Crabbing in Pembrokeshire: The Best Harbour Walls and How to Do It Right

Crabbing off a harbour wall is the cheapest afternoon in Pembrokeshire and one of the most reliably successful — shore crabs are abundant, greedy and completely indifferent to the weather. A line, a bucket and something smelly from the butcher is the whole kit.

Where

Tenby Harbour is the classic — on an August afternoon a line of buckets runs the length of the harbour wall. Like every harbour on this list it dries at low water (the boats sitting on the sand are the town's most photographed sight), so come for the hours around high tide; our Tenby Harbour beach page shows this week's tide times. It's the busiest spot — arrive early for a place on the wall in school holidays, and mind the working boats using the slip. Castle Beach rock pools take over at low water.

Solva has the prettiest crabbing in the county: the long sheltered inlet means calm water, and the lower harbour wall by the car park is the spot. The catch — literally — is the tide. Solva's harbour dries out completely at low water, so aim for the two to three hours either side of high tide — the Solva Harbour beach page shows the week's tides before you drive over. The quay is unfenced; keep small children at the landward edge.

Saundersfoot harbour is the family all-rounder — flat access from the village car parks, café and ice cream a minute away, and enough wall for everyone. Like Solva it empties at low water, so time it around high tide.

Quieter alternatives when the big three are heaving: the old quay at Lower Town Fishguard, and Porthgain's small harbour between boat movements.

Kit and bait

A drop line or a crab net (every seaside shop in Tenby and Saundersfoot sells them), a bucket, and bait. Bacon is traditional and works; fish scraps from a fishmonger work better. Skip the plastic-packaged "crab bait" if you can — the butchers and fishmongers in our food shops listings will sell you offcuts for pennies.

Never use a hook. The weighted bag or clip that comes with a crab line is all you need — the crab grips the bait and doesn't let go until you lift it clear.

Handling crabs kindly

This is the part that matters, and it's what the harbourmasters and the Wildlife Trust ask of everyone:

Seawater in the bucket, changed often. A bucket of warm shallow water suffocates crabs within the hour on a hot day. Fill deep, refresh every twenty minutes or so, and keep the bucket in shade.

A few crabs per bucket, not a heap. Crowded crabs fight and lose legs. If the bucket's getting busy, tip some back.

Hold them properly. One finger on top of the shell, thumb underneath, from behind — a shore crab can't reach you there. Never lift a crab by a leg or claw; they shed them.

Put them back where they came from, at the water's edge, within an hour or so — not off the top of the wall onto rocks.

When

Crabbing works from spring through autumn, best in the warmer months. State of tide matters more than time of day: all three harbours dry out, so plan for the hours around high water. Our beach pages for Tenby Harbour, Solva Harbour and Saundersfoot show live tide times for the week.

Rain doesn't stop the crabs. It's the great wet-weather activity — see our full list of things to do with kids in Pembrokeshire for the rest of the rainy-day repertoire, and the free things to do guide if the holiday budget is creaking.