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Fish removal by rod and line

New byelaws are in place to protect coarse fish, eel and shad fisheries.

On rivers

On any given day,  you may only remove:

  • one pike of up to 65 cm;
  • two grayling of 30–38 cm;
  • up to a total of 15 small fish of up to 20 cm of the following native species: barbel; chub; common bream; common carp; crucian carp; dace; perch; pike; roach; rudd; silver bream; smelt; and tench.

Fish are measured from the tip of the snout to the fork of the tail.

If you remove any more fish than this, you are committing an offence and risk a substantial fine.

You can still take:

  • minor’ or ‘tiddler’ species, such as gudgeon;
  • non-native species;
  • ornamental varieties of native species – such as ghost or koi carp.

Please remember that you will still need the written permission of the owner or club to remove fish from privately owned waters.

On stillwaters

You may only remove fish with the written permission of the owner or club.

You will normally have a day ticket or permit, on which the fishery rules are often printed. These rules normally state the numbers and types of fish you can remove. If in doubt, ask the owner. If there is no obvious owner to ask for permission, you are not allowed to remove any fish.

If you take any fish without permission you are committing an offence and risk a substantial fine.

Eel and shad

You must return any eel (Anguilla anguilla*) or Allis or Twaite shad you catch from any water in England and Wales.

This includes estuaries and inshore waters, to a distance of six nautical miles.

* Does not include conger eel (Conger conger).

Further information

Other byelaws are in place to protect salmon and trout. Please check these to make sure you know when and how many you can take.