Sea Fishing by daveonawave

West Pier is accessed via Swansea marina, walk up past Rogers tackle past the lock gates and keep going. You are supposed to have a permit to fish there but no one checks (I have one, honest).  It’s a great mark for catching small fish, I have never blanked here. The main species are pin whiting in the winter and Joey Mackerel in the summer and doggies, pout, all year round. I have even caught the odd school bass and a couple of small eyed rays here.

Depending on what you want you should vary your bait and position to suit. For Whiting (winter) any bait any rig and anywhere, they aren’t fussy.

For ray (Autumn) I found the best spot to be just over ¾ the way down (beach side) and cast as far as you can towards mumbles. Use a single hook clipped rig baited with frozen sand eel.

For Bass (Most of the year just not when it’s really cold) either on the estuary side at the beginning of the pier as close as you are allowed to the lock gates, or on the beach side in the surf. Best bait Mackerel fillet in the summer and Crab, lug or squid rest of year.

If you decide to fish this mark, please take all your litter home with you. The state of the pier sometimes (especially after the summer Mackie bashers have been out) is disgusting. If things carry on the way they are now I’m sure the council will close it and we will lose another cracking venue.

 Knab Rock is perhaps the easiest mark to fish. You can literally fish out of the back of the car if you wish. It is situated in Mumbles, Swansea right next to Verdi’s ice cream parlour. There are two slips to launch boats from and most of the fishing is done in between them. This mark can get very crowded in the summer and during the holidays; I like to keep to midweek evening sessions. If it's still real busy I like to walk the to the other side of Verdi's and fish opposite the George pub, its the same as the Knab but just not quite as easy.