Where’s The Fish? Logo for Where's The Fish?
Devon

Lannacombe Beach

7.1 · Beach · Devon

A remote, mixed-ground cove of sand tongues between kelp-covered rock fingers. Lannacombe fishes best in settled to moderate seas with some movement and clear to lightly coloured water. Summer brings excellent wrasse and lure fishing for pollack, with mackerel and garfish passing tight to the rocks; after dark expect pouting, dogfish and the odd conger. Occasional bass show in surfy conditions and rays can visit the sandy patches in calm spells. Bottom is very snaggy—use rotten-bottom links. Access is via narrow lanes to a small car park close behind the beach; short walk down but no facilities. Swell rebounds off the rock arms, so watch for surges and slippery weeded ledges.

Should you fish Lannacombe Beach?

58 Fair

Today · Best window

Best window: 06:00-09:00 around the rising tide

Most likely species: Ballan Wrasse and Mackerel

Fair conditions. Best around 06:00-09:00 around the rising tide. Good chance of Ballan Wrasse and Mackerel.

W 4 mph Rain 4% High tide 11:40

Fishable, but pick your timing carefully.

Plan this mark

7-day fishing forecast for Lannacombe Beach — 7-day forecast

Scores and best windows are weighted for .

Met Office Met Office · Open-Meteo

Where the data comes from. Weather and sea-state readings come from the Met Office and Open-Meteo forecast models, refreshed several times a day. High and low water are taken from tide-station predictions for this stretch of coast.

How the score works. Each window is scored 0–100 from the signals that most reliably move fish inshore: tide movement (a running tide carries food, so the last of the flood and first of the ebb are usually the prime spells), wind speed and direction (onshore wind stirs food into the surf — up to the point it makes fishing hard), sea state (a little wave and swell movement helps, heavy swell hurts), and weather — rain, temperature and light. Behind the headline number we score bite opportunity and comfort separately, and run a separate safety check on wind and swell. The size of the tide counts too: spring tides move more water than neaps, so the tidal range for this stretch of coast is weighed alongside the tide's direction, your target species and this mark — and unusually big springs strengthen the safety check, because the water rises faster and covers more ground.

Your target species counts. Pick a species below and the score also weights what we know about it — its season, preferred sea temperature, tide stage and sea state, and whether it feeds by day or night.

The rating is guidance, not a guarantee — conditions change fast on the coast, so always judge the sea in front of you before you fish.

Friday looks better than today. Unlock the week to see its score and exact window.

· windows & tide

Spring vs neap tides. Spring tides have a larger difference between high and low water, so more water moves on each tide — usually stronger flow that stirs up food and gets fish feeding. Neap tides have a smaller range and generally gentler movement. The range here is compared with what is normal for this stretch of coast, and the cycle swings between springs and neaps roughly every week, following the moon.

Big spring tides: the water rises faster and covers more ground than usual — double-check access routes and cut-off points before you fish.

Now

Tide curve will appear once tide data is available.

All windows will appear once the forecast is loaded.

Premium forecast

Unlock exact best windows, tactics and backup options for this mark.

Trip planner

Find the best time to fish Lannacombe Beach

Choose when you're free and what you want to catch. We'll show the best tide, weather window and method for this mark.

Premium unlocks exact windows, tactics and alerts.

Premium Mark Insight

Locked

Lannacombe is a remote mixed-ground cove where the key decision is whether to fish the sand tongues or the kelp-covered rock fingers. In settled to moderate seas, the beach can produce bass over the flood, rays on calm nights and dogfish after dark, while the rocky flanks are the better call for wrasse, pollack, mackerel, garfish and occasional conger. It is snaggy, tide-sensitive and exposed to southerly swell, so presentation and safe positioning matter as much as bait choice.

  • Know when to choose the sand tongues over the kelp fingers.
  • Time the flood window for bass instead of fishing dead water.
  • Pick wrasse and pollack tactics that survive the snaggy gullies.
  • Avoid the southerly-swell trap before committing to the cove.
  • Have a practical backup move if Lannacombe is too rough.

Included with Premium

Cancel anytime · Stripe

Unlock this mark's plan

Jump to towns around this mark for more marks and guides.

Chillington 3.6 mi Stokenham 3.6 mi Salcombe 4.3 mi West Charleton 4.5 mi Slapton (South Hams) 5.0 mi

Explore nearby towns: Chillington · Stokenham · Salcombe · West Charleton · Slapton (South Hams)

Zoom and pan to explore access points and nearby marks.

Jump to guide

Forecast tuning currently supports Bass and Mackerel — more species are on the way.

Overall rating

7.1 /10

Blend of catch potential, access, safety, and overall experience.

Category scores

Catch Potential 7/10
Species Variety 8/10
Scenery & Comfort 9/10
Safety 5/10
Accessibility 6/10

Bass 8/10
Tip: Dawn/dusk on a flooding tide; work shallow plugs/metals through the surf and white water around the rocks, or fish peeler crab in the gutter. Autumn blows are best.
Ballan Wrasse 8/10
Tip: Rocky ends on the flood; crab or big ragworm on strong gear with short traces to beat kelp. Best April–October.
Pollack 7/10
Tip: Lures along the rock edges at first/last light on a rising tide; float-fished sandeel also scores. Summer–autumn.
Mackerel 7/10
Tip: Calm summer evenings; feathering or 20–40g metals from the points; follow diving birds. Best on flood to high.
Lesser Spotted Dogfish 6/10
Tip: Night over sandy patches; small fish or squid on a running ledger. Last of the flood into first of the ebb.
Scad (Horse Mackerel) 6/10
Tip: After dark around high water; small sabikis sweetened with mackerel strip, worked mid-water with a slow retrieve from the rocks.
Garfish 6/10
Tip: Late spring to autumn; float a sliver of mackerel or small sandeel just under the surface off the rocks on a flooding tide in clear water.
Corkwing Wrasse 5/10
Tip: Weed-fringed boulders; small hooks with ragworm or hardback crab, short casts on the flood. Summer months.
Rock Goby 5/10
Tip: Fish tight to boulders at low–mid tide; tiny hooks tipped with rag/lug or mussel. Bites steady in calmer seas year-round.
Conger Eel 5/10
Tip: After dark from rough ground and gullies; large fish/squid baits on an 80 lb trace; first of the flood. Keep fish clear of kelp.

Local knowledge

Lannacombe Beach fishing guide

Practical access, seasons, methods, tides, safety and facilities for this mark.

Lannacombe Beach is a small, south-facing cove in the South Hams, Devon, tucked between rugged rock ledges and pockets of clean sand. It’s a quiet, wild-feeling mark that rewards careful tide timing with bass off the surf, wrasse in the gullies, and summer surface activity from mackerel and garfish.

Reaching Lannacombe is part of the adventure: it’s down a web of narrow, high-hedged lanes from East Prawle/Kingsbridge, ending at a tiny clifftop car park. The beach itself is a short walk down, with sand at lower water and rock platforms either side at most states of tide.

  • Approach via East Prawle; follow local signs to Lannacombe along single-track lanes with passing places and blind bends.
  • Small car park near the beach (limited spaces; arrives late = likely full). Payment/honesty arrangements can vary—carry coins and read on-site signage.
  • Short but uneven path to the sand; rock access requires scrambling and confident footing.
  • Terrain: mixed—compact sand in the cove; rough, kelpy reefs and boulder fields on both flanks.

This is a mixed-ground venue with classic South Devon species, shifting with the seasons and sea state.

  • Spring: schoolie-to-resident bass, pollack, ballan and corkwing wrasse, rockling, dogfish; chance of early rays on settled evenings.
  • Summer: bass (best at dawn/dusk), mackerel, garfish, scad, wrasse, pollack; small-eyed ray over the sand at night; gurnard and the odd sole possible in calm, clear spells.
  • Autumn: peak bass, thicker mackerel/scad shoals, pollack, wrasse (until first big chills), dogfish; small-eyed ray and occasional blonde ray on quiet seas; conger after dark from rough ground.
  • Winter: whiting, pout, dogfish, conger from the rocks, the odd ray on settled nights; codling are rare visitors here.

Treat the cove as two marks in one: a surfy pocket of sand for bass/rays, and rock gullies either side for wrasse, pollack and conger. Adjust tactics to the tide line to avoid snags.

  • Beach/sand patches:
    • Bass/rays: pulley pennel or up-and-over with sandeel, peeler crab, or squid/mackerel cocktail; 4–5 oz leads and a 60 lb shockleader.
    • Scratching: 2-hook flapper with size 2–1 hooks and worm/squid strips for whiting, pout, gurnard; fish just beyond the shore dump on a flooding tide.
  • Rocks/rough ground:
    • Wrasse: float-fish rag or hard-back crab tight to kelp gullies; or HRF weedless soft plastics (Texas-rig 10–20 g) on 20–30 lb leader.
    • Pollack/gar/mackerel: metals and slim minnows at dawn/dusk; count down and work mid-water over clean gaps between weed.
    • Night sessions: big fish baits (mackerel/squid) on a heavy pulley with a weak/rotten-bottom link to cope with kelp; target conger, huss, and rays on adjacent sand.
  • Lure notes: surface and sub-surface walkers for bass on a gentle swell; switch to darker, smaller profiles if water holds colour after a blow.
  • Tackle tips: bring spare leads and rigs; long snoods (3–5 ft) help present sandeel for rays; use fluorocarbon (15–20 lb) for gar/scad in clear water.

Tide height and swell direction make or break this venue. Aim to fish the flood into dusk on an offshore or light cross-off wind.

  • Tide: 2 hours up to high and the first hour of ebb are prime for bass across the sand; wrasse and pollack prefer mid-tide movement along the rocks.
  • Wind/sea: light to moderate northerlies are offshore and clean the water; strong southerlies/south-easterlies push swell straight in—often unfishable and hazardous.
  • Water clarity: a gentle residual colour after a blow can switch on bass; wrasse want some movement but not heavy surge in the gullies.
  • Springs vs neaps: springs give stronger pull and shore-dump but can reduce safe standing room; neaps offer easier presentation to sand patches between kelp.
  • Time of day: dawn and dusk are consistently best; nights on settled seas produce rays, huss and conger.

This is a committing coastal mark: tight lanes, slippy rock, and a tide that can pin you against the back. Fish conservatively and wear the right kit.

  • Swell/surge: onshore southerly swell can boom into the cove and sweep the ledges—avoid in big seas.
  • Cut-off risk: rock points either side can flood behind you on the push—plan exit routes and carry a headtorch if there’s any chance of fishing into dark.
  • Footing: weeded/barnacled rock is very slippery; use grippy/studded boots. A personal flotation device is strongly recommended on the rocks.
  • Rips/shore-dump: expect lateral rips along the margins and a dumpy shore break on springs—keep clear when landing fish.
  • Access: not suitable for wheelchairs; limited for those with reduced mobility. No lighting; take spare lights and batteries.
  • Lanes/parking: be patient and prepared to reverse; park considerately without blocking gates or emergency access.

It’s a wild, minimal-amenity spot—plan as if there are none on site. Nearby villages offer basics if you’re prepared to drive the lanes.

  • On site: small parking area; no toilets, no tap, no lighting; often patchy mobile signal.
  • Nearest amenities: public toilets, cafés and a pub in East Prawle (seasonal hours); more year-round options at Beesands/Torcross and in Kingsbridge/Salcombe.
  • Tackle/bait: head to Kingsbridge or Salcombe for tackle shops and fresh bait; call ahead in summer/winter shoulder periods.
  • Emergency cover: nearest RNLI lifeboat at Salcombe; carry a charged phone and let someone know your plan.

Little patterns repay attention here: read the sand tongues and weed lines, and travel light so you can shift with the tide.

  • Car park fills quickly on sunny weekends—dawn arrivals help both parking and fishing.
  • Look for gutters forming between the shore dump and the inner bar; bass patrol these on the flood.
  • After spring tides, spider crab and loose kelp can be a nuisance—fish bigger baits or switch to lures between clumps of weed.
  • Wrasse love crab but will smash natural-colour creature baits; keep presentations tight to the rock line and move every 10 minutes.
  • Garfish show on calm, bright afternoons—float-fish a thin sliver of mackerel with small size 6–8 hooks.
  • Seals occasionally work the headlands; expect quieter fishing while they’re present and release fish promptly.
  • Bring a litter bag—there are no bins, and the car park is small and closely overlooked by locals.

Shore angling is permitted at Lannacombe, but you are responsible for staying current with national and local rules. Always check the latest guidance from the MMO and Devon & Severn IFCA before you go.

  • Bass: recreational bass rules (bag limits and seasons) change—check current national regulations. Minimum size remains 42 cm.
  • Tope: protected—retention by recreational anglers is prohibited under national legislation (catch and release only).
  • Local protections: the surrounding coastline includes designated conservation areas; rod-and-line shore angling is allowed, but do not damage features (no kelp ripping, no anchoring of tripods into rock with bolts).
  • Size/bag limits: observe national minimum conservation reference sizes (MCRS) for common species; measure and release undersized fish.
  • Access rules: respect any on-site signage (seasonal dog controls or temporary restrictions). No open fires or camping in the car park/foreshore.
  • General: do not obstruct access, leave gates as found, and take all litter and discarded line/rigs home.