Our Beginners Guide to Buying Fishing Gear.... FISHING FROM A BEACH The main methods of fishing from a beach are bottom fishing or spinning. By bottom fishing from the beach you...
Beach mark guide
A practical starting point for reading the mark: where to stand, what to try first, and how to keep the session respectful, safe and enjoyable.
The original fishing notes continue below, kept for readers who want the deeper detail after the quick confidence guide.
The main methods of fishing from a beach are bottom fishing or spinning.
Local mark note
A beach can look empty until you learn to read it. Tide, surf and small changes in the sand often tell the story.
Beach fishing is about reading tide, surf, banks, gullies and where fish may patrol for food.
Use a beach rod or suitable multi-purpose rod, simple rigs, leads matched to surf and bait that suits the ground.
Worm, squid, mackerel, sandeel and crab are common starting points, depending on ground, season and target species.
Check tide times, soft sand, surf, cut-off points and weather before setting up, especially with children.
By bottom fishing from the beach you could target all the flatfish species along with bass, cod, dogfish, haddock and whiting.
Spinning from the beach could reward you with bass, mackerel and pollock, amongst others.
If you would like to target mackerel or bass please see our specific guides for these species...
Our recommendedfishing methodfor beginners fishing from a beach would bebottom fishingusing abeach/surf rod. Beach Rods are longer and more robust than spinning rods and are therefore better for casting out from the beach.
If you also wish to tryspinningfrom the beach and don't want to purchase two rods, then we would recommend using the heavier lures (25g and over) - more information about lures can be found on ourGuide to Spinningpage.
Friendly tackle picks chosen to make the guide easier to put into practice.
