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Useful Fishing Facts to Know Before You Start to Fish in the UK
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Fishing seasons and terms and conditions for fishing vary significantly throughout the UK and it is very important that you check things out before you set off for your fishing trip.
Rod Licenses | Fishing Seasons | Closed Days | Permits | Catch Limits | Midges | Gyrodactylis
For detailed information about the salmon, sea trout and brown trout fishing seasons in Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales click HERE to go to the article.
For information about tide times in the UK log on to http://easytide.ukho.gov.uk/EasyTide/EasyTide/SelectPort.aspx
I know from sad experience about rod licenses in England when I assumed that they gave you a 12 month license from the date of issue. On the first of April 1999, at Dever Springs in Hampshire, I discovered my folly. I was approached by a pleasant enough chap who enquired how the fishing was doing then he produced an identity card and asked to see my Rod License, which I produced. He was apologetic and pointed out that the license had expired on the 31st of March. He then cautioned me – the Full Monty – ‘anything you say blah will be taken down in evidence etc and used against you in a court of law’. My jaw couldn’t have dropped any lower without detaching from my face.
I explained my misunderstanding of the rules expecting him to say ‘well if you pop down to the local post office and get a License we will let you off this time after all its less than 24 hours out of date’, as you might expect when caught out accidentally. He didn’t and I was fined the cost of a license, £16 if my memory serves me right. I still get a cringe at the thought of being cautioned. You might have guessed that I am Scottish and in Scotland we do not have rod licenses. While I had complied with buying a License I hadn’t read the small print. My misfortune in England serves as a good reason to take advice about permits and licenses when you go fishing anywhere in the world.
Please note that where a rod license is required the license does not grant you the right to fish in any given location, you still have to buy a permit from the fishery owners. Rod licenses are required for fishing in England, Wales
Scotland
A rod license is not required in Scotland (except for the Border Esk and its tributaries including those in Scotland) only permission to fish is required. Our Fishing Finder Where to Fish Directory contains hundreds of contacts where you can buy permits.
Many River Boards employ full time bailiffs in addition to those employed by beats and fisheries and these bailiffs have legal powers to have you charged with offences such as poaching, fishing without a permit, taking fish by illegal means or methods, taking kelts or unseasonable fish. Fines can be quite high for serious offences and can include confiscation of gear as many poachers have found to their cost.
Until 1976 when the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act was introduced it was generally the case that you could fish for wild brown trout for free in any river or loch in Scotland with the exception of man made fisheries that had been stocked and in some cases, rivers that had been stocked. The new law allowed for protection orders to be applied for by river systems e.g. the entire river Tay and its tributaries and associated lochs could be covered by one protection order making it illegal to fish without a permit anywhere on the entire system. This law is a double edged sword, on one hand it make angler pay for fishing that was once free, on the other hand it made riparian owners give access to waters at reasonable costs that they once excluded anglers from. As a consequence rivers like the Don were fully opened up to trout anglers for the first time.
The Act has been effective in general although it is uncertain to me at least how some rivers systems manage to enjoy the protection of the Orders and still effectively exclude trout anglers. On the Spey, for example, below Aviemore you will not get a trout fishing ticket anywhere even on an angling club water. If you want to fish for trout you must buy a salmon fishing permit which will set you back anything from £40 a day to hundreds of pounds, now I do not consider this to be reasonable. Such charges are, in my view, cynically designed to exclude trout anglers, leaving the rivers sparsely populated by salmon anglers. Such a pity because there are some fantastic trout on the Spey and the Deveron (where again you will not get a trout permit). Its about time this issue was addressed, lets face it if you can fish the Tay for trout for just a few quid why can't you fish the Spey on the same basis?
England and Wales
A rod license is required to fish for any freshwater fish in England and Wales and for the Border Esk (but excluding Tweed, most of which is in Scotland). Licenses can be bought for one year for the period 1st April to 31st March, for 8 days and 1 day and cost:
Non Migratory Trout and Course Fish Salmon & Sea Trout
Full Season £24.50 £66.50
Junior £5.00 £33.50
8 Days £8.75 £21.00
1 Day £3.25 £7.00
Don't event think about fishing without a license, if you are caught the fines can be quite severe. The money raised through the licensing system goes toward improving the fishing habits so it is money well spent. There are also concessions for Blue Badge Holders, persons in receipt of Disability Living Allowance and for person over 65 years of age. You can get a license at any Post Office in England or Wales or buy on line from the Environment Agency at www.environment-agency.gov.uk
Northern Ireland
Please note that like in England you are required to hold a Fisheries and Conservation Board (FCB) license if you are over 18 years of age when fishing in freshwater in Northern Ireland. The license is for each rod used and costs £15 per season and £7.50 for 14 days and £16.50 for 8 day and £8 for 3 day joint FCB / DCAL licences, the juvenile (under 19) license is £2.. The Department of Leisure and Culture (DCAL) control fishing on many waters in Northern Ireland and issue permits at £54.50 per season and £15 for 14 days for game fishing and £20.20 for course fish (2 rods). To see the waters DCAL permit gives access to log on to www.dcal-fishingni.gov.uk/permit You can pay a supplement which will allow you to fish on (FCBNI water too)
Foyle and Carlingford System
You will need a Lough Agency of the Foyle and Carlingford and Irish Lights Commission licence to fish on the Foyle system issued by the Fisheries Conservation Board for Northern Ireland (FCBNI), call 02871 342100. Game License £16 per season, £8 for £14 days £3.50 for 3 days and £2 for under 18s. (course fishing licenses are £16 per season and £2 for under 18s). You can Pay a supplement which allows you to fish on FCB waters too.
Republic of Ireland
The Central Fisheries Board has taken action to promote a recovery of stocks of fish in Ireland and as a result has introduced measures to control the number of salmon and sea trout killed by anglers, including completely banning salmon angling on over 100 rivers. For more information Click Strict Controls on Salmon and Sea Trout Fishing In Ireland See 106 Rivers Closed to go to the article which lists the new regulations and rivers that can be fished for salmon.
You do not need a license to fish for course fish or trout in Ireland however you do need a license to fish for salmon and sea trout. Prices vary from 124 euros for the year to 48 euros for 21 days and 34 euros for 1 day.
In theory you can fish for salmon on just about every day of the year in the British Isles. In Scotland the earliest opening days are on the north of Scotland rivers, with the Helmsdale opening on the 11th of January. The latest opening dates are in the Scottish Borders, Tweed closes on the 30th of November and in England the many of the rivers in Devon and Cornwall such as the rivers Camel and Fowey fish on to 15th December. In Ireland the river Drowes opens on New Years day This means that there are only 16 days of the year when you cannot fish for salmon somewhere in the UK and Ireland. (Go to http://www.spinfish.co.uk/SalmonandSeatroutseasonScotalnd,England,Ireland,Wales.html for fishing season dates throughout the UK and Ireland)
Scotland
Brown Trout
The brown trout fishing season has much less variation than the salmon season. It is generally accepted as being 15th of March to 30th September, however rivers in the Aberdeenshire and the north in particular do not usually start until 1st of April.
Rainbow Trout
As far as rainbows and other imported species are concerned there is no closed season which means you can fish 365 days of the year. Where brown trout are stocked the fish must be returned unless in season.
Course Fish
There is no closed season for course fish, including grayling, in Scotland.
England and Wales
The fishing season for trout is very similar to that in Scotland although many fisheries do start on April 1st and finish at the end of the first week of October, salmon and sea trout is similar to that in Scotland with rivers having a variety of start and finishing dates for migratory fish. There is a close season for course fish between the 15th of March and 15th of June however there are so many lake fisheries and canals available which have no closed season so you can fish all year round.
Fish as Food
Aside from the shear pleasure of going fishing and, with luck and some skill catching a few, we are lucky to have some great fish for the table. Brown trout are delicious, tasting of the clean waters they live in sweet and flavoursome and where there are freshwater shrimp and snail they are wild rose pink. Sea trout, sewin in Wales (finnock, whitling and herling in there immature, up river migratory stage) fresh run are an epicurean delight second to none and wild salmon, especially spring fish are food for a king cooked or cured or smoked. Grayling, although you should be sparing with them, are a special treat. Their name Thymallus thymallus harks to the fact that they taste naturally of wild thyme. Pike are known to be a good eating fish (eating fish and eaten by us) but not popular because of the bone structure. Carp in this country off course are too valuable as a stock fish to dine on and very unlikely to grace a British Christmas dinner table unlike on the continent. Arctic Char are rare and described variously as delicious and bland, which leaves the decision up to you whether to eat them or not.
Most course fish are considered unpalatable, but having never tried roach, rudd, bream, tench, barbel or chub I cannot comment. Eels are off course yummy whether as deep fried elvers, jellied or smoked. Lamprey was the downfall of some old monarch of England who died as a result of ' a surfeit of lamprey', but having seen them I have to say they better taste better than they look - they certainly don't look worth dieing for.
As to our sea fish UK waters are full of edible species: haddock, cod, whiting, ling, hake, mackerel, herring, bass, mullet, skate, pollock, coallie, turbot, flatfish like plaice, flounder, dab, sole or little nibble like white bait. The list goes on and on, I guess the only fish I have heard of that is unpalatable is wrasse (until I heard Rick Stein uses wrasse in his fish soup stock - so there you go).
Whether in fresh water or the sea or running between we have some excellent good eating fish, just be sure you take what you need to eat fresh and sod filling your freezer.
Except in Scotland and out with the fixed season dates there are no closed days for fishing, however 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). Few 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 and it made little difference to them that they missed a day. Today off course 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 gone 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.
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.
In Scotland, time was not so long ago, that you could fish for wild brown trout anywhere for free with the exception of stocked waters or ‘stanks’ (ponds or lochs with no outflow or inflow in which it could be established that the trout were introduced by the owners and not native since brown trout cannot spawn in still water).
The law was changed by The Freshwater and Salmon Fisheries Protection (Scotland) Act 1976 to allow river systems to apply for protection orders making it illegal to fish without a permit. Historically many excellent trout fishing waters had been made inaccessible to anglers by owners who wanted to maintain the exclusivity if their salmon fishing. One beneficial outcome of the Act was that some of these previously excluded fishings became accessible in return for the protection offered by the Act. Today you can fish for trout on many areas of the Tay and Tweed at reasonable cost where once you would have been shooed off by the ghillies. Never the less there are some obvious abuses of this order. On the Spey for example you cannot get a permit for trout fishing below Aviemore unless you pay the going rate for the salmon fishing which can run into thousands of pound for the week. The trout fishing is great, but not that great!
Still the order did open the Don to the angling world so every cloud has a silver lining. Many angling clubs have benefited from these Protection Orders, for the trout fishing has very often been let to them. Clubs offer locals and visitors alike the chance to fish for trout on exceptional water at very affordable prices.
Check Fishing Finder where to fish directory for a list of fishing opportunities throughout Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales and for some information on the angling clubs offering visitor tickets in Scotland. Please note that in the countries where a rod license is required, a permit to fish is not a license nor does a rod license give permission to fish on waters that require a permit.
There is no formal catch limit for wild trout in Scotland but it is hoped that anglers will act with moderation when killing brownies, some rivers such as the Don require that all fish over 3 lbs are returned. Trout are delicious to eat but a couple of half pounders fried in oatmeal for breakfast is a feast, all you need to satisfy your hunter gatherer angling instinct.
Many clubs ask that all wild trout are returned unharmed or they set a catch limit. Some clubs require that all wild fish are returned, to compensate they stock with dye marked fish which can be taken. Peebles-shire Trout Fly Angling Association is a good example.
The standard size limit for trout is 8” but most clubs and fishery owners set a higher limit of 10, 12 or more inches (I always look for fisheries that have a high size limit – doesn’t it just tell you something about the fishing prospects?) On the Don they ask that all fish over 3lbs are returned as this keeps the water well populated with the kind of wild fish we all dream of.
As to salmon and sea trout, we are for many reasons passing through a period of great concern for the future of these magnificent fish. Consequently all fishing boards in Scotland have set conservation measures which you should find out about before you commence fishing (information will be supplied with permits) but you should know that these measures have not been applied lightly. Much has been done to promote the recovery of our migratory fish runs and from now on anglers are being asked to play their part. Face facts, how much salmon smoked or otherwise can you eat? No you cannot do as the profligate Victorians did and sell your fish at the fish market or to the local hotel, it is illegal to sell rod caught fish. In the rest of the country and Ireland similar measures have been implemented indeed more stringent measures have been put in place such as returning all fish before June, returning every second fish, setting daily catch limits, returning all hens or large fish (large fish can carry more eggs per kilo of weigh, 700 eggs per pound, therefore they are more valuable to the long term sustainability of a fishery), issuing tags which limit the number of fish you can kill per season, and having total catch and release policies.
In the Republic of Ireland new measures have been put in place along with the action to stop offshore drift netting. You should check the new regulations out before booking for in some instances anglers cannot take fish at all and many rivers, including the mighty Shannon, have been completely closed for salmon fishing by the Central fisheries Broad. For details about the new regulations in place in Southern Ireland follow this link: Central Fisheries Board Regulations
The same level of conservation applies to sea trout in Scotland which continue to decline in many river systems and throughout the UK and Ireland. Some rivers allow a limited number of fish to be taken, some ask, on a voluntary basis, that all fish are returned, the Spey requires that all fish over 3lbs are put back. Brown trout stocks in Scotland remain healthy and sea trout are, like steelhead are to rainbow trout, just brown trout that migrate to sea. It may be that in rivers holding migratory fish the food supply is sufficient and trout do not feel the pressure to migrate. Maybe when the number of salmon par in river systems returns to the 'plague' proportions we once knew the brown trout will start skipping out to sea again where they can get a good feed.
In Scotland we have midges, little things about the size of a pinhead and they bite. They are found throughout the Highlands and Islands, western Aberdeenshire, much of Perthshire and the Trossachs and in areas of the Borders. Where ever you find heather heath, birch forests and alders you will find midges. Some people are relatively unperturbed by midges, most people suffer itchy bumps and some folk, your truly included, come out in lumps that itch like hell.
Midges can appear as early as June if the weather is warm, they will be ever present though July and August and will continue until September if the weather allows. They love warm damp weather and they hunt in the evening. Being so small a good breeze is enough to keep them grounded. In winds above 5mph and they stay at home, but walking fast doesn't help you escape them, they are masters of ambush and they will be ready to jump the unwary in shady dells where there is shelter from the wind. Midges flock by the million and can ruin your day, but do not despair.
Over the years I have used many midge repellents with varying degrees of success, however there is a sure fire product that keeps midges at bay - Avon Skin So Soft, Woodland Fresh is 100% affective. Don't ask why, we don't know, we don't care, it just works and midges hate the stuff. While it scares the midges off it makes your skin oh so soft (which for most us wrinkly old anglers is a treatment well overdue). Woodland Fresh works and when you arrive at the old Bridge at Grantown of an evening in July and sniff the air you can smell the aroma permeating the locality which is testament to the effectiveness of Skin So Soft (I believe even the Royal Marines use it on exercises, I assume not in live situations where the aroma would be a bit of a giveaway).
When planning a trip to Scotland - Ding Dong, call your Avon Lady, get some in and enjoy your fishing (if by chance you get caught out without your skin car midge repellent have some Piritin or similar over the counter hay Fever / Allergy treatment handy, it will settle the irritation (but be sure you are ok with the product before you use it). For information about midge activity log on to www.midgeforecast.co.uk
Gyrodactylus salaris and Argulus
There are articles about these lethal parasites in SpinFish Online Magazine, go to www.spinfish.co.uk/newsthegsthreat.html and I make no apology for mentioning again the importance of disinfecting our fishing tackle before fishing in Scotland when coming from or returning from overseas.
Sea Fishing
At the moment there is no need for a rod license to go sea fishing, just roll up and get to it. There is however talk of introducing a rod license for sea fishing which is going down like a lead balloon. Some silly sod pen pushers in the civil service think it is a good idea and I recon I know where the angling fraternity will suggest the shove their idea and there ball point pens.
I hope you find the information above useful when planning a fishing trip and please do not hesitate to contact me with any corrections or additions.
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