You need a fishing rod licence to fish for salmon, trout, freshwater fish, smelt and eel with a rod and line in England (except the River Tweed), Wales and the Border Esk region of Scotland.

You need an additional licence to fish in the Thames.

You must always carry your rod licence when you’re fishing or you could be prosecuted.

You can be fined up to £2,500 for fishing without a rod licence.

Children under 12 don’t need a licence. However, if you take a child under 12 fishing and hold the rod or help hold it you must buy a licence for yourself.

 There are 2 types of licences:

   -trout, coarse fish and eel licences that let you fish for non-migratory trout, char, coarse fish, eel and smelt

   -salmon and sea trout licences that let you fish for salmon, sea trout and all of the fish in the licence above

You don’t need a rod licence for ‘spod’ or ‘marker’ rods as long as they don’t have hooks attached.

Additional licences

You’ll need to buy:

   2 licences if you’re fishing for coarse fish with 3 or 4 rods

   2 licences if you’re fishing for salmon or trout with 2 rods

 Purchase a license