Fishing In The United Kingdom

Fishing in the UK offers the angler an unrivalled diversity, from lowland coarse, fishing for bream, pike and roach, to the Scottish Highlands, fishing for salmon or trout, you will be faced by an incredible range of challenges. While many parts of the world are known for their fine fishing it is usually in fishing for just a handful of species (such as Alaska for salmon & trout) but in the UK you can base yourself in just one place and have a wide selection of quarry, often it is possible to go sea fishing one day, coarse fishing on a lake the next, followed by a day on the river.

Of course fishing for a diverse range of fish requires an almost infinite selection of fishing gear and most people decide to focuse upon one particular type of fishing to which they are adequately equiped (with both knowledge and equipment). However, in many places, it is possible to hire all of the equipment you need, for a day fishing, for a reasonable cost.

Whatever type of angling you choose to enjoy you can be certain that you will be greated by beautiful surroundings. Even in modern cities, such as Leeds (see photo bottom right), you will be sure to find at least one place to a few hours of fishing, more often than not, with adequate reward. If you want an almost guaranteed reward for your efforts you will find that Great Britain has a fanstastic range of well stocked fisheries from the great salmon rivers of Scotland to small ponds & lakes in England.

When angling in the UK it is of utmost importance that you ensure that you are fishing within the law. In England & Wales anyone over the age of 12 who wants to go fishing, no matter where you will fish, must ensure that they first have a valid rod licence. Rod licences can be bought from a post office or, even easier, they can be bought online direct from the Environment Agency at www.environment-agency.gov.uk/fish Reduced cost licences can be purchased by those who are disabled or those over the age of 65. Also available are junior licences for those aged between the ages of 12 and 16.

Fishing law in Scotland is slightly different in that there is no state licence to buy but permits, letters from the owners or proof of permission are required. There are various other fishing laws in Scotland, such as you can't fish for salmon or trout on a Sunday. There are also specific times of the year for fishing some species. Before going fishing in Scotland you really should investigate this throughly in advance.

Wherever you go fishing in the UK it is always worth checking with local fishing tackle shops and angling clubs where you may go fishing, where is best, what permits are needed and where to get them etc. It is also worth taking a look at some fishing forums, the best we know of is http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/forums/forums.html

The simplest way to describe the types of fishing in the United Kingdom is by the species of fish. Broadly speaking, as some species overlap, there are three types of fishing in the UK; game, coarse and salt water.

Game Fishing
Game species include salmon, trout and sea trout although as these species of fish also venture into the sea and could therefore be placed into the salt water fishing category.

Coarse Fishing
Coarse species include the likes of perch, pike and roach but also some salt water species such as eels and flounders which often venture into freshwater.

Saltwater Fishing/Sea Angling
Sea fishing offers a massive range of species each offering differing experiences. Cod can be found not too far off the Scottish coast, species such as pollack can be caught from the shore as can skate and even off piers you can suddenly experience the frantic nature of mackerel fishing - which can be virtually be caught with a length of string, a hook and some tin foil but the fight they put up is well beyond their size!

The type of fishing tackle and fishing rods used can also give different types of fishing such as fly-fishing and beach casting. The angler on the right has just caught a pike!

It is of our opinion that the best area in the UK to enjoy fishing is in Scotland with nearly 31 and a half thousand freshwater lochs, 6,600 river systems and about 12 thousand kilometres of sea coastline the choice of fishing is astonishing. Of course the rest of the UK also has excellent spots for fishing but, generally speaking, we feel that Scotland will be especially appealing to seasoned anglers from around the world.

As it has been said earlier on this page, wherever you are in Britain you are likely to be surrounded by at least a handful of spots which will provide excellent fishing. Even in the heart of the cities you are likely to see somebody with a fishing rod in hand and the photograph to the right shows an angler enjoying his sport, on a sunny June afternoon, in the English city of Leeds (on the south bank of the River Aire and Leeds to Liverpool canal).

Although we rarely mention Wales & Northern Ireland on this page both have many places which provide excellent fishing suitable for anglers of all levels of skill, folk of all ages and abilities (including the disabled).

Until we have expanded this section of Simply Top we strongly suggest that if you need further information you take a look at http://www.fishingnet.com/index.html which is an excellent source of information about fishing in England & Scotland. Virtual Scotland also provide some excellent info about angling in Scotland (scroll down their page for articles).