Tides
When to fish, when to swim, and why the village has been kayaked through more than once.
I walked this quay at night for years, and the tide is the first thing you learn here or you do not last. Two hours after high water for the mackerel; a spring high at dusk and the shoals come right in. And when a spring high meets a storm, move what you care about upstairs before you sleep — I have watched the water come over the wall more than once.
Fishing the tide
Two hours after high tide is the best time for mackerel. When a spring high coincides with dusk you tend to catch a great deal here — giant shoals come close in.
Mevagissey is generally a far better place to fish at high tide than low.
Why it matters
Tide times matter for safety as much as sport. Without them you can be cut off, stranded on rocks or carried out.
For people who live here a spring high tide with stormy weather behind it means flooding and damage — more than once or twice people have kayaked through the streets of Mevagissey.
Beaches and the tide
Gorran Haven has a beach at both high and low water, but it is very small at high tide and gets crowded in summer.
Polstreath can be reached at high tide but is stonier and deeper then; it is a far better beach at low water.
You are much more likely to step on a weever fish at low tide — at high water the bottom drops away faster, so you spend less time treading on the seabed.
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.