Let me just first point out that these fishing spots in Torbay are based on my own personal experience. I'm not a member of a fishing club but would like to join one at some point.

Fishing from Brixham Breakwater.
A guide by Simon Day.

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NAVSAT LOCATION
Street Number: 8
Berry Head Road
Brixham
Devon
TQ2 5
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Brixham Breakwater is where most of the records in Torbay have come from and it is a very popular place to fish. The first record shore caught conger eel was caught here in 1975 by Roger Beer and the eel weighed in at 56lbs 4ozs.

Brixham Breakwater, as you can see from the right hand photo (above), is a huge place to go fishing. From the car park it will take you about 10 minutes to walk to the end. The last third of the breakwater offers the best fishing and both float fishing and bottom fishing can produce outstanding results.

The left hand photo (above) is the end of the breakwater and is the most busy part. Often you will see a dozen or more people all crammed together at the end. Don't believe this is the only place worth fishing because it isn't. It is well worth exploring all areas as you just never know what's going to get hooked (I've hooked a conger while float fishing!).

Access for the disabled is really good. The car park has disabled parking and apart from one small steep ramp you'll be traveling on level ground the whole time. There are toilets in the car park and a restaurant in case you feel like a meal.

There are no lights along the breakwater at night so you will need either lamps, torches or night glow sticks if you want to fish at night.

There are plenty of rocks on either side of the wall so you'll need to reel in a bare hook quickly and keep it on the top of the water as you wind in.

There is also a slim chance if you're fishing that the Torbay Lifeboat, which is moored here, will ask you to go out with them. For legal reasons they must have a set number of crew on board when they go out.

Parking Charges

*updated Nov 05*
Winter parking charges are back and this year it is 85p for all day parking.

As with all places in Torbay car park charges are bordering on requiring a second mortgage to park. At time of writing it's £3.80 up to 4 hours and a staggering £7 all day. After 7pm it goes down to £1.70 for all you night fisherman out there. If you go past the car park (with it on your left) about 100 yards up the road on the right hand side is another car park whose charges are a slightly more reasonable £5 all day. There is a small tunnel that will lead you directly to the first car park and the Breakwater.

Types of fish caught
Photos of species

Catches (depending on season) are mainly Mackerel, Conger, Garfish, Dogfish, Bass, Whiting, pollock, rockling, codling and wrasse.

Rarer catches include cod, black bream and smoothhound.

Summer Season Suggestions (June-Sept)

Down here on holiday? First thing I'd do is get the float gear or spinners out and catch some fresh mackerel. The range for casting would depend on where about's you're fishing. As a general rule 5 to 30 yards out will do it. Try to keep the last third of the breakwater and both inside and outside the breakwater do well.

If you fancy a nice conger (common to get 10lb+) you have the best chances at night casting very close in. If you fish the inside of the breakwater you'll looking at a cast of 0 - 5 yards. Most folks don't bother with a tripod and are ready to strike as soon as the bite hits. This of course if up to you. Best baits are fillets or flappers from your freshly caught mackerel. Whole squids or multiple whole squids also do ok.

There are also plenty of wrasse about and I'd be casting on the outside for these at a range of 10 to 60 yards. Peeler crabs go down really well but worm with a squid tip also do quite well. Expect sizes up to around 3-4lb.

A lot of Pollock about as well and night fishing can go really well. Again worms or mackerel strips work well for these. Expect the most common sizes to be around the 1lb to 2lb mark.

Plenty of garfish about as well. Float fish quite shallow (6 to 10ft) using mackerel strips (and beads if you like).

Dogfish can sometime dominate the area so bottom fishing at night with mackerel strips or squid can produce sizes up to the 2 1/2lb mark.

If you come down on holiday and want a guide I'll happily go with you (work permitting) and show you the best marks if you supply any bait needed :)

Baits to use

Best baits to use are mackerel strips, rag worm, peeler crab, lug worm, sand eels and squid. For conger use mackerel fillets, flappers or whole squids.

Rigs to use

You have lots of rocks to strengthen the breakwater directly below you. You have seaweed about 10m past these in a lot of places if you're fishing away from the marina. If you fish inside the marina you have seaweed directly in front of the rocks. There are also quite a few rocks just out on the seawood side.

Although it is possible to fish using a Pennel or 2up 1 down kind of rigs you might be safer choosing a 1up paternoster or pulley rig and just use the one hook because you can lose fish due to a free hook snagging rocks. Keep your rigs very simple or you may lose more than you want to.

Depth for float

6 to 15 foot

Please, please take your rubbish back with you!

My rating for Brixham Breakwater: 9/10

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