Advice For Coarse Anglers

Seasons

There is no statutory closed season for coarse fish in Scotland. In waters that contain salmon or trout coarse anglers are sometimes only allowed to fish during the season for those species. Conversely, some proprietors only allow coarse fishing during the closed season for the other species.

You should not automatically assume that all baits and/or methods will be allowed. Individual fisheries sometimes impose restrictions, either all year round or at certain times of the season. These will normally be printed on permits or any literature provided by the proprietors.

Permits

Angling legislation in Scotland is rather different from the position elsewhere in the UK or abroad:

There is no equivalent in Scotland to the Environment Agency 'rod licence' which anglers have to pay in England and Wales.

Visitors from the USA, Canada and mainland Europe will be used to buying regional or state permits which cover all the waters in a state or region. In Scotland you generally need a separate permit to fish each individual water, even for different stretches of the same river.

In Scotland, the permit situation for coarse angling varies between individual waters. Some areas (eg Loch Awe, the Tay or Earn systems) are covered by what is called 'Protection Orders' which make it a criminal offence to fish for any freshwater species, including coarse fish, without prior written permission. But even where there is no Protection Order, anglers still legally need permission to fish.

Some proprietors waive their right to charge for fishing for coarse species, but this is not universal and anglers must check the position before starting to fish in any particular water.

In many cases (other than in waters covered by Protection Orders) permits will be available from bailiffs on the bankside, but this should not be assumed. You should buy permits in advance wherever possible, or, in the case of commercial fisheries, from premises sited on the fishery itself.