Lyme Bay, Charmouth.

Charmouth, looking east.

Charmouth is off the A35 which by-passes the town. Charmouth is popular with geologists and amateur fossil hunters. At the end of the road are car parks; one in a field which is privately owned and the gates locked at nights and a smaller council car park near the shop, café and toilets. In front of the car park there is clean sand, it is possible to fish from the front of the car park over high tide. There is rough ground with weed and stones out to the east where the small river outflows which gives way to a cleaner bottom out past the café/shop cabin which opens in the summer. Fishing can be good with bass and rays on the clean ground and dogfish and bull huss on the rougher marks.

Charmouth, looking west from the concrete prom.

It is possible to fish from the concrete prom when the tide is up, it is clean ground in front but big wrasse are caught along here. Huge baits, huge hooks and patience can be rewarded with double figure bass. Further along the beach there are shallow reefs, that can be seen at low tide, with clean areas between, further on it becomes very rocky and snaggy. The tide can come right up to the cliffs along here, check tide times and heights, look for the high tide line of debris and move well before you must. There are usually plenty of people tapping away with hammers at the soft shale rocks and scree at the base of the cliffs looking for fossils, small fossils are quite common among the shingle of the upper part of the beach.
The cliffs are soft and are prone to landslips, be careful, do not climb on the cliffs they really are unstable.
Update March 2011.
Recent landslips have greatly increased the danger of fishing here during high tides, children have been trapped in soft mud and anglers report large stones, that have loosened from the clay cliff, falling near them. Not a place to fish during spring tides.... try Seatown or Eype instead.

Over high tides, from car park end or prom only