
| Saithe — seasonal, recorded in June, July, August, September. | ||||||||||||
| Whiting — seasonal, recorded in November, December, January, February. |
Recorded here with no season stated: Pollack.
Safety
Cold water shock — Can cause serious injury or death
UK coastal and inland water is cold enough for most of the year to trigger the involuntary gasp and the loss of swimming ability that decides most immersion deaths, and it does so within the first minute, long before hypothermia is relevant.
What reduces it: Wear a buoyancy aid rather than carry one, carry a means of calling for help on the person rather than in a bag, and plan on the assumption that an unplanned entry into the water is survivable only if somebody knows immediately.
Tides and being cut off — Can cause serious injury or death
Wave-cut rock scars flood from the seaward edge and from behind at the same time, so the route back across the low ground between the platform and the cliff closes while the platform is still dry and while the angler is facing the sea.
What reduces it: Walk the exit before fishing and note the low ground. Set a leaving time from the tide rather than from the fishing. Do not go out onto a scar on a rising tide unless the exit stays above water for the whole session.
Worse when:
- Spring tides, when the platform covers faster and further.
- In the dark, when the low ground behind cannot be seen filling.
Cliffs and rock platforms — Can cause serious injury or death
On the northern rock coast, a swell that has been below a ledge for twenty minutes arrives above it in a set and takes a person off it. On the southern clay coast, boulder-clay cliffs collapse without warning onto whatever is at their base.
What reduces it: Watch the sea for a full set before committing to any rock position, and choose a position with a way up rather than only a way to stand. Never shelter, sit or set up beneath a clay cliff, and keep back from the cliff edge above, which is undercut.
Worse when:
- Long-period swell, which arrives in sets far larger than the average.
- After heavy or prolonged rain, when saturated boulder clay slumps.
Slips, trips and falls — Can cause injury needing treatment
Wet stone above deep water with no beach beneath it, and sea breaking over the outer sections in the onshore weather that makes the fishing worth having.
What reduces it: Treat the sea state rather than the wind as the deciding input, stay off the outer sections in any swell, and know where the ladders are before dark.
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.
Particular to this water: This is an owned and operated structure. Whether angling is allowed on it, when, from where and on what terms is the operator's decision, is frequently seasonal, and changes without notice.
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 makes and enforces inshore byelaws including those on bait collection.
- Natural England and the site management body, where a marine or coastal designation affects access, vehicles or collection.
- The harbour authority or commissioners at each port, where fishing is from harbour structures or small craft are launched.
- The statutory harbour authority for the Humber, for navigation and access on the estuary.
- 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.
- Robin Hood's Bay — 5–10 km · Bay
- Runswick Bay — 5–10 km · Bay
- Port Mulgrave — 10–25 km · Jetty
- Ravenscar and the Peak rocks — 10–25 km · Rock mark
- Staithes — 10–25 km · Cove
- Skinningrove jetty — 10–25 km · Jetty
- Cloughton Wyke — 10–25 km · Rock mark
- Saltburn — 25–40 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: north-east England and Yorkshire shore marks — British Sea Fishing (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: The mark-by-mark Yorkshire and Humberside shore guide: which species are fished for at each mark, in which season, with which baits, and at which state of tide.States this directlyPassage read and verified
How FishingHQ labels evidence is explained in the evidence policy. Last reviewed 2026-08-16.