Salmon and Sea Trout License

[Arf]

Hi All,

 

I am debating whether to get a simple course license, or a full salmon and sea trout license.

 

Salmon would be a waste, as there are no salmon near me, and I do not intend to pay the prices required to find myself near them.

 

Sea trout however, are muddling my brain. To catch a trout, in the sea, this I would enjoy immensely. The best of both worlds, somehow akin to catching a marling in a chalk stream.

 

While catching a trout in the sea (or estuary) may seem a great idea, I am not all that confident that these migratory trout will be found in great abundance, in great abundance in my locale, and in great abundance in my locale for any lengthy duration of time.

 

Now I know that they are apparently to be found in the Stour, but could anyone tell me:

A: How wide the time window is for fishing for them

B: If I actually stand a chance of running into a couple of them during said stated window, had I spend 5 hours per weekend chasing them

C: Whether you yourself finds sea trout fishing to be well worth the extra license money.

 

Cheers,

Arf

[Leon Roskilly]

I've seen a fair few sea-trout leaping whilst fishing for bass or mullet in the Medway.

 

One evening at Upnor, the constant splashing had me abandoning my mullet fishing to put on a lure.

 

After half an hour of fruitless casting, it was back to the mullet.

 

Often seen them too at Sharp's Green when spinning for schoolies. Never had a take from a sea-trout though.

 

Rob Ness did have one when mullet fishing with bread down near the Motorway Bridge.

 

I wouldn't bother with a licence if you are not going to retain them. Rather hooking them by accident when fly-fishing, or lure-fishing for bass.

 

Of course if you do find that you are getting a significant bycatch of sea-trout, then is the time to consider investing in a licence perhaps.

[Dick Dastardly]

Ive caught one from the Rother whilst Mullet fishing but seen a lot more.I would agree with Leon that buying a licence wouldnt really be necessary as I doubt that even if you intentionally targeted them you would catch that many.

[lutra]

Sorry to be an old stick, but if you are going to deliberately target Sea Trout (catch one or not) then you need to get a Salmon and Sea Trout License.

 

How ever if you fancy a bit of Mullet fishing and you accidentally catch a Sea Trout and you put it back but you don't have a Salmon and Sea Trout License then no harm done.

[Arf]

......on the other hand, having the sea trout/salmon license does enable you to start the river season early.... with not much chance at all of catching a sea trout..... even if you were trying.

 

Whether the license is worth it is entirely subjective. It is to me. Attempting to catch anything at all on a fly in May/June is great fun.

 

MC

 

Ah, so the sea trout license enables one to fish for sea trout up in fresh sections of rivers during the river closed season too? I assumed one was restricted to brackish water estuaries and sea fishing.

 

Even so, I can't see myself deliberately targeting them. Does the 1 or 8 day license include an option for sea trout? I can't remember having that option last time I called for a short day license.

[Worms]

I'm not at all certain, but I think that'll probably up to the club that controls the water. I've certainly ben fishing in May on the non-tidal stretch of our river... with a member of the club committee, so I assume the rules of my club do allow it.

 

MC

The dates for the open seasons below are taken from the relevant EA Byelaws (Midlands and Welsh Water) for some of the waters I fish. Local club rules may also apply but sea-trout are not mentioned in any of mine.

 

Fishing_Seasons.doc

 

I caught one sea-trout last year of 1 1/2lb...............whilst czech nymphing for grayling! They do scrap rather well.

 

If you are near a river with good runs of sea-trout and you intend fishing for them then you'll probably find the extra expense well worth while. I buy a game licence because it's cheap (about half a pint of beer a week!) and I can fish rivers all year round with legitimacy as long as I use the appropriate methods.

[lutra]

Does the 1 or 8 day license include an option for sea trout?

Yes, if you buy it for Sea Trout, look here.

[Arf]

Excellent, thanks for all the info everyone.

[ColinW]

Apologies if this is stating the obvious but sea trout are not (normally) trout that you catch in the sea, they are trout that have moved back into the river to run up it and spawn. 99% of them are fished for and caught in freshwater. It comes down basically to location. If ten fish an hour run up a river, they are easier to find where the river is 50yds wide than where it is a mile wide!

There are some exceptions where they can be caught regularly in the sea, but they are few and far between. If you want to flyfish in the sea then target bass or mullet and regard any seatrout as a bonus.