About
About Anglers End
Anglers End is a free guide to sea fishing from the shore around Great Britain: which fish are in, where to go, the rules, and how to rig up. It's written for people starting out, and for anyone who wants the rules and the seasons in one place.
The Anglers End gull
Meet Arty
Arty is a reformed harbour rogue. In his younger days he was the most notorious petty thief on the coast: pilchard pilferer, bait blagger, worm wrangler, squid stealer and chip snatcher. If your bait box was open for ten seconds, he knew about it.
He spent years on the harbour wall watching anglers, waiting for a gap. Without meaning to, he learned a great deal: which tide the fish come in on, which baits they take, where the rocks get slippery, and which anglers went home early because they hadn't checked the forecast.
These days he has turned honest. He keeps his beak out of your bait and puts everything he learned to good use instead, helping anglers find fish, stay safe and keep within the rules. He still eyes up a bag of chips, mind.
The honest bit: Arty is the pen name of a real shore angler, who'd rather let the fishing do the talking. Every tip, mark note and rule check on this site comes from that angler's own fishing and research, not from a cartoon.
Who writes it
The guide is written by a working shore angler who fishes mainly the North West, North Wales and North East coasts. It began as a notebook for those coasts, grew into a guide, and then spread to the rest of Great Britain, one region at a time. The writer prefers to stay out of the picture, so the gull does the talking.
It's written by someone still learning, and it reads that way: plain English, no jargon left unexplained, and the safety and rules parts first. Most of the tackle behind it is Penn, simply because that's what the writer started with and it has lasted. That's a personal choice, not a recommendation. You can see the set-up in What Arty fishes with.
How the guide is put together
- Rules are taken from the regulators' own published pages and byelaws, and each rules box shows the date we last checked it. Rules change, so always check the regulator before you keep a fish.
- Marks in the North West, North Wales, Yorkshire and Northumberland are places we fish. Marks in the other regions are researched from public sources and local anglers' videos, and are labelled Not yet visited by us.
- Tips are written in our own words and cross-checked. Where an angler has agreed to be named, we credit their channel: see Sources and thanks.
- Species images are public domain or CC0, from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each species page and in Image credits. The gull, kit, rig and knot drawings are our own.
There are no adverts, no affiliate links and no tracking on this site. If that ever changes, paid content will be labelled as set out in our advertising and affiliate policy. Businesses can read Partner with us, and shops, boats and clubs can join the free directory.
Arty works the night shift too: squid under the harbour lights, conger off the wall, whiting on a winter flood. If you fish after dark, take a head torch and a friend, and read Safety first.
Ask Arty
Know a mark? Spotted a rule that has changed, a pier that's closed, or a mistake? Tell us, and Arty will look into it.
We can't give legal advice or say whether a particular fish can be kept. For that, contact the regulator for the area: they are listed on each region page.