Newport Beach, mid tide looking north.
Newport is east of Fishguard on the A487, the beach is reached by car by turning off as you are leaving the village on the Cardigan side. The turn is signposted Moylegrove and Golf Course. You will cross the river and head uphill, left turn at a cottage and follow the golf course signs, you will find the car park just past the Golf Club. Pay the attendants in season, free out of season. There is a snack bar/shop in season and toilets nearby.
This is a venue where you can take your vehicle down onto the firm sand beach. Be aware of the tides if you do go onto the sand make sure you have a look at the "strand line" which will show where the last tide reached.The beach is shallow and the tide races in. Species that are caught here are dogfish, bass, flatfish and rays. Other species turn up but bass and dogfish are the usual catch. A cast of fifty yards or so will get fish, sometimes less. Worm baits will catch most fish but squid, sandeel and mackerel will take fish and are cheap and easily obtained. Wading here will enable you to get your baits further out.
The beach is popular with tourists so most angling is done to the rightin front of the rocks, check tide times and make sure you are not cut off, otherwise you may have a long wait to get back. The other spot to fish is to the left, at the end of the spit at the river entrance, this is a spot for light tackle fishing on the move because you will need to move frequently as the tide changes. You can reach the main beach by paddling/wading across the river at low tide but you will have a long walk around the estuary footpath if you get your timings wrong.
Bait is a problem in West Wales. Frozen bait is sold at the garage in Newport. Mackerel can usually be bought from Tesco in Cardigan and there is a tackle shop in Cardigan (Castaway Tackle Shop in College Row 01239 621856 ) which sells frozen bait and very expensive farmed, boxed ragworm. As you go through the High Street on the one-way system you will notice a small square with Woolworths to the right, immediately turn left down the hill, this is College Row, there is a car park about 50 yards further on.
Bait can be collected in the estuary at The Parrog; soft or peeler crabs will be lurking under weed and rocks, mussels and limpets on the rocks and lugworm can be found in the sand/mudflats behind the boat club building but they are not found in great numbers and it is hard work to get enough for a session. If you look for crabs please put the stones back exactly as you find them, if you roll the stones over trapping the weed underneath you do great harm to the marine environment and spoil the chances of anyone else finding bait.
Oddities are washed up onto the beach, dead whales have been found and recently a dead trigger fish.
Dolphins and porpoises can be seen from here quite often in summer.
Park on beach, sand firm when damp.
