Thursday 20 March 2014

My plans for a summer camping/fishing trip in the UK

It is already March, and with the awakening of nature, I am starting to feel the buzz as well. Every day I get up with the sun shining, and there is nothing I would like to do more than spend the whole day in the wild. I don't want to go to the office, and sit in my cubicle, the weather is just too good for that.

The recent good weather have given me the inspiration to start rehearsing my summer fishing and backpacking trip, which I am going to hold in the UK. I haven't decided where to go yet, but I think I am going to go check out the waters of either Wales or Scotland. After all those countries have a great reputation when it comes to fly-fishing, and no angler can go to the grave without visiting those waters.

 This post is going to be a collection of a few waters I have looked at as possible destinations to go to. I have only researched these waters on the web, so if you have any information on them, or you know any good fishing spots in the UK, please let me know in the comments!

Scotland


Scotland has quite strict rules from what I have read. First of all, the whole fishing equipment has to be sterilised before you cast on a Scottish water if you have fished on the continent. The Scottish authorities try to prevent the spread of Gyrodactus Salaries on Scottish waters this way.

A nice collection of Salmon flies from Scotland.
Source: Visit Scotland
The fish you can find in Scotland include salmon, trout, sea trout. Sea trout season comes between Spring and Summer, when the sea trouts return to their river of birth after feeding in the sea. Sea Trouts are one of the best sports fish in the world. They swim back from the sea during the nights, and they are very suspicious. If they sense anything unnatural they swim away. It is rumored that there is nothing like approaching the river during the night and casting your fly on the water to catch a muscly sea trout.

The UK has four famous Salmon rivers, that are called the "big four". These rivers are the Tweed, Tay, Spey and Dee. I have been planning on visiting the river Tweed.

A video about the river Tweed.

The Tweed flows eastward form its headwaters in Tweeds Muir, and flows into the North Sea at Berwick Upon Tweed. The Tweed is widely considered to be the richest salmon river in Europe. You can also catch sea trout and trout in the river. Unfortunately fishing is forbidden on Sunday, which is a shame. You can only fish between 9 am and 5 pm on the rest of the days of the week, which is also a bump. I love fishing when the sun comes up, it seems I won't be able to do that on the river Tweed. Even with this in mind I would be a fool to leave out the best salmon river of Europe.

Salmon fishing on the river tweed.
Source: Visit Scotland

Wales


I am planning on visiting the river Dee in Wales. The Dee is famous for its grayling population. You can also catch salmon, sea trout, brown trout. I want to go after the 16th of June, because that is when the grayling season starts.

Another famous Welsh river I intend to visit is the River Severn. It is one of the most popular waters for novice fly-fishers as one of the bank of the river is blank and without any bushes or trees for the whole river, so anglers have plenty of space to angle.
The River Severn has all kinds of different parts. There are quick parts, slow parts, shallow parts and deep parts. I am juiced about this river because it will allow me to practice my angling technique while visiting multiple types of waters.

Grayling from the River Severn.

If you have any information on these waters, or any other in the UK, plase share it with me in the comments :)

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