Fishing in Scotland

Scotland has over six thousand lochs, ranging from small hill lochs offering wild brown trout fishing to some of the largest freshwater bodies in the UK with perch, artic char, ferrox trout, sea trout, brown trout, grayling, pike, salmon and chubb. Also there is very few places in Scotland where you are not within easy reach of one of the hundreds of commercial fisheries, predominantly offering rainbow trout fishing, blues and steelheads and coarse species such as carp, perch and tench.

Scotland also has over seven thousand miles of coastline with charter boats and sea fishing stations in abundance. And one good thing is, no national rod license is required in Scotland as there is in England and permits for most of the river systems van be obtained from a variety of tackle shops and hotels. Fishing permits for brown trout fishing are available from as little as six or seven pounds a day and salmon fishing permits from as little as twenty to twenty five pounds a day.

A day out fishing with the family can be very adventurous and may deliver much delight and happiness among the wife and children. The fishing surroundings in Scotland are breathtakingly beautiful and although the waters are a little chilly for swimming the kids will love playing around the waters and maybe see if they can spot the monster himself.

Trout Fishing

Flyfishing for trout is almost certainly the most popular branch of angling in Scotland. It takes place on lochs (lakes) and rivers throughout the country and offers a huge element of variety.

Lochs can range from tiny lochans to huge areas of water such as Loch Lomond or Loch Ness; rivers from narrow tumbling highland burns to great river systems such as the Tweed or Tay.

Some waters demand the use of delicately presented dry flies; others will provide success to the fisherman trolling the depths with weighted lures. The traditional method of loch fishing - two or three anglers fishing small wet flies from a drifting boat - is known as "loch-style" fishing and it forms the basis for competitive angling in national and international tournaments.

In addition to fishing with the fly, trout can also be caught by spinning and by bait fishing where local regulations permit such methods.

Salmon Fishing

The Atlantic salmon is often regarded as the "King of Fish" and Scotland hosts most of the greatest salmon rivers in the British Isles. Names like the Tweed, Tay, Spey and Dee are known throughout world as prime locations for the sport.

However, there are dozens of smaller rivers that, in the right conditions, can give great sport to the salmon angler.

Salmon rivers vary greatly in their characteristics and local fishing tackle shops will be a prime source of information about the best ways to fish each.

When thinking of salmon fishing, be aware that in addition to the main salmon runs, many rivers have a run of grilse (salmon that have spent only one winter at sea) and sea-trout (sea-run brown trout) which can give excellent sport.

Coarse Fishing in Scotland

Coarse fishing has always taken second place to salmon and trout fishing in Scotland but in recent years has grown in popularity

There are now a number of commercial fisheries which are now dedicated coarse fishing venues and a number of other fisheries who have at least one or more lochs for the coarse angler.

Species of coarse fish in scotland are barbel,carp,roach,gudgen,bream,dace,perch,rudd,eel,pike,chub,grayling,powan and tench.

It is also common in scotland to fish for Brown trout,Rainbow trout and salmon using coarse fishing tactics

For info on fishing venues in scotland CLICK HERE