Widemouth Bay
Surf beach · Salt water · in The Cornish and Devon coasts
A wide west-facing sand bay south of Bude, backed by low cliff, with reef at both ends and sandbars that shift through the year to leave gullies and rips between them.
Safety: cliffs and rock platforms — 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 a kayak · 8
Atlantic mackerelSeasonal1 placeWidemouth BayOver surf beachAround Jun–Sept
GarfishSeasonal1 placeWidemouth BayOver surf beachAround Jun–Sept
European sea bassRepeatedly reported1 place · 1 fishery account · 1 sourceWidemouth BayOver surf beach- DabRepeatedly reported1 placeWidemouth BayOver surf beach
European plaiceRepeatedly reported1 placeWidemouth BayOver surf beach
PollackRepeatedly reported1 placeWidemouth BayOver surf beach- Small-eyed rayRepeatedly reported1 placeWidemouth BayOver surf beach
TurbotOccasional1 placeWidemouth BayOver surf beach
What these strengths mean
- Seasonal
- Well supported, and concentrated in part of the year rather than spread through it.
- Repeatedly reported
- Several independent public accounts. Enough to say it happens more than once; not enough to call it a fishery.
- Occasional
- Caught here, and described as unusual rather than normal. Do not plan a session around it.
- 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.
Fish documented nearby, not here
Nothing below has been documented at Widemouth 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 a kayak
- Atlantic cod — documented at Fowey; Newquay and Towan Head; Talland Bay
- Whiting — documented at Fowey; Newquay and Towan Head; Gribbin Head
- Ballan wrasse — documented at Fowey; Newquay and Towan Head; Talland Bay (+1 more)
- Tub gurnard — documented at Newquay and Towan Head; The Camel estuary; Gribbin Head
- Conger eel — documented at Fowey; Newquay and Towan Head; Talland Bay (+1 more)
- Bull huss — documented at Fowey; Talland Bay; Gribbin Head
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 a kayak
- European flounder — documented at Fowey; Newquay and Towan Head
- Thick-lipped grey mullet — documented at Fowey; Newquay and Towan Head
- Small-spotted catshark — documented at Gribbin Head
- Gilthead bream — documented at Fowey; The Camel estuary
- Black seabream — documented at Newquay and Towan Head
- Ling — documented at Fowey
- Starry smooth-hound — documented at Newquay and Towan Head
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.
- Spinning
Casting an artificial lure and retrieving it so that it moves like something alive — the most direct form of lure fishing.
- 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 wide west-facing sand bay south of Bude, backed by low cliff, with reef at both ends and sandbars that shift through the year to leave gullies and rips between them.
- Exposure
- Fully open to the Atlantic. Surf runs here when the rest of the coast is flat.
- Depth
- Shallow and shelving, with the fishable water in the gullies between bars.
Getting there
What public sources describe, last checked 2026-08-25. 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
- Straight off an open Atlantic surf beach, which means the swell rather than the tide decides whether anything can be launched at all.
Parking
Widemouth Bay
Public car park · Charged
A small council long-stay car park at the very top of the beach. Charges are the council's own.
Where this access information comes from
- Places to kayak fish in Cornwall — the north coast venue pages — Cornish Kayak Angler (Practitioner report)Relied on for: The council car park at the top of Widemouth Bay and the calm conditions a launch off this beach requires.States this directlyPassage read and verified
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 mackerel — seasonal, recorded in June, July, August, September. | ||||||||||||
| Garfish — seasonal, recorded in June, July, August, September. | ||||||||||||
| Atlantic mackerel — recorded here, recorded in June, July, August, September. |
Recorded here with no season stated: Dab, European plaice, European sea bass, European sea bass, Pollack, Small-eyed ray, Turbot.
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 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.
Moving water and currents — Can cause serious injury or death
The north coast's surf beaches carry strong rip currents, which run seaward through gaps in the sandbars and can take a wading angler off their feet and out beyond the surf line faster than they can walk back.
What reduces it: Do not wade deep in surf; learn to identify the calmer, darker, less-breaking channels that mark a rip and stay out of them; and if caught, do not swim against it — swim across the current parallel to the beach until out of it.
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: Bass is regulated: a daily bag limit, a minimum size and a catch-and-release-only period early in the year, all set annually. Check the current rules with the fisheries authority before keeping a fish.
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 national fisheries authority for England, for licensing of freshwater and migratory fishing and for fisheries enforcement
- The relevant inshore fisheries and conservation authority for the district, which sets and enforces local sea fisheries byelaws
- The body managing any marine protected area on the stretch concerned
- The local authority environmental health service, for shellfish classification and public health closures
- The harbour authority for working harbours and quays
- The relevant estuary or river management body, where an estuary carries its own arrangements
Nearby fishing
Other publicly documented places within about 40 km, by distance. Positions are approximate public geography and are never exact marks.
- Bude breakwater — 2–5 km · Breakwater
- Hartland Point — 25–40 km · Headland
- The Port Quin to Port Isaac rock coast — 25–40 km · Cliff coast
- Padstow Bay and the Rumps — 25–40 km · Headland
- Westward Ho! — 25–40 km · Surf beach
- The Camel estuary — 25–40 km · Estuary
- The Taw and Torridge estuary — 25–40 km · Estuary
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
- Places to kayak fish in Cornwall — the north coast venue pages — Cornish Kayak Angler (Practitioner report)Relied on for: The car park at the top of the beach and the exposure of the launch.States this directlyPassage read and verified
- Places to kayak and fish in Cornwall — Cornish Kayak Angler (Practitioner report)Relied on for: That the named venue is one of the Cornish coastal locations a kayak angler's published venue list gives as kayak fishing ground.FishingHQ's interpretation of what it saysPassage read and verified
How FishingHQ labels evidence is explained in the evidence policy. Last reviewed 2026-08-16.