Fishing in the UK by Kevin Midmore

Fishing in the United Kingdom, is without doubt some of the best to be had anywhere in the whole of Europe, whether that be Barble fishing on the Great Ouse or Trent, Pike fishing on the Norfolk Broads, Salmon fishing in Scotland or Conger fishing off the coasts that surround these isles, there is truly something for everyone, without having to leave these shores.

Yes we all know of the monster Catfish of the Ebro or Po, The massive Carp of Dream lakes or the Seinne etc, but sometimes it is just fantastic to jump into your car, drive only a few miles, and be fishing for some of the wild and fantastic specimens that lurk within our waters.

We can break this down into two categories, Sea, or salt water fishing, and of course freshwater fishing.

Sea/Salt water

Nearly all of our rugged coastline will produce fish at some time of the day, at the moment we do not need a licence to fish the sea, and of course the fish we catch are usually great for eating (check out our recipes page), fish such as Cod, Mackerel, Plaice and Whiting to name but a few, can be caught in large numbers if you find a shoal of them, Large Conger eels can be caught from the harbours and estuaries, that put up a very good account for themselves, and can be great fun catching.

You can also charter one of the many boats that offer trips out to sea to fish over any one the hundreds of old wrecks of warships, or along the reefs and sandbanks, to catch more than enough fish for the table, and the freezer (please try to be conservative though, why take them all? catch and release works at sea as well)!!

Further out to sea there are the larger fish to target, including Sharks and Rays.

Freshwater

Our entire Island is covered with rivers, lakes, ponds, streams, canals etc, every anglers dream, none of us have to travel very far to find somewhere to cast a lure or fly, or to just relax behind a set of buzzers waiting for them to burst into life.

The main point with freshwater fishing is that firstly we all have to own a yearly rod and line licence, and also that the vast majority of waters are owned by somebody and therefore not free to just turn up and fish (please ensure you have a rod licence, and the permission of the fishery owner before you start to fish).

There are however some fantastic specimens to be caught from some waters in the United Kingdom, from Carp to over 60lb, 40lb Pike and Catfish to well over 100lb, just ask in your local tackle shop or look in the angling press or on-line for details.