dementedfish

Hi everyone, first post here. My name is Sean and I'm from Southern California and help run a large California fishing forum. My friend and I are heading to the UK in one month and we have no idea where we're going to fish or where we're going to stay. Our plan is to stay in London for 2 days and then fish wherever in the UK is good. Some people on some of the other forums have been mentioning that England and Wales are closed to certain kinds of fishing, whats up with that?

Anyway, So my question to all of you is where should we fish? We want to spend VERY LITTLE money (I'm a college student and poor) and want to fish for salmon, trout, and carp. Also, where are some good Lochs to fish in Britain and Scotland? Any and all help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Brian G

Hi Sean and welcome to the site, lets explain the closed season first of, all of the rivers in England are closed for coarse fishing till the 16th June as are certain sections of canals, coarse fish are classed as anything other than salmon or trout, much of the fishing in the closed season is done on commercial waters of which there a good few in the London area, thats lets say within a 30 mile drive, Gold valley and Willow Park are just two, I am sure the local lads will identify a few more, both contain good heads of mixed fish with carp being a predominant species. in the London area you can expect to pay £10 per day for your fishing on the commercials, Scotland would probably present the best case for Salmon fishing but prices might be expensive on the best beats.
Trout fishing is again possible on commercial fisheries where you might expect to pay £20 per day, sorry not a fly fisherman so can help with venues, or alternatively some of the chalk streams / rivers in the south would be suitable for this type of fishing.
Fishing does become a little cheaper in other parts of the country especially in the West Midlands and the North of England, maybe less chance of salmon till you reach Scotland but please continue to post any questions and I am sure we can put you onto a few fish.
The style of fishing may be a bit of a culture shock as a lot of our fishing is done with poles and baits like maggot, pellet, sweetcorn, worm etc. very little is done with lures.
Just a reminder you will need to purchase an Environmental Agency Licence before fishing this is in addtion to any day ticket fees. Failure to produce a licence can be up to £2000.

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dementedfish

Thanks for the info. So as long as I'm fishing and don't keep anything other than salmon and trout I'm ok (I'll be releasing all my fish anyway fyi)? Oh and another important thing I forgot to ask. What do you guys use over there for salmon and trout in rivers/streams? As far as spinning tackle goes.

dementedfish

Oh and how much are fishing licenses for like 5 days?

Brian G

Cant help with the tackle for salmon, but I would guess that the majority are caught on the fly, a 8 day licence costs £9 for non migratory trout and coarse fish, whilst the salmon and sea trout costs £22, are you intending to bring rods and reels etc over with you as the hire of equiptment is almost impossible in the UK the exceptions being sea fishing boat charters and maybe at commercial trout waters.

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dementedfish

Yea we're going to bring our own tackle, we're just not sure exactly what to bring yet. So what happens if you're fishing for non-migratory trout (for example) and you happen to catch one and you don't have the proper license for one. Does this license mean you just cant keep them?

Brian G

Correct but the chances are that you are unlikely on most Rivers in England to catch a salmon or sea trout whilst fishing for brown trout, most of the users on this site are coarse fish anglers, we in the main use a pole and fairly light lines and small hooks, alternatively we use feeder rods for ledgering, there are other methods but maybe you would not have the appropriate gear to start with.
I would suspect that any carp gear you may have would be suitable for here, a 2lb test curve rod woud be good enough, many of the commercial fisheries contain carp from 3lb to 20lb+ although it is often quantity as opposed to quality on the purpose built commercxials

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