The Bendrick Rock is a popular shore venue located between Sully Bay and Barry Docks, with something to offer the sea angler throughout the entire year.
SPECIES
In addition to cod and whiting throughout autumn and winter, expect conger eels, dogfish, rockling, silver eels, bass, flounders, and the occasional thornback ray and mullet if fishing from spring through until well into the autumn.
BAIT & TACKLE
A cocktail of black lug and squid is a good all-round cod bait, while both ragworms and lugworms will catch plenty of codling. Use mackerel for the whiting.
Fish, squid and sandeels work well for conger eels, rays and dogfish, while floatfishing a live prawn or sandeel is effective for bass. Floatfish bread over groundbait for mullet.
It is possible to fish from the Bendrick throughout the tide, but limit yourself to the smaller tides if you intend fishing over high water. Choose tides less than 12.5m Barry scale. If you do plan on staying at the rock over high tide, ensure the weather forecast is perfect.
Most anglers concentrate their efforts here fishing over the low-water period on the larger tides from three hours after high to two after low. The best rig to fish this rough-ground venue is a pulley rig incorporating a rotten bottom. The design of this rig ensures that when a fish is hooked, the lead weight, if it is not already lost, is held high in the water, clear of the many snags.
GETTING THERE
Follow the A4267 coast road from Penarth to Sully or from Barry towards the nearby chemical works, using either the A4055 or A4231. There is a small roundabout near the chemical works entrance. Take the coast road (Hayes Road) past the access point for Sully slipway, and then to the children’s hospital. Turn left at the next roundabout and keep left until you arrive alongside a disused factory adjacent to the rock.
