South West Par sands

[Stinger]

Hi all I'm Clay I'm staying in par any advice would be much. Appreciated please as I'm only here for a week

Thanks in advance
Clay

 

[Shirleycodlin]

Can anyone help?

 

[Trampster]

Good luck Clay. I can't be of much help - I very rarely venture into Cornwall with a rod in hand, and a few trips to Seaton have only been blanks. Tight lines!

 

[Casker]

Well, @Stinger, I haven't fished at Par yet, but worms (lug ?) are naturally present so there will be fish. When I was a child, the beach at low tide was a deep-pile carpet of worm casts. I imagine there will still be plenty. Of course, you will almost certainly have checked out the beach at all tides for yourself by now. Do report your successes (or otherwise).

[ Edit - Par beach is so shallow/flat over its full tidal reach that, as a novice, I've been pondering how to eventually fish it actually. Deeper water over by the docks West end + a long narrow strand of rock at that end of the beach reaching out to mid-tide + an expanse of a flat clean sandy bottom with worms + some rockier edges East-end of the beach. Enjoy !! ]

 

[Mr Fish]

I don’t know the beach at all but presuming it’s a surf beach I’d say after dark, two hours before lie and as long as you want to fish the flood.
A bit of surf would be preferable!

Worms for mostly smaller bass but they will pick up bigger fish, while squid or big fish baits to try for the better ones and sandeels for ray, though they take squid etc too.

Actually I see it’s only got about a three metre tidal range currently during neaps, so not a surf beach as I’d think of one but Casker says it’s flat so still essentially the same, I’d guess.

I’d imagine given the time of year and location fishing in daylight would be a hiding to nothing with the amount of tourists and water users down there.
Your catch rate and blood pressure are both likely to improve greatly after dark!

Looking at google maps if you can only fish during the day, there appears to be a few rock marks off the coast path you could try to the left of the beach, as you look out to sea.
Worm baits or sandeel out on the sand might be worth a go or possibly target wrasse close in if there’s any rough stuff, or try for mackerel and garfish etc.

 

[Casker]

I forgot to mention Spit beach West of the docks. Haven't been there for years: I gave up trying to access as the pedestrian pathway used to be an utter mess due to inconsiderate dog-owners (the game of hop-scotch comes to mind !). No doubt will be cleaner these days (?): but if you prefer to fish over rock, Spit might be worth checking out. Coming from Par, Spit's car parking is a little way on the left after the docks/traffic-lighted rail bridge.

 

[DamionFryer]

Plenty of rough ground nearby if you fancy a go at wrasse

 

[Casker]

For any other fishers coming down this way (and subject to any input from Stinger from his Par holiday):

I went to check out Par beach today at low tide to get a feel for it fishing-wise. (Two birds with one stone as grand-nieces wanted a chance to run with my little dog so bit of a family outing, which was nice )
I was reminded by my big Sis' that fishing from Imerys' Par docks is possible with a purchased permit (I'm not sure from whom) and big Sis could not understand any possible interest in fishing a beach when other folk are prepared to pay for fishing a nearby dock.
[All 3 of my sisters are only too inclined to challenge anything & everything their 2 brothers wish to do contrary to their female logic - it's pretty much 100% predictable - LOL. ]

Today, at slack tide verging on a new moon, a decent enough survey of the sands @ low tide was possible.
Not as many worm-casts as per youthful memory (post #4), but still quite prevalent with certain areas of the beach much more "inhabited" than others. (I have those marked-out in my head )
The long narrow strand of rock that I mentioned previously (#4) is, on inspection, actually two strands of obviously man-made "groynes" of large boulders which eventually converge onto a single strand farther out. Sand on the upper beach side of the "groynes" is higher than on the sea side so I'm guessing they were placed to counter a curling current (E to W) over the beach to help reduce the gradual sanding-up of the docks entrance (?).
Besides the worm-casts, quite a few mini & small crab cases were noticed as well as a couple of small razor clam shells. I'm definitely going to try-out this beach.

For any visiting fishers (in particular for new beach fishers like me) this is a very shallow beach - at the very lowest of tides the exposed "flat" tidal sands go on for ever & ever, but, of course, the water depth on a fast rising tide will also increase very quickly over quite a range with a long wade back to the front of the tide in no time at all if not paying attention !

[Almost forgot to mention: no means of coinage payment for parking. Make sure you take a "card" for day-time parking.]

 

[Casker]

An after-thought for any visiting fishers to Cornwall (from a newbie fisher and, incidentally, a member of the Seahorse Trust and Cornwall Wildlife Trust):-

I'm aware that St Austell Bay has recently been identified as having extensive sea-grass beds just-off low-tide from Par Sands down to Black Head. (Other Cornish sea-grass - & mearl - beds are available !). The reason I mention is that, with climate change, I understand "Red Mullet" are now fishable & seemingly they like a "weedy" and a "wormy" seabed. I've been reading through TSF's very informative "How to catch Red Mullet" article with considerable interest !!
I really rate a BBQ'd whole Red Mullet, but, alas, have not yet tasted one from my own newbie fishing efforts.

 

[Mr Fish]

An after-thought for any visiting fishers to Cornwall (from a newbie fisher and, incidentally, a member of the Seahorse Trust and Cornwall Wildlife Trust):-

I'm aware that St Austell Bay has recently been identified as having extensive sea-grass beds just-off low-tide from Par Sands down to Black Head. (Other Cornish sea-grass - & mearl beds - are available !). The reason I mention is that, with climate change, "Red Mullet" are seemingly fishable & seemingly they like a "weedy" and a "wormy" seabed. I've been reading through TSF's very informative "How to catch Red Mullet" article with considerable interest !!
I really rate a BBQ'd whole Red Mullet, but, alas, have not yet tasted one from my own newbie fishing efforts.

Yep rag worm, lug worm and smallish hooks on the sand.
After dark works too but they do feed in the day