Fishing from Mevagissey
Mevagissey has worked these waters for eight hundred years, and you can still fish them yourself — off the harbour wall, from the rock marks round the bay, the beach at Pentewan, or out on a boat. Every water asks a different question; below is what each one is asking, when to come, and the rig I'd answer it with.
Read the water first; the tackle box can wait. I'll tell you where the fish lie around this bay, when to be there and what I'd tie on — and the why, because the why is the part you keep. The kit below is gear I'd fish myself, nothing I wouldn't.
The harbour wall
The outer South Quay is the gentlest water here and the place to start. Through summer it fishes mackerel and garfish on a light float set shallow — no need to cast far, let the tide do the work. A drop-net or a crab line over the edge keeps the children busy. One rule above all: keep off the working slipways and give the boats landing their catch all the room they ask for.
the harbour →The rock marks
Chapel Point, Polkirt Hill and Black Head drop into deep water close in, which is exactly why they fish. Bass and pollack come to lures at first and last light — a soft plastic or a shallow plug, worked slow. For wrasse over the kelp through summer, crab or ragworm on a simple leger, fished tight to the rough and expect to lose a hook or two. Get down carefully, and never turn your back on the sea.
Pentewan
The long beach past Pentewan Sands fishes bass and flatfish into the evening, and best of all with a bit of surf running to colour the water. A running leger and a bait held still takes the flatties; a plug or a spinner searches out the bass. Open, forgiving ground — the place to learn a beachcast without feeding your rig to the rocks.
Pentewan →Read the tide
Read the water first, and here the water is the tide. The wall fishes best on the flood; the rock marks cut you off on a making tide, so know your way back before you need it; the beach comes alive on the push. Check the times before you set out — the tide decides where you fish, not the other way round.
Tide times →Out on a boat
For the reef and the wreck — and the mackerel the children will actually catch — the harbour's charter skippers take you out when they're not working for a living. That's ground no shore rod can reach, and a skipper who knows it is worth more than any rig in the bag. Book direct with the boat.
Fishing trips →Bait & tackle
Fresh and frozen bait, terminal tackle, and — worth more than either — the local word on what's showing and where, all in the village shops. Ask them; they'll know before I do. Or dig your own ragworm on the low spring tides at Pentewan, which costs nothing but a fork and a bit of your back.
The seasons
Mackerel show from June to the back end of the year; bass from spring through autumn; pollack and wrasse over the summer rock; a garfish or a gurnard besides, to keep it interesting. Winter thins it down to the boat and the whiting. Fish what the season's giving you — chasing what isn't in yet is the commonest mistake I see.
Stay safe
A lifejacket on the wall and on the rocks, every time — I don't fish without one, and nor should you. Tell someone where you've gone and when you'll be back. Watch the swell and the sky as closely as the rod tip, and come in before the tide cuts you off. The sea here is beautiful, and it keeps none of that beauty for the careless.
Rodd's kit
The gear that earns its place in the bag for the marks above — matched to the water you'll fish it in, not to the advert. Every pick is one I'd fish myself; the links are affiliate links, marked as such, and a commission never buys a place on this list.
Axia Bass Wedge — long-casting metal lure
£2.29A streamlined metal that casts a long way into a headwind — the one to clip on when bass or mackerel are showing off the end of the wall or the rocks. Fish it fast with the odd flutter on the drop. Carry two: you'll lose one on the kelp sooner or later.
Axia Basser — floating diver lure
£13.99A floating diver you work back slowly over the rock gullies — change the speed to find the depth the bass are holding at, and pause it to let it rise over the snags. Pair it with the Pegasus rod and that's a lure setup for an evening session.
Axia Pegasus Spin — light lure rod (7–8ft, 10–50g)
£17.99The rod to start with off the wall and the rock marks — light enough to feel a pollack, and it throws a bass wedge or a string of feathers without fuss. It's a beginner's rod and it won't last forever, but it gets you fishing today for the price of a round.
Axia Mini Hokkai — small mackerel feathers
£1.99Summer off the wall is mackerel-and-garfish time, and small hokkai on size-8 hooks are the honest way to get them — kinder than the big six-hook sets, and a youngster can handle a couple of fish at a time. Drop a small weight below, let them sink, and lift-and-drop.
Axia 2 Hook Flapper 1/0 — ready-tied shore rig
£1.99A ready-tied two-hook rig for bait on the bottom — put a bit of ragworm or mackerel strip on it and it'll pick up whatever's down there, from a flatfish off Pentewan to a schoolie bass. Cheaper and far quicker than tying your own while the tide's running.
Some links in this section are affiliate links: buy through them and we may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what Rodd recommends — he only lists kit he'd use himself.
A self-catering cottage in St Austell Bay with sea views, a large garden and parking, close to the beach and the coast path. Book direct with the owner.
Book direct with the ownerMevagissey Harbour — a guide to the village, the bay and the people who worked it.