Closed Days

Bonnie on the Don


In Scotland there is no fishing on Sundays for migratory fish.


Your permit allows 6 days fishing only (except in a few places like Grantown on Spey where the club gives a 7 day ticket over an 8 day period to compensate for the loss of a Sunday.

Think about your accommodation booking and holiday duration when visiting Grantown for many people book for seven days and miss a days fishing by leaving on Sunday). Dogs enjoy Sundays.

Some rivers that hold migratory fish allow trout fishing on Sundays however rivers, lochs and fisheries that have no salmon and sea trout are open for business.

I have been asked why this is so by so many people that I have taken on guided fishing trip.

A friend of mine is of the opinion that it is a class issue dating back to when only the 'toffs' could fish for salmon and they could, off course, afford to take weeks off to go fishing, making little difference to them that they missed a day.

Today when us working stiffs can afford to go salmon fishing with unprecedented access to fishing beats it does seem to be a bit dumb to have a no fishing day on one of the two days a week that anglers can fish without using up annual leave.

In the rest of the country people can fish on Sunday even on rivers where conservation is taken as a serious issue, why not in Scotland?

Two reasons are cited and the first, religious belief, was even in my early years so strongly held you could feel the animosity towards anyone fishing on Sunday in the North of Scotland - the reason being that Sunday is the Lords Day, a day of rest and you should hold that day special.

Christ was a fisherman and I bet He would have agreed that there is nothing more restful than a days fishing. The second reason is to give the fish one day where they could run without harassment from rod or net.

The salmon nets are thing of the past (nearly) and anglers no longer kill all they catch. It does seem to be a bit of an anachronism to maintain the traditions of our forefathers which bear little significance to modern society.

Ghillies off course may dislike me for this assertion for it does guarantee them one day off during the fishing season.

Today the restrictions on Sunday fishing have been relaxed for trout at least, you no longer have Wee Free Church Ministers in the Highlands informing you that you will be doooomed for breaking the Sabbath.

I remember distinctly from my childhood the reproachful looks of Highland natives as I strolled forth rod in hand, who knows I may still be doooomed!



In Southern Ireland


In response to the need to allow stock to recover after years of high sea drift net piracy they have had to take the enormous step of closing all or part of river systems indefinitely.

We can but hope that time will be the great healer and the once prodigious stocks of fish that ran the rivers of the Repubilic will return.

Of course the issue will not be resolved in Ireland or in Scotland until there is recognition of the FACT that fish farming is destroying native stocks of salmon and sea trout.


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