Sea Fishing in Pembrokeshire

Pembrokeshire has a lot of coast and a lot of fish, and the fishing splits neatly into three: casual mackerel trips out of the tourist harbours, serious shore fishing for bass, and charter boats going offshore to the wrecks and reefs.

The easy version first. From Tenby and Saundersfoot, short mackerel trips run through the summer — an hour or two, rods and bait supplied, and in a good week everyone comes back with fish. It is a genuinely good introduction and children love it. Mackerel arrive inshore from around June and thin out through September. The same fish can be caught off harbour walls and rock ledges on a set of feathers when the shoals are in.

Shore fishing for bass is the county's real angling draw. The surf beaches — Freshwater West, Newgale, Marloes Sands, West Angle — fish well in coloured water after a blow, particularly around dusk on a flooding tide. It is a patient, weather-dependent business and the good sessions are the ones nobody else would go out in. Rules on what you may keep change from year to year, so check the current regulations rather than what someone told you two seasons ago.

The Milford Haven waterway is a fishery in its own right, with fishing from the shore around Dale, Angle, Neyland and Milford Haven, and charter boats running out of the marinas for wrecks, reefs and offshore banks. Those trips target pollack, cod, ling, rays and tope depending on the season, and a day out there is a proper undertaking with an early start.

Autumn and winter are underrated. The crowds go, the bass fishing holds up into November, and the winter shore fishing for cod and whiting is a thing local anglers plan their year around. It also involves standing in the dark in the rain, which is either the point or the problem depending on who you are.

What catches people out is the rock. Wet, weed-covered limestone and volcanic ledges are extremely slippery, several of the best marks are cut off by the rising tide, and swell arrives on this coast without warning from storms hundreds of miles away. The rule that keeps anglers alive is simple: watch the sea for ten minutes before you commit to a ledge, and never fish an exposed mark alone.

The second thing is Castlemartin. The MOD range closes the coast between Freshwater West and Stackpole for live firing, and the closures are not negotiable. Firing times are published in advance — check them before you drive down, and take the red flags seriously.

Third, permissions and access. Some of the best ground is on private land or National Trust property with its own rules, and parking at the small coves is limited and enforced. A local tackle shop will tell you where you can and cannot go, what is being caught, and what bait to use, and that conversation is worth an hour of internet research.